Sinners review – Ryan Coogler’s sexy southern gothic horror is a blast

Michael B Jordan stars as twin 1930s mobsters in the Black Panther director’s phenomenal-looking, blues-infused supernatural tale

In Black Panther (2018) and its sequel, Wakanda Forever (2022), Ryan Coogler directed two of Marvel’s most satisfying and textured recent movies. His 2015 Rocky spin-off Creed represents the gold standard when it comes to franchise-wrangling, honouring the original series yet standing up and fighting its own corner as a distinct movie. If anyone has earned the chance to make a passion project, it’s Coogler. But who knew that this would result in something as wild, untrammelled and thrillingly unpredictable as Sinners? Starring Michael B Jordan in the dual role of 1930s gangster twins Smoke (surly, threatening) and Stack (charming, reckless), it’s a sweltering, sexy southern gothic horror, a blues-infused vampire flick in which the music flows as freely as the blood.

The brothers leave Chicago with the kind of cash that usually comes with a body count. Back in their Mississippi homeland, they team up with a young cousin, aspiring bluesman Sammie (Miles Caton, an impressive newcomer with deep, rich bourbon-soaked voice). The plan: to open a Black-owned juke joint under the noses of the Ku Klux Klan. But it turns out that an even greater evil awaits them.

In UK and Irish cinemas