Sean at the Cinema: Sinners

Vampire movies are an interesting beast. They belong to a nebulous subgenre that’s often misrepresented, or at the very least, misunderstood. But what makes them so special is that they’re always more than meets the eye, a package of thought-provoking ideas underneath Dracula-red wrapping paper. 

They can be brooding and sinister like the recent Nosferatu remake from David Eggers. Maybe they’re playful and frenetic like From Dusk Til Dawn. Sensual like Thirst, meme-worthy a la Morbius, or able to inspire a generation of unironic superfans like the Twilight series. No single tone or vibe can hold back the cinematic vampire, and as the subgenre oscillates from horrifying to kitschy to anything in between, we have to remember the very subject in discussion becomes a completely different entity when the sun goes down. This is all to say that something can be two things at once, especially movies. And in this cases, Sinners offers everything all at once and leaves nothing to spare. 

Sinners completed a rare Holy Trinity of success — critical, commercial, and favorable reviews from audiences — all while becoming the third highest grossing film in the United States in 2025 thus far. And like all its vampire predecessors, Sinners knows it doesn’t need to stick to one lane. It marches to the beat of its own drum, not because it feels like it needs to be different, but because it’s interested in setting the bar for a new generation of original horror films. It’s dynamic and multifaceted— we don’t even really dive into the vampire of it all into midway through the second act. It’s also frequently funny, adhering to a popular trend that any genre can now dip into comedy without restriction.

This is also a movie deeply in tune with music history, Black history, imperialism, and much, much more. The best horror films (Sinners really only toes the line of horror and feels like an accessible entryway to the genre) explore something much deeper and unexpected than what’s on the surface, and not only does Sinners deliver in that department, it creates a new gold standard. This is the perfect example of a film refusing to be boxed in by genre or expectation. If Nosferatu can explore the sexual repression of victorian-era women, if Let the Right One In can delicately examine the impossibility of love for these immortal creatures, and if A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night can leave us thinking about yearning and loneliness and identity, than Sinners, even with its blockbuster moniker and wide audience, can ruminate on blues music and diaspora and everything else in between.

In terms of narrative, this is a difficult movie not to spoil, so there’s no point in diving into the details, but if you didn’t catch it in theatres, this is must-watch material, even if horror isn’t typically your cup of tea. There is so much talk these days about original ideas, namely, the lack of them, and how sequels and prequels are bleeding Hollywood dry. This is the kind of movies that makes you forget all that noise. This is the kind of movie that reminds you that original ideas still exist, that they can and will move you, and that we are lucky to have them. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5) 

Sinners is now available to stream on Max.