“The devil’s music” is a phrase that has been weaponized about many genres – rock ‘n’ roll, jazz – throughout history. When Pastor Jedidiah (Saul Williams) uses the phrase to his son, Sammie (Miles Caton), he’s referring to the blues.
Given that “Sinners” – Ryan Coogler’s new vampire movie – opens with Sammie covered in blood, clutching a sharp, sawed-off guitar neck mighty close to his preacher father’s back while Jedidiah begs him to leave evil in the dust, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Coogler is setting up a story that rests on a confrontation between vampires (evil) and religion (good). As Sammie shakes and sobs in his father’s arms, we’re left wondering if he’ll be able to overcome whatever malevolent force has left him in such a state.
Except, that’s not quite where we’ll end up. “Sinners” does not have such an easy definition of good and evil, or even of freedom and repression – the typical map of which so many vampire stories have laid upon. A messy, sexy, grotesque extravaganza that feels as much like a southern gothic as it does a slasher, “Sinners” also has more complex ideas about liberation, particularly Black liberation and how the past and the future connect, than you might expect. While sometimes chaotic in its execution, with “Sinners,” Coogler has succeeded in sneaking profound ideas into a B-movie spectacular.
Read Sammie’s full review on Rough Draft
