Sinners (15)
Cast: Michael B Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Jayme Lawson, Jack O'ConnellGenre: Horror
Author(s): Ryan Coogler
Director: Ryan Coogler
Release Date: 18/04/2025
Running Time: 138mins
Country: US
Year: 2025
Twin brothers Smoke and Stack are determined to leave the upheaval of the past where it belongs. The siblings return to their hometown of Clarksdale in the south and Smoke and Stack quickly discover that an insidious evil has taken root among their friends and neighbours. Creatures of the night led by the menacing Remmick, who possess the power to rejuvenate the sickly with one bite, lurk in the shadows. Smoke and Stack lead the resistance against this insidious infection.
LondonNet Film Review
Sinners (15) Film Review from LondonNet
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the eponymous count hears howling wolves in the valley beneath his castle and is momentarily lost in reverie. “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” he enthuses, eyes gleaming. Music seduces in Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler’s stylish vampire yarn, which explicitly harnesses the transcendental power of instruments and the human voice to connect people from different cultures across space and time…
In Sinners, that blurring of temporal boundaries is realised with verve in a standout sequence shot inside a crowded 1930s juke joint. Characters from the past, present and future magically converge on the makeshift dancefloor and the heat generated by this rhapsodic, gyrating throng appears to set fire to the barn, reducing the wooden structure to fiery embers. Similarly, fanged menaces preface an attack on human prey by raising their voices in choral salutation while their leader performs an energetic Irish jig.
Coogler’s sweat-drenched and sexy vision elicits seamlessly melded performances from regular collaborator Michael B Jordan as twins, who fend off the insidious evil that has taken root among their neighbours. The script peddles familiar mythology – stakes through the heart, garlic, holy water, sunlight-induced combustion – against the backdrop of racial segregation in Jim Crow and Prohibition-era Mississippi, swathed in a soundtrack that honours the rich history of the blues. Jump scares are predictable, as is the final stand-off between bloodsucking creatures and humans a la From Dusk Till Dawn that must be resolved before darkness yields to a cock’s crow.
Sharp-suited brothers Smoke and Stack (Jordan) return to their hometown of Clarksdale, swathed in notoriety from their exploits in Chicago as small fish in the big pond of Al Capone’s criminal underworld. The siblings intend to open a juke joint with the help of their young cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), local medicine woman Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), pianist Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and bouncer Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). Stack is awkwardly reunited with Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the sweetheart he left behind. As night falls, vampire Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and his bloodthirsty acolytes Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (Lola Kirke) arrive at the joint’s front door and ask to be invited in.
Sinners bulges at impressively stitched seams with ideas as Coogler injects fresh blood into a staple of the horror genre but his film does feel oversaturated, even with an indulgent 138-minute running time. Mirror images of Jordan are easily distinguishable by fashion colour schemes (red and blue) and digital witchcraft allows the brothers to seamlessly interact with each other and co-stars in elaborately staged set pieces. Emotionally, the picture is anaemic even with a pithy epilogue distinguished by an appearance from Chicago blues trailblazer Buddy Guy but when Coogler’s joint is jumpin’, it’s mighty intoxicating.
– Jo Planter
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London Cinemas Showing Sinners
From: Friday 30th January
To: Thursday 5th February
Mon 17:15; Wed 17:20; Thu 20:00
Mon 19:45; Tue 14:45; Wed 14:30
Sun 19:15; Thu 20:00
Tue 12:30 20:35
Sat 17:20
From: Friday 6th February
To: Thursday 12th February
Fri 16:50; Sat 17:15; Tue 20:30
Sat 19:00
Sat 14:20; Wed 20:00; Thu 14:30
Sat 17:20; Mon 20:10
Tue 19:00
Sat 15:40; Thu 19:00
Sat 10:00
Sat 19:15
UK and Irish Cinemas Showing Sinners
From: Friday 30th January
To: Thursday 5th February
Mon 20:10; Thu 14:00
Mon 20:10
Wed 20:00
Thu 19:30
Mon 16:00; Tue 20:30
Tue 19:40; Wed 13:00
Tue 21:20
Showcase Cinema De Lux Bluewater
Mon 21:20; Tue 21:25; Wed 20:35; Thu 21:35
Showcase Cinema De Lux Glasgow
Mon 21:45; Tue 21:20; Wed 12:45; Thu 21:35
Showcase Cinema De Lux Nottingham
Mon 20:45; Tue/Wed 14:30; Thu 22:00
Showcase Cinema De Lux Paisley
Mon 21:45; Tue 21:35; Wed 13:00 21:20; Thu 21:40
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough
Mon 21:45; Tue 12:05 21:20; Wed 21:50
Showcase Cinema De Lux Reading
Mon 21:45; Wed 21:10
Showcase Cinema De Lux Teesside
Mon 20:55; Wed 14:10 21:50
From: Friday 6th February
To: Thursday 12th February
Fri 20:30
Sat 20:00; Wed 11:15 14:10; Thu 17:10
Sun 18:40
Fri 20:15
Wed 19:50
Wed 19:50
Tue 19:00
Tue 16:30; Wed 13:00
Tue 19:30; Wed/Thu 19:50
Odeon Manchester Great Northern
Tue 20:00
Wed 19:15
Wed 19:15
Tue 20:00
Fri/Thu 19:30
Sat 20:15; Wed 19:50
Showcase Cinema De Lux Bluewater
Fri 23:00; Sat 23:05; Sun 21:15
Showcase Cinema De Lux Nottingham
Fri 22:10
