Sinners Is a Stylish, Soulful Vampire Tale That Can’t Escape Its Familiar Fangs - Review

Michael B. Jordan brings dual energy as twin brothers in Coogler’s genre-shifting vampire action flick Sinners.

Ryan Coogler & Michael B. Jordan’s vampire action film hits familiar notes—with rhythm, swagger, and a little déjà vu

When someone like Ryan Coogler steps into horror, especially after delivering four consecutive box office smashes (Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Wakanda Forever), expectations are sky-high. Add Michael B. Jordan to the mix—this time playing twin brothers in a vampire flick—and you’ve got something that sounds like a gamechanger on paper.

And to be clear, Sinners is ambitious, slick, and musically layered. It’s also a horror-action film that’s going to hit hard for many viewers, especially those who recognize music as survival. But for the more seasoned genre fans, Sinners may feel like a remix of something we’ve already heard before.

Michael B. Jordan plays Smoke and Stack, twin brothers with violent pasts and deep southern roots. These aren’t just gangsters—they’re legends with trauma, brotherhood, and charisma baked into their blood. And while I usually roll my eyes at the twin-performance trope, I’ll admit this is one of Jordan’s strongest performances to date. He brings weight to both roles, and Coogler directs the twin dynamic with a Gemini’s understanding of duality, silence, and unspoken bonds.

As the story unfolds, the heart of Sinners becomes music—specifically, the mystical power it holds across cultures. From southern Black spirituals to Irish Celtic jigs, Coogler uses sound like a spellbook. And through Miles Canton’s breakout role as Sammie, we’re introduced to a deeper mythology: that certain people can open portals—through voice, through rhythm, through pain.

It’s a bold narrative thread, especially when paired with Jack O’Connell’s character Remmick, who represents the broken white soul connected by the same sonic lineage. It’s a compelling angle—music as bridge between poor Black, white, Asian, and Indigenous communities. And it works.

But here’s where Sinners starts to stumble: it’s too familiar.

Without spoiling too much, the plot leans heavily into the structure of a well-known vampire cult classic, and at times, the comparisons are impossible to ignore. Robbery. Brothers. A rough-and-tumble bar. Sudden supernatural twist. A signature song. And blood—lots of it.

The problem isn’t that it’s derivative; it’s that it’s scene-for-scene close to a film that horror fans hold sacred. And while Sinners brings a different cultural focus, a heavier musical backbone, and stronger commentary on struggle and unity, it still feels like a cover of a song we already loved.

That said, younger viewers who haven’t seen the original influence will eat this up. And to be fair, Coogler’s lens is sharper, more grounded, and more soulful. The supporting cast—Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Omar Miller—all bring strong performances, even when the plot loses originality.

Is there still room for new vampire stories? Maybe.

Does Coogler have the vision? Absolutely.

Did this one push the genre forward? Not quite.

But Sinners is still entertaining, well-acted, and filled with rich textures of sound and culture. It just needed to stray further from the shadows of its influences.

RATING: 3 out of 5

It’s not the best horror film of 2025, but it’s definitely one of the most polarizing—and one that’ll start more conversations than it finishes.