The Filmscape Reverie

By: Maria Cieslarczyk

Warning: SPOILERS ahead!

“You keep dancing with the devil…one day, he’s going to follow you home.”

What’s better than one Michael B. Jordan? TWO Michael B. Jordans…and as a fangirl, I mean that, respectfully.

Writer and director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther) has truly outdone himself with his latest project. His recent supernatural-horror film Sinners (2025) has received outstanding praise from fans and critics alike. Scoring a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has become one of the highest-grossing original horror movie in years, hitting $300M worldwide.

Sinners is set in 1932, and follows outlaw twins Smoke and Stack as they leave their troubled gangster lives behind and return to their Mississippi roots to open up a juke joint with their musically gifted cousin, Sammie. On opening night, they face true evil in the form of a bloodthirsty vampire, Rimmick, and must fight back against darkness in more ways than one.

I don’t typically watch horror films in theaters due to the gore (and inability to turn on the lights when shit goes down!), but I just couldn’t resist. I’ve had so many of my friends reach out to me to recommend this movie that I had to experience it on the big-screen…and I’m thankful I did!

Unbeknownst to me as I watched for the first time, this film arguably has one of the best music sequences I’ve ever seen. This scene had me gagged from beginning to end! Smoke and Stack’s cousin, preacher’s son Sammie (played by Miles Caton) is an aspiring guitarist hoping to one day make it out of their poverty-stricken Southern hometown, and establish a name for himself in the music world. On the juke joint’s opening night, he performs an enchanting song that is unknowingly transcendent.

This scene represents the blend of music through the ages, and its transcendence through generations – from native African music, to the delta Blues, to futuristic hip-hop. It was visually stunning to see this idea in the forms of different ghosts of the past and future dancing together in the crowd. The editing was delicately done, so that every move, every rhythm, felt powerful and in tune with the sway of the party-goers.

Enthralled by Sammie’s power to summon the spirits of past and future, a thousand-year-old Irish vampire, Rimmick, and his companions ask to be let into the juke joint. And that’s the beginning of when all hell breaks loose!

I found the comparisons between the vampires and the KKK to be thought-provoking. Although Rimmick comes from Ireland and has faced bigotry himself back when he was a human, he is still a White man (now a blood-sucking vampire intent on creating many others like himself). That nuanced identity is explored as he is first shocked by the twins’ accusation that he is a part of the racist KKK group, and then he is offended when he is denied from entering the juke joint. However, Rimmick’s demand of Sammie’s musical talent is insanely selfish, and his efforts to gain power through fear and death, are reflective of the racial group he represents and pretends to be “different” from during this Jim Crow era.

Rimmick is not the only complex character in Sinners. The women also dazzled me through their multi-dimensionality, strength, and grit. Mary (played by Hailee Steinfeld) is Stack’s ex-girlfriend, a headstrong mixed-race woman who rebels against the life chosen for her. Annie, Smoke’s estranged partner and the mother of their deceased baby, is a Hoodoo practitioner who uses her quick wit and spiritual practices to help save others in the midst of turmoil.

I’ve loved seeing the analyses between the seven deadly sins, and the main characters of the film. The internet has gone rogue on all the different theories, and I am living for them! Overall, the portrayal of spirituality and religion were fascinating to see, especially with how the film defined what was inherently good and evil…and showed that there is plenty of shades of grey as well.

Sinners did an excellent job showcasing the Black experience in the 1930s, and the themes of persistence, community, spirituality and religion, and the moral dichotomies of good vs. evil. It caused me to follow in the characters’ footsteps and reflect on my imperfect decisions, and choices to be better. 

After the epic vampire showdown at sunrise, the ending (spoiler alert!) was that Sammie chose to keep playing music, despite his traditional preacher father’s objections. He knew music could provide light amidst the darkness, and took the risk rather than played it safe.

At the end of the day, nobody is perfect and we can’t all pretend to be saints.

But if there is a slight chance of salvation (either for ourselves or for others), wouldn’t you take that chance? That’s why I believe Sammie chose to still pursue music…he saw its powers and what it was capable of, both through good and evil. 

Sinners is now available to watch in theaters, and will be on streaming platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Fandango starting next week (June 3^rd).