Some of you may be familiar with GenXvZ: A Movie Podcast, which I co-host with my daughter, MacKenzie. We are both film school grads, and we review current films and discuss what we believe makes them great or what caused them to miss the mark. A common refrain that is often heard in our podcast is the lamenting of original material in cinema these days. We all know we’re constantly being force-fed tentpole content from sequels or franchises that have done a lot to suck the joy out of cinema over the past decade. Unfortunately, when studios have taken risks with new or original material over the past couple of years, it seems that those efforts have been met with collective yawns from audiences.
That has changed with Sinners.
Sinners has been in theaters for 10 days and it has raked in a whopping $122.5 million domestically and $161.6 million worldwide. It had an opening weekend box office total of $48 million, and it only dropped 6% on its second weekend for another massive haul of $45 million.
Sinners was written and directed by Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed, Fruitvale Station), a director who has demonstrated equal comfort in the franchise, indie, and blockbuster spaces. He has directed some of the biggest box office hits of all time and is one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers of his generation. With Sinners, he moves into the Horror genre, using his impeccable filmmaking style to craft a film that is entertaining while also being thematically deep with elements of racism, social justice, friendship, family, and ethics brought to the forefront of the storytelling. This is a graphically violent film that isn’t gratuitous. This is a sexy film that is tasteful. Most importantly, this is a fantasy film that is honest.
Relationships drive this film
I believe Sinners is resonating with audiences so effectively because this is a movie about people. That might sound like a simple statement, but one of my problems with the horror genre is that the characters are rarely people: they’re meat puppets. They’re characters lining up for the slaughter. You might care about one weak girl that you hope will get away, but you’re rarely emotionally engaging with anyone. The best horror movies, such as Dracula, The Shining, Misery, The Silence of the Lambs, and Get Out, all feature protagonists we care about. They’re deep characters with pathos, inner demons, or outer needs that we can relate to. The rest are just slasher movies. “Sinners” joins the pantheon of great horror movies because it gives us the same qualities those other great films gave us as well.
Sinners is also an exceptionally well-made film. Coogler wrote the screenplay and directed the film, and he brought out all the stops to make this a fantastic film. His use of long takes heightens the drama and the suspense. His lighting heightens the mood. The story’s pacing keeps us riveted and on the edge of our seats.
The social message carries much of the film’s weight
It should not be understated that Coogler is African American, as is Michael B. Jordan, the film’s biggest star. Almost the entire cast is made up of people of color, with the exception of the antagonists, who are all white. The symbolism in this film is clear, and yet it has found a wide audience that, by all accounts, crosses all demographics. In a time as divisive as the one we’re currently living in, the fact that a film with such a diverse cast can be made and be as successful as it has is as encouraging as any other positive news this film’s success brings.
Additionally, there is a message in the casting. The message isn’t that all white people are monsters and that the only good people are people of color. That’s where the depth of the story makes its greatest impact. The white people are also vampires. They didn’t start out that way. They became vampires because they were attacked by other vampires. Similarly, no one is born racist. People become racists by being taught and raised by other racists. Monsters aren’t born, they’re created. That is one of the driving messages of the film, and that type of symbolism is an example of what separates Sinners from other horror movies.
If you have not seen Sinners yet, please make it a point to do so. This is the type of film that cinema fans must support, not only for the writers and directors who make the films, but also for the studio executives to see that investing in this type of material can be profitable.