Ryan Coogler’s superb slice of Southern Gothic, set in the 1930s, sees Michael B. Jordan play twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return from Chicago to their Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint where the local African American community can socialise safely. However, the venue’s entertainment, an ad hoc group of blues musicians, draws the dangerous attentions of local vampires, led by music-loving Irish immigrant Remmick (Jack O’Connell). A stand-off ensues in this bravura mix of music and horror.

Notes by Kevin Coyne

See also IFI Talks – “I Am Your Way Out”: Sinners and the Promise of Vampiric Escapism.