In 1932, twin brothers Smoke and Stack return to Clarksdale, Mississippi, after years away. They buy an old sawmill and open a juke joint for the black community. Their cousin Sammie, a gifted blues guitarist, wants to play music even though his preacher father tells him to leave it alone. The night turns into a violent vampire siege when a group of white strangers asks to join the party. The film mixes horror, blues, crime, and family drama. The white vampire Remmick says he believes in equality and music, but he wants Sammie and the club's guests to join his group. Annie, a Hoodoo practitioner and Smoke's former partner, helps the group understand the threat and fight back. Sammie's choice between his father's church and the blues, and the community's struggle to protect its music and survive, shape the action.
Community feedback
Was our 68% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Sinners.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The black community and Chinese-American family fit this Mississippi Delta setting.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Smoke tells Sammie that Chicago has Mississippi's racial limits, only with tall buildings. Delta Slim says white crowds liked blues but disliked the black people who made it. Remmick tells the club he believes in equality and music as he seeks entry. The film ties race and music ownership to the main conflict.
27%
Identity-driven story themes
Sammie's blues draws the white vampires to the juke joint. Remmick offers the club unity and family, then tries to bring its people and its music into his group. Sammie's song links Black music to past and future generations. The story treats Black music, Hoodoo, and community memory as strengths worth defending.
65%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Sammie's preacher father takes his guitar and calls blues sinful. Sammie leaves the church to play music and resists the order to sing only for the Lord. Annie's Hoodoo knowledge helps identify the vampires and guides the group's defense. Sammie returns to church after the attack, then the ending shows him as a blues musician.
35%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Sinners uses original characters in a fictional story.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Jason Whitlock called the film anti-white and said it could teach young viewers to hate white people. Several other X accounts repeated claims that it treats white people as evil or shows them stealing black culture. NewsOne and EURweb covered Whitlock's accusation, and The Gospel Coalition quoted Lecrae calling the church theme anti-Christian propaganda. The supplied X pass found complaints on several accounts, including a large account.
47%
Creator track record context
Ryan Coogler has organized for racial justice and made work about black history and identity. He said Sinners grew from his uncle's blues music and linked music categories to race. Zinzi Coogler has supported culturally specific black storytelling. Ludwig Göransson has researched African and Maya music for earlier films.
66%
Production
Movie · 2020
Rachel is a divorced single mother whose bad day gets even worse. She's running late to drop her son off at school when she honks her horn impatiently at a fellow driver during…
Movie · 2024
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to…
Movie · 2024
Characters from different backgrounds are thrown together when the plane they're travelling on crashes into the Pacific Ocean.
Movie · 2019
A man steps out of a park fountain in Ho Chi Minh City with no recollection of who he is or where he came from.
Movie · 2018
After an unprecedented global pandemic has turned the majority of humankind into violent infected beings, Morgan, a man gifted with the ability to speak the infected's new…
Movie · 2020
A soldier and his team battle hordes of post-apocalyptic zombies in the wastelands of the Korean Peninsula.
Movie · 2022
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use.
Movie · 2019
A typical night for veterans at a VFW turns into an all-out battle for survival when a desperate teen runs into the bar with a bag of stolen drugs.
