I deserve happiness too, dammit! After a couple of not-so-good low-budget horror movies, I felt it was enough punishment to justify watching a much more high-budget production one. Balance is the key to a successful life, after all. Sinners did not disappoint. This was yet another movie I had to try as hard as possible to stay away from reviews and on Reddit. I believe I only ran into the “V” word once while reading some other stuff, but that was enough to get me excited about the movie as well as a bit disappointed knowing the spoiler. Judging by the movie poster, it would be hard for anyone to guess just exactly what would be involved.

Let me just say that Michael B. Jordan knocked this one out of the park. The rest of the cast did a wonderful job as well. Everything from the story telling, production, scenery and soundtrack was phenomenal. Yes, the soundtrack especially so with its blues inspired theme. Miles Caton as Sammie lent his voice to the soundtrack and I can’t believe how good he sounded, especially for one so young.

The story of the Twins, Smoke & Stack, coming back from Chicago to open up a juke joint while gathering up their crew caught my attention from the get-go. I’m sure, per many reviews, the movie can feel a little long-winded before the vampires’ arc. I didn’t mind too much because the story itself didn’t feel like it stalled on itself. It’s just that when the vampires finally showed up and decided to ruin the party, it was something I had wished was incorporated more throughout the movie up until that point. But I guess that would have ruined the surprise. Upon completion of the movie, I felt like it could even have done away with the supernatural, and the story would have held its own with different types of real-world problems and solutions thrown in. But vampires being attracted and summoned through music, especially in that era, is a lot cooler.

It’s easy to see a prequel to Sinners in the future, should we be fortunate enough. Learning about how Smoke and Stack earned their fortune while in Chicago would be a fun one, although I’m not sure how vampires would be incorporated in it. I don’t believe we actually learned of their misdeeds but only through hints here and there, and the strongest one would go to them having robbed powerful rich folks, leading them to have to flee town. Either way, it would be good, is my guess. One of the best scenes for me has got to be when Sammie was playing in the barn and we get to see a multitude of dancers across all cultures, past and present, dancing to his tune. Sinners is one of the best movies so far I’ve watched in 2025, horror or not.