Review: Sinners (Patreon)

Spoilers ahead.

Sinners introduces its vampire characters around the halfway point, just in time for the protagonists to congregate in a juke joint owned by Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan and Michael B. Jordan). Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) performs at the joint. At this point we know our horror movie grammar well enough to predict that Sammie (Miles Caton) will perform next, and then the vampires will knock on the door. And sure enough, Sammie does play his guitar. But something numinous happens before the vampires can knock on the door. Sammie's guitar playing is so transcendent that it breaks spacetime — for a split second, the past and future of the African diaspora and Black America is summoned into the juke joint. The little shack becomes an iridescent paradise where men and women can be truly free for the first time in their lives. The white vampires hear Sammie's ballad and are consumed by jealousy. They look upon a paradise they do not deserve and can never experience. Coveting, the sin at the heart of white supremacism, leads to a night of bloodshed.

Watching this on the big screen feels like the closest thing some of us will ever get to watching The Shining in 1980. Sinners summons the specters of The Thing and Night of the Living Dead while rising to meet them — and maybe even supersede them. Describing this movie almost does it a disservice — its beautiful unpacking of the importance of cousins in African-American culture, the longevity of the blues, the rare glimpse into 1930s Black fashion, Michael B. Jordan's chemistry with himself all have to be seen to be truly appreciated. There are landmarks in horror — Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, Alien, The Thing, and now Sinners. Horror is going to look different after this. Ryan Coogler has used his clout to make a movie with the power to free souls.