Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
WHAT I LIKED: Horror is designed to be a mirror for the darkest parts of reality. But I can't think of many filmmakers who've utilised that fact quite as powerfully as Ryan Coogler does with his all-too real story of "white vampires," preying on black lives, joys and cultures in 'Sinners.'
The film specifically follows Chicago gangster twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B Jordan) who return to their hometown in 1930s Mississippi to set up a juke joint with their friends and family, but amidst the excitement of their opening night, three white vampires are attracted by the power of the music and try to get in. Though the brothers are initially wise enough to turn them away because they risk ruining everything, the temptation of money eventually allows them to weasel their way in, and before you know it, a whole clan of people are turned into vampires and waiting outside the club. If the parables weren't clear enough already with all of that, at one point, the lead one even argues that vampirism is the way to freedom because it supposedly offers an escape from the violent racism of the KKK. What inevitably follows is a defiant fight against this terrifying new order, where you long for the twins and their loved ones to protect their livelihoods being stolen and destroyed by these parasites.
The obvious parallels to reality make all of that extremely powerful, but it only translates because the community of people the twins return to is brought to life so vibrantly. There's the soulful, sensitive young cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) who they free from his pastor father to play blues guitar for the event, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) the Occult woman Smoke shares a tragic past with, and the numerous friends who all provide something different for the opening night. Then, when the event gets rolling, the music is utterly captivating, with one performance even descending into a magnificent dream sequence in which ghosts from past and future musical styles enter the joint.
When emphasised by the production design and Ludwig Goransson's incredible score, that all makes you care deeply about this world, and drives home the very real threats to destroy very effectively indeed.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The vampire stuff does get a bit campy at times, but that's by no means a bad thing.
VERDICT: By realising a black community so beautifully then threatening it with his genius concept of "white vampires," Ryan Coogler uses 'Sinners,' to bring a very real horror to life.
