Sinners is a curious movie that wants to be about two different things mashed into a depiction of the dirty south. It isn’t just a movie about the blues (which it is) but it’s also a southern gothic horror. The type of horror might be a spoiler which I’ll openly talk about below… so if you want to be surprised, come back later.

It stars Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers returning to their home town in Mississippi after fighting in World War I and making their fortune working for Al Capone. They meet a preacher’s son who is slick with a guitar and they put together a team to open a juke joint… and the first night has some problems with the local folklore.

As a film that celebrates down home Southern music, it’s pretty great. Tons of variations and a goddamn virtuosos scenes where all eras – past, present, and future – of black music combine into a celebration of song and dance. It could have been just about this and it’d be great.

But eventually the supernatural entangles the story. And I was curious to see where they’d go with all that southern folklore opportunities (like haints). All the mythology they could pull from – stories from Africa mixed with the South mixed with Creole. There aren’t enough stories celebrating all the entangled folklore of the south.

But, alas, the film is actually about vampires. Nothing against vampires (I love vampires), but it made the flick feel a little too commonplace compared to what they could have done. These vamps DO feel a little different… talking about black folk in the South, the Clan, love and togetherness, and the fact the lead vamp is Irish and happy to do a jig based on his own cultural roots.

These vamps are evil and there are some pretty badass fights between them and the juke joint patrons. It feels like a less chaotic From Dusk Til Dawn mixed with The Thing and a few other films. It’s a pretty cool final act.

But it’s also a final act that goes on and on and on. Once the folklore story ends, there’s still some revenge that’s dolled out and I ain’t against it, but by that time I thought the film was over. And then it keeps going and then it has an overlong mid-credit AND end credit scene. My bladder was not amused.

So while I think this is a pretty terrific film, its combination of not ultimately going original with its horror and an ending longer than necessary made me pull back. It’s still one of the best films of the year AND a great vampire movie… but it was just ‘this close’ to being a major winner.

Score: 90