‘Sinners’: Why Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow-Era Vampire Film Hits Close to Home
Sinners – A vampire flick set in 1930s Mississippi? From Black Panther director Ryan Coogler? It might sound like an unexpected turn—but Sinners is anything but random. Behind the gothic horror is a deeply personal story, a tribute to family, history, and a rich cultural legacy that runs deep in American soil.
Coogler, known for his emotionally charged storytelling in films like Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, is once again teaming up with longtime collaborator Michael B. Jordan for Sinners. This time, Jordan takes on dual roles, playing twin brothers Smoke and Stack—men with a murky past and a mysterious mission.
The twins return to the Mississippi Delta after a stint in World War I and some questionable ties with Al Capone in Chicago. They arrive with pockets full of cash and plans to open a juke joint—an idea that, on the surface, sounds like a celebration of music and culture. But as Coogler tells it, things aren’t that simple.
This story is, in part, a love letter to Coogler’s late Uncle James, the eldest male figure in his family from Mississippi. “He meant a lot to me,” Coogler shared in an interview with NBC News. “He passed away right after I was in post-production on Creed, and all he would do is play blues records.”
Those blues records? They stuck with Coogler. In fact, they helped spark the inspiration for Sinners.
Blues, Blood, and the Burden of Legacy
Music is the heartbeat of Sinners. From the moment the juke joint idea comes to life, the story plunges into a world of haunting guitar riffs, soulful lyrics, and eerie undercurrents.
Singer Miles Caton makes his acting debut as Sammie, the cousins’ young, talented relative. His guitar playing—what the local preacher condemns as the “devil’s music”—becomes both a symbol of freedom and a magnet for something far darker.
Then there’s Slim, a seasoned blues musician played by the ever-powerful Delroy Lindo. Add in love interests Annie (played by Lovecraft Country’s Wunmi Mosaku) and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), and you’ve got a layered story mixing race, music, identity, and mysticism.
And yes, vampires. But these aren’t your typical cape-wearing, fang-baring monsters.
Coogler uses vampirism as a metaphor—a warning, really. It’s a way to explore how culture can be exploited, drained of its soul, and sold back to the masses. As he explains, the danger lies in chasing short-term rewards without thinking about the cultural price that comes with them.
“If you don’t look beyond the moment, you might find the quick fix comes at an incomprehensible cost to the culture and future generations,” Coogler said.
A Global Connection to the Blues
Music, particularly the blues, runs through every scene of Sinners—and that connection reaches far beyond Mississippi.
Coogler’s go-to composer, Swedish musician Ludwig Göransson, has scored all of his feature films. But this time, the project was deeply personal for Göransson too. His own father, a lifelong blues fan, dreamed of visiting Mississippi to see the birthplace of the music he loved.
That dream became reality when Coogler joined Göransson and his father on a blues pilgrimage to Dockery Plantation—the very grounds where Delta blues legend Charley Patton once played.
“There we were—this 70-year-old man from Sweden with tears in his eyes, and I had tears in mine,” Coogler said. “But for two very different reasons.”
That moment solidified Coogler’s vision for Sinners. This wasn’t just going to be a period piece. It was going to be bold, cinematic, and unapologetically rooted in the brilliance of Black Southern culture.
Putting History on the Big Screen
Omar Benson Miller, who plays a sharecropper named Cornbread, brought his own personal history to the film.
“My family is from Mississippi. I come from a family of sharecroppers,” he said. “I was happy to bring that to the screen because these are hardworking people—the foundation that allowed me to be here, telling their stories.”
Through its supernatural lens, Sinners paints a raw and reverent picture of a time and place often forgotten. But it also reminds us that culture is not just inherited—it’s fragile. It must be protected, celebrated, and remembered.
And what better way to do that than through music, myth, and a little bit of horror?
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