Joey Magidson
The Sunday Scaries are upon us once again! Yes, as the weekend concludes, most of us feel an oncoming sense of anticipatory dread about the week ahead. Anxiety about work manifests itself into a feeling that’s known as the Sunday Scaries. However, we at Awards Radar are here to combat that, by taking back the name. Now, we want you think about a horror-centric piece on the site when you hear the term. So, let us continue on with another installment of the Awards Radar Sunday Scaries! Today, a wonderful new release has us again pondering why we don’t get usually good vampire movies anymore, especially when this one is so damn good Read on for more…
This weekend, Sinners opens with some of the highest critical acclaim of the year so far. Now, it’s a Ryan Coogler film, so that’s not too crazy, but the fact that he’s doing a big vampire movie is notable. I’ve written a few times within this column about how rarely we get a good vampire flick, so the fact that Coogler so overwhelmingly has achieved that is worth celebrating. In fact, it’s also a template for other auteurs to follow.
My rave review here on the site gets into it all, writing:
Okay, listen up folks. For anyone who ever complains that Hollywood never does anything original, Sinners is for you. This is the type of film that spits in the face of those who say cinema has nothing new to offer. By taking one of the oldest movie monsters there is, spinning them on their ear, and filtering it through a setting/time period that’s never utilized them before, and you have something completely singular. There has never been anything quite like Sinners. Not only is this 2025’s first truly great blockbuster, it’s also the best film of the year so far.
Sinners absolutely rocks. Bloody, horny, musical, and full of genre-bending on the part of filmmaker Ryan Coogler, it’s all the right kinds of audacious. What begins as a light period drama, with plenty of reverence for the power of music, it slowly but surely transforms into horror, with the third act becoming an actual bloodbath. Through it all, there’s impeccable technical aspects, first rate acting, and a true feeling that you’re watching the full possibilities of film. Coogler makes movies for the big screen, with Sinners being just the latest example of an event picture, meant to be seen with the best sound and on the biggest screen possible.
Ryan Coogler manages to make this as much of an epic blockbuster as his Black Panther or Creed work, while also telling it with an arthouse eye, on the level of Fruitvale Station. It’s his best and most complete work to date. Visually, it looks great, whether it’s the beauty of the Delta or the horror of blood spilling. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw gives everything scope, while Coogler allows the world to breathe. Combined with the Ruth E. Carter costumes, the setting comes alive. Composer Ludwig Göransson also contributes a wonderfully intense score. Coogler’s direction and pacing take all of that and mix it together with his incredibly lively script. It’s a surprisingly horny and sexual one, especially prior to the attack in the back section, which adds a ton of personality, while still meshing well with what’s ultimately, at least in part, a vampire tale. However, his crowning achievement is in showcasing the power of music. There’s a sequence where that’s laid bare for you to take in, and boy is it sumptuous. This is something special from Coogler.
The thing is, vampires shouldn’t be this hard to do, that it takes Coogler to come in and hit it out of the park. Last year, Robert Eggers did a good job with Nosferatu (reviewed here), but recently we’ve had rough efforts like The Last Voyage of the Demeter (reviewed here) and especially Morbius (reviewed here). So, seeing Sinners do it so well is incredibly exciting. The talent involved shouldn’t make its success a surprise, and yet, given how rarely vampires show up in quality cinema these days, you want to shout from the rooftops.
Moreover, this is more just a new way of doing them than some kind of massive reinvention. Michael B. Jordan and the cast, from Jack O’Connell and Hailee Steinfeld on down (mentioning them for reasons that are apparent once you see the flick), do a lot here, but Coogler’s vision of vampires down in the Delta feels visceral. He uses the classic movie monster to serve his story and his purpose, not the other way around, which make a major difference.
Hopefully, more filmmakers can take a cue from Coogler and do their own version of Sinners. Not only would that give us a ton of new horror movies that do vampires or any monster enjoyably, but it’ll just provide a ton of high quality cinema. That’s something everyone can sink their teeth into, undead or not…
Stay tuned for another Sunday Scaries installment next week!
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