As I scrolled through the list of newly released movies to watch, “Sinners” caught my eye. No, not because of Michael B. Jordan…okay, maybe a bit…but mostly because it seemed like an interesting thriller. Little did I know, it would be so much more than a simple horror movie.
Released on April 17, 2025, and set in 1932 Mississippi, “Sinners” follows the story of Sammie (Miles Caton), who aspires to be a musician, despite the disapproval of his father. Sammie’s cousins, Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), return to Mississippi from Chicago looking to open a Juke Joint—an informal establishment for drinking, dancing and music. In the first half of the movie, Smoke and Stack collect past friends, lovers and acquaintances to help with the grand opening of the Juke Joint. When Sammie plays the guitar and sings at the Juke Joint, he attracts three vampires, which leads to chaos, destruction and death.
Besides a few jump scares in the harrowing introduction of the movie, there is little horror involved; rather, “Sinners” is full of strange occurrences that shouldn’t be funny, but are, such as Irish dancing vampires. Still, the film is full of symbolism and recounts a poignant history of Black persecution and appropriation in America.
The first prominent instances of this symbolism are the blatantly racist and ignorant white characters in the film. This isn’t a movie about the past in Mississippi full of kind white people fighting for civil rights. In this story, almost all of the white characters are members of the Ku Klux Klan, use derogatory slurs and attempt to steal others’ culture by turning them into vampires and controlling them.
Sinners celebrates culture and music, but it also sheds light on the appropriation of people of color, something I have not seen expressed in many movies. When Sammie sings at the Juke Joint, he brings his identity, his culture and his heritage into his voice, which is shown through what I consider the most incredible and eye-opening scene in the movie. As he sings, we see black identities from all different ages and times –from young black people dancing and rapping in the 2000s to traditional dancing and music from African tribes. When Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), two characters who own a small grocery store and help set up the Juke Joint, walk into the scene, one of their ancestral spirits appears to be dancing as well. Later on, the viewers learn that the first vampires were attracted to Sammie and his voice, and that they came to change him. Viewers might not realise the hidden message behind this, but the vampires want to take his voice, and therefore his soul and culture, and use it to their liking-the same way how people appropriate other cultures in real life. It highlights the way people of colors’ voices and culture are consistently exploited.
The premise of the movie from this point on is basically how far the vampires will go to get to Sammie and steal his voice. In the beginning of the movie, two of the original three vampires were Klu Klux Klan members. However, when they arrive at the juke joint, they come under the guise of benevolence and kindness, constantly discussing their goal of family, unity and happiness. This relates to how often people have motives behind their actions.
There is also a clear racial hierarchy that is exposed during some of the scenes. In one small but important part of a scene, Lisa Chow (Helena Hu), the daughter of Grace and Bo, is working in the grocery store with her father. When Bo asks Lisa to get Grace, Lisa crosses the street to another store, with only white customers, to switch spots in the store with her mother. Grace then returns to the first store, where there are only black customers. This not only shows the prominent segregation in the south, but also where other ethnicities and races lived in that time period. Grace and Bo were able to be in both the white and black sections of the street because they were neither black nor white.
There is so much more to delve into regarding the messages and symbols produced in Sinners, but the movie is truly an interesting watch. Every actor had good southern drawls, accents and language, and the clothes felt on par with the time period. The movie was full of angst, happiness, anger, sadness and eventually, bliss acceptance. The music used was a mix of modern beats and blues. The ending is bittersweet, but fits it entirely.
Sinners was able to express the struggles to keep one’s identity and heritage in an riveting and exciting story, with all different types of characters and situations. This movie is definitely in my top 10, and I will be rewatching.
