“Sinners,” a wild, yet engaging take on supernatural horror directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B Jordan, came out last Friday.

A historical fiction about Jim Crow, blues music, Christianity and vampires, “Sinners” is a historical horror, set in Clarksdale, Miss., during the Great Depression. The movie tells the story of a young sharecropper named Preacher Boy with dreams of being a blues musician.

Preacher Boy, played by Miles Caton, is enlisted to play for his twin cousins, Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, at their club opening. During the first act, the three go around Clarksdale gathering people to help with the club opening, introducing the ensemble cast.

As opening night gets underway, Preacher Boy’s guitar playing attracts a small group of vampires who become hellbent on drinking the blood of everyone in attendance. After a vampire is let into the club, it attacks and all hell breaks loose.

The club-goers spend the night fending off a swarm of singing vampires who cannot enter the club without an invitation. Slowly, the vampires begin to pick off the survivors who struggle to defend themselves against the horde of undead bloodsuckers. 

“Sinners” incorporates several creative filmmaking elements to set the tone for its scenes, like when the aspect ratio changes partway through the film. 

The contrast between the more realistic scenes of everyday life in the South and supernatural sequences transcends the film beyond its narrative and touches on deeper subjects such as cultural homogeneity and proselytization.  

The film’s amazing design features a ton of incredible blues guitar playing to punctuate its sequences. As the film progresses, the soundtrack deviates from delta blues to rock and dance music. 

One important scene in particular shows Preacher Boy playing the blues as the crowd suddenly begins to disperse, as musicians from the past and future of Black music enter to play alongside him. A West African griot playing a drum and a man in a Funkadelic-esque disco-inspired costume shredding an electric guitar both play with Preacher Boy as other characters, like rappers, DJs and traditional Chinese dancers come in. 

“Sinners” is a refreshing break from the relentless onslaught of slasher remakes and jumpscare horror films polluting the box office. Through its incredible directing and acting, the story of “Sinners” will resonate with anyone, no matter how unfamiliar they are with its premise.