Simply put, Sinners feels like two films colliding into one — part gangster story, part vampire movie.
It feels like From Dusk Till Dawn was dropped into the Mississippi Delta. A southern gothic horror piece that carries echoes of Angel Heart and Candyman.
Michael B. Jordan delivers a strong dual performance as identical twins Smoke and Stack — two brothers shaped by the same past but moving through the world with slightly different energies. The brothers return home after working for the Chicago mob, chasing a new life, carrying money, and trying to open a juke joint, while building something clean on top of a criminal past.
Set in the Jim Crow South, the film captures the tension of the era without over-explaining it. It’s present in the air, in the spaces between conversations, in the way characters move through their world.
The supporting cast is strong across the board.
Miles Caton (Preacherboy), a real musician — brings something raw and grounded to the role of Preacherboy. There’s an authenticity there you can’t fake. Delroy Lindo is, as always, steady and he is great here. The blues is an integral part of this story, and it runs through this film like a pulse. The women in this film aren’t just background figures — they carry weight, Influence, and direction. There’s also a subtle but important inclusion of Asian characters, depicted in a way that feels historically aware — something rarely explored in stories set in this time and place.
Visually, the film is transportive. Mississippi in the early 1930s feels alive — humid, tense, haunted. The film takes its time….Maybe too much time. The slow burn works in moments, but it lingers a bit longer than it should before fully committing to the horror. You can feel it circling the darkness before finally stepping into it.
And once it does — it hits.
The character of Remmick, played by Jack O’Connell as an Irish vampire drifting through the Delta, is one of the film’s most interesting pieces. There’s something deeper at play with that character. In this setting, during this era, the idea of becoming a vampire isn’t just about immortality — it’s about escape, acceptance, and belonging. A way out of a broken system, and into a world of freedom, and equality. A seductive alternative to the world these characters are trapped in.
The vampire mythology is a little murky. The rules aren’t always clear, and at times it feels like the film bends them for convenience. But somehow, it doesn’t completely break the experience. You adjust. You move with it. There’s a river dance sequence that shifts from hypnotic to deeply unsettling — one of the film’s most memorable moments. It’s where the spiritual and the supernatural begin to blur.
The final scene stayed with me the most.
Buddy Guy, playing an older version of Preacherboy decades later in the 90s, carries the weight of everything that came before. It feels reflective. Almost mournful. Ryan Coogler continues to prove himself as one of the most compelling filmmakers working today. Sinners is a bold film. A violent, stylish vampire story on the surface — but underneath it, there’s something heavier. A film about escape. About memory. About the cost of surviving in a world that was never built for you.
SINNERS (2025). Four out of Five Popcorn Bags🍿🍿🍿🍿
Rod Rioja 