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'Sinners' Revels in the History and Culture of the Rural South [1]

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Date: 2025-05-15

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.

The crowded club of vampire movies just welcomed a new member with a few tricks up its sleeve. “Sinners,” written and directed by Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther,” “Creed”), is an inventive new film set in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi. Sinking its teeth into the history of the rural South and the cultural impact of the blues, “Sinners” is a monster movie with a fresh twist.

To the young woman who bit through her retainer when Michael B. Jordan showed up shirtless in “Black Panther,” brace yourself… there are two of him in this film. Jordan, who has starred in all of Coogler’s feature films, plays a dual role here, as twin brothers Smoke and Stack. The twins return to their hometown in Mississippi after a stint in the Chicago underworld amassing Italian wine, Irish beer, and lots of cash. Their goal is to open Club Juke, a spot for dancing, drinking, and most importantly, blues music. Aided by their cousin Sammie “Preacher Boy” (played by talented newcomer Miles Canton) and a group of other friends, associates, and former lovers, the club’s opening night is one of revelry and transcendent music. That is, until the vampires show up.

As discussed in our podcast series, The Rural Horror Picture Show, monsters are not just monsters, and horror is not just horror. The supernatural and the terrifying function as representations of societal fears and anxieties. That holds true in “Sinners,” where the vampires embody appropriation, white supremacy, and the persistent afterlife of colonial systems. So if a vampire flick isn’t enough to lure you in, don’t worry — “Sinners” comes packed with symbolism and subtext as much as guts and gore. (And if metaphor-laced spooky creatures are your thing, stay tuned; we have a podcast series about rural alien movies in the works next.)

An official trailer for “Sinners” (via Warner Bros. on YouTube).

What the action-packed trailer for “Sinners” does not capture is that this is a movie all about music. Specifically, the rural roots and Black legacy of the blues. Clarksdale, Mississippi is known as the birthplace of the blues. It is also where, legend has it, blues icon Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his exceptional musical ability.

It’s the perfect backdrop for “Sinners” to riff on this intersection of religion and music, as Sammie grapples with the insistence of his preacher father that he pick God over the guitar. His father’s warnings of the connection between the devil and the blues may not be literally true but the film shows that Sammie’s musical ability does hold a kind of supernatural power to connect the living to spirits of the past and future. This power acts as a metaphor for how rural Black musical traditions leave a lasting influence across generations and genres.

The second episode of our new podcast series, Twang, discusses the deep-rooted, often erased contributions of Black artists and the cultural exchanges that shaped the country music genre. Southern Black musicians’ fusion of string band rhythm and lyrical blues set the country genre into motion. Twang highlights the blending of traditions and birth of new ones that occurred as Black musicians moved up and down the Mississippi Delta, as far as Chicago, Mexico, and beyond. That same journey of sound and people echoes through “Sinners,” as the film explores the rural roots of the blues, carved from both hardship and joy. The film emphasizes many components of the Great Migration as one character points out, “Chicago is like Mississippi, just with taller buildings,” a reminder that leaving the South did not mean leaving racism behind.

Coogler uses the horror genre to tell a story of white violence and appropriation of Black music traditions. The vampires in this film chant “fellowship and love,” offering immortality alongside false promises of unity and an escape from struggle. Their leader, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), is an Irishman who talks about the history of his people being colonized and having religion forced on them. While appearing as an ally, he instead becomes a part of this cycle of colonization. He wants to use Sammie’s special musical abilities for his own personal goals and to reconnect with his ancestors. His aim is to take the music and the soul of the rural Black community. Remmick’s offer of an idyllic vampiric future is one filled with false equality, where underneath these promises lies appropriation and cultural erasure. Promotional poster for ‘Sinners’ (2025) (Credit: Warner Brothers via IMDb).

In “Sinners,” music becomes a weapon of resistance. It builds community. It holds memories. And in the 1930s rural South, where the horror of Jim Crow and the KKK loomed large, the supernatural becomes a chilling but fitting metaphor for the very real forces of oppression.

If you have not yet seen “Sinners,” you absolutely should. As the film traverses the rolling horizons of southern cotton fields and the dark, intimate corners of a juke joint, it tells a story that is thrilling, original, and necessary. Watch it on the biggest screen you can and be sure to stay through the credits for an important extra scene… trust me, this story leaves a mark.

Sinners is currently playing in theaters.

This article first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. Join the mailing list today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox.

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