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October Review: Sinners (2025)
🕑 Added 2026-01-29 02:38:12 +0000 UTCWhether you think Sinners (2025) is about the Blues or Vampires, either way it's a soulful, smooth ride.
Vampires are no stranger to the screen. From classic interpretations that defined the creatures on-screen like Nosferatu (1922) to more recent explorations of the way they can toy with our perceptions like Let the Right One In (2008) or Abigail (2024), these blood-suckers have haunted horror features in just about every way possible, until Sinners (2025). Sinners (2025) takes familiar rules and doesn't belabor them, instead exploring the yearning of immortal life. Fittingly, it's like a homecoming, and boy does it sound good.
On paper, Sinners (2025) follows the the Smokestack twins as they return home to open up a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi, recruiting local faces to help staff the place in preparation for opening night. Once the sun sets and the song of their cousin, Sammie, lures in local vampires, the night quickly turns deadly, and a small group of survivors must fight to see the following dawn.
The elevator pitch does not do the film justice. Deceptively straightforward, Sinners (2025) takes its sweet time warming up. Every new face is introduced in their own turn, each connection to the twins explored, all characters quickly but lovingly defined. We begin to feel the closeness of the community, to care for even the most expendable members of the extended cast. It may seem a slow start to a thriller, but it is essential to the film's success. We need to care about each and every person as much as the characters themselves do, no one is mere vampire food. Every one is a deep, personal loss. The way Sinners (2025) treats its characters is emblematic of the secret to its success. Sinners (2025) is not just a beat-em-up or blood-gushing slasher, it's a drama dressed in the costume of a genre film.
That isn't to say Sinners (2025) doesn't know how to do its genre. The vampire effects are brilliant, gushing blood, and a slow transformation from human-with-an-edge to full-blown-creatures-of-the-night. What really sold the horror for me was how often I found myself wondering "who is a vampire now?" The film skillfully moves attention away from those it plans to surprise-turn, keeping the suspense as the number of humans slowly dwindles, and building to its eventual climatic brawl.
As successful as Sinners (2025) is at establishing a cast we care about, the performances themselves also help to sell it. No one is doing a bad day on set, but there are some obvious standouts. Of course, Michael B. Jordan in his dual role as "Smoke" and "Stack" pulls off an incredible feat, delivering two distinctive performances in a single film. For me though the real heart and soul of Sinners (2025) were Miles Caton's "Sammie" and Wunmi Mosaku's "Annie." Both could easily have been one-note side players in the Twins' worst night, but Caton and Mosaku breathed genuine life into the roles in a way that often stole the spotlight.
The real star of the show isn't any one performer, it's the Blues. Music is such a critical part of Sinners (2025) that if you aren't paying attention, you very well may not notice the vampires until it is much too late. The music is hypnotic, blending traditional folk styles with modern influences to break through the period setting and resonate with a modern audience. It is impossible to not understand the vampires of Sinners (2025) desire to seek out this sound. Like a moth to a flame, it welcomes you in, makes you want to dance, makes you feel alive. Something our bloodthirsty friends haven't felt in a long, long time.
It's hard to find a bad thing to say about Sinners (2025). An elevated monster movie, it creates prestige horror that is complex but still widely approachable. In a similar vein, it is hard to decide what to praise about Sinners (2025), because every scene shines, and every theme is deeply ingrained throughout. This film is a celebration of music, of African American culture, of folklore, of film, and it deserves every encore. Just be careful who you invite in after watching.
9 out of 10 Cloves of Garlic
Comments
Sophia Ricciardi
This is a great point about Sammie! I think because the film has two strong genres in the sort of musical coming-of-age arc and then the vampire attack arc it can be difficult to say who is the leading character. It would probably be more accurate to say Sammie is our focus on the musical arc, while the Twins take importance with the vampiric side. As a whole though, I love that it is even up for multiple interpretations. It just speaks to the strength of the entire cast that any one character could pull focus and it would feel natural within the film.
Willow River
I got the chance to see this movie in theatres when my friends brought me along. To this day I’m so glad they did because I haven’t seen a horror movie that worked so well and so deeply respected its characters in a very long time (granted I all but gave up on the genre when I was still in high school because of the horror trends of the 2000s-10s and I don’t go see movies on my own so I’ve missed a lot of recent additions to the genre). It seamlessly blended all these seemingly disparate elements and (as all the best horror does) really leaves you with a lot to think about afterwards. And of course I desperately want the soundtrack because every song I heard was excellent. I will admit, I always read Sammie as being our main focus character, but I can definitely see how the twins could also potentially hold that title now that you mentioned it.
