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Review: ‘Sinners’ is the Birth of a Future Cult Classic
Ryan Coogler’s latest is a didactic vampire musical destined for cult status
Up to this point, practically zero 2025 releases have interested me. While Netflix’s Adolescence grabbed my expectations and ran with them both in terms of its thematic depth and its surprise widespread success, it has been a barren year for movies. Despite my awareness that they are likely quite good, even the likes of The Monkey, Mickey 17 and Black Bag were not enough to pull me back into cinemas. The cinema-going experience can be wonderful, but it can also be infuriating and, for me, terribly anxiety inducing so I tend to try to stick with titles that feel like surer bets.
Frankly, Sinners didn’t initially strike me as the film that would lure me out of my shell again, either. A period action-drama featuring vampires is an admirably bold mixture of genres from writer/director Ryan Coogler, a man who has left his time as Marvel (perhaps only temporarily?) after having made both Black Panther films and immediately (re-)established himself as a genuine cinematic force (while carrying over mild suggestions of afrofuturism). Returning to more personal passion projects with a blistering confidence, bolstered by his time making Creed and the Black Panther duology, Sinners is an exciting, risk-taking…
