Horror movies are not my thing. I do not see the entertainment in using your money to scare yourself. But for someone who claims to abhor horror movies, I’ve seen too many werewolves and vampire movies. El Conde. Let the Right One In. The Wolfman. Twilight.  Dracular Untold. Interview With the Vampire. Nosferatu. Sinners. The lot. I’m drawn to full moons and pointed incisors. For me, werewolves aand vampire flicks are pseudo-horror. They don’t exist and therefore don’t freak me out.  Unlike Paranormal Activity, The Omen or The Conjuring. Those are haunting. Evil. Even Hellboy: The Crooked Man spooked me. I stopped watching after 25 minutes.

Now, of all the vampire movies I have seen, Nosferatu (2024) and Sinners (2025) stand out. That’s because in part, I like period or historical vampire movies. I like my fiend movies old-timey and my vampires quaint and venerable. Not vampires that drive Lamborghinis.

Nosferatu and Sinners fulfil these conditions. But something is distinguishing about Sinners. It is the theme.

THEME

The theme is the message the movie is trying to sell. It is the anchor of the movie. In Gladiator, the theme is revenge, sorrow, pride and the afterlife. In Femi Adebayo’s Seven Doors, it is duplicity, greed, rite of passage and victory. In The Shawshank Redemption, it is perseverance, hope and redemption. Even if you cannot identify or articulate a movie’s theme, it must be intuitive. You must sense and feel it.

And it helps if the theme is intriguing. Sinners’ theme centres around African spirituality, freedom, music and dance, rebirth and immortality. That’s a pretty powerful theme. It goes against the usual vampire trope.

ATTRACTION

Then there is the attraction of the movie. Its premise and entertainment value. Sinners premise is an attractive one. Artsy Irish vampires in the US South promising equality and immortality for black folks during 1930s Jim Crow. It is different. It is beckoning. This is not about a vampire falling in love with a woman or snoozing in coffins. Sinners is a dainty morsel that titillates salivation. And as for the entertainment value, well, the reason we go to the cinema is to be entertained, isn’t it? There was not one unnecessary or boring minute in Sinners. I enjoyed it to the nth degree.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

And oh, the cinematography! What glorious picture! If I lived in 1930s Mississippi, I suspect it would look like it did in Sinners.

I could talk about the simultaneous shooting on Ultra Panavision 70 and IMAX 65 film cameras. I could talk about the colour, depth of field or the innovative halo rig harnessed to Michael B Jordan. I could talk about the editing. They won’t mean a thing to you. What matters to you is how the pictures come out in the end. And it is eye candy. At the 98th Academy Awards, I’d expect Sinners to bag a raft of nominations. Original Screenplay. Cinematography. Music. Original Score. Editing. Best Picture. Director.  

PLOT

Regarding the plot, in Coogler’s Sinners, the undead love to sing and dance. Black and caucasian bloodsuckers united in the brotherhood of blues music and immortality. Naturally, they wet their whistles with the blood of the living while at it. Ultimately, salvation comes. But it is an unexpected ending. And was that an Oyo-type tribal mark on the cheek of the old Sammie Moore?! The Africa in the movie is strong.

One of the most memorable and eerie scenes in the movie is the juke joint dance scene. Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore plays his guitar. The music is otherworldly. Unknowingly, it summons spirit beings from different cultures and eras. They joined the unseeing revellers in the dance. It’s an enchanting scene.

CHRISTIAN BACKLASH

Now, about the backlash from Christians.

Across social media, there was Christian exhortation against seeing the movie. For many, it glorified hoodoo and witchcraft and may lead to exposure to demonic influences.

The exhortation is not without merit. There were both subtle and obvious anti-Christian sentiments in the movie.  There was a scene where Sammie, cornered by Remmick, the “Chief Vampire”, began to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Shockingly, Remmick and other vampires joined Sammie in reciting the prayer. Remmick said his Irish ancestors were forced into Christianity, but he’d always  liked the Lord’s Prayer.

The message was subtle; evil is not vanquished by God. You need to try something outside of God for salvation.

Codswallop. 

My observation is that the hue and cry against Sinners is from African American Christians. Apparently, in the community, many are now experimenting with hoodoo and traditional African spirituality. Ostensibly in search of an identity. Taraji P Henson wore a white dress to the Met Gala. When asked what was “the secret detail about her dress that no-one else knows,”  she said the dress was based on the “Yoruba culture…and the women who pay honours to a deity…they wore white, because it represents transformation and spirituality and uhm…that’s where I am right now. ”

At an interview, Michael B Jordan said the “B” in his name stood for “Bakari” but can also stand for “Babalawo”, a Yoruba warlock. Wunmi Mosaku, “Annie” and a hoodoo practitioner in the film, intimated that she is now embracing her African ancestral identity and hoodoo. The comments by Michael B Jordan and Wunmi Mosaku didn’t endear them to many Christians. Y’all messing with demons. 

And hey, why doest it have to be with Yoruba spirituality? Why not try Amadioha or the Long Juju of Arochukwu?

Look, I am a Christian and discern the anti-Christian propaganda in the movie. But no be today. Everybody takes potshots at Christianity that they will not otherwise take against Islam or traditional African religion. We are used to it. Jesus said to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  So, we forgive Ryan Coogler. And we pray for Hollywood. But as a creative endeavour, Sinners is a must-see.

To wrap, I am on the side of gospel rapper Lecrae concerning seeing Sinners.

“From a filmmaking standpoint, it’s dope. Great visuals, storytelling, strong character development — definitelyinspiring for young Black creatives. The time travel, cultural callbacks, and imagery are powerful,” he said. “But…I felt some anti-Christian propaganda.

The film flips traditional vampire tropes — usually it’s crosses, holy water, and the church standing strong against evil. In this movie, Christianity is either irrelevant or oppressive, and power is found in African spiritual practices. Hoodoo, not the Holy Spirit, is the weapon of choice.

The “Sinner’s Prayer” scene lowkey mocks the faith, and the church is portrayed more as a place of shame than sanctuary,” Lecrae wrote. “The voodoo priestess is the wise guide. And a character says something along the lines of, “Blues was created by us, not like gospel which was forced on us,” I was like daaang.

“It’s a BEAUTIFUL piece of work. So yeah, watch it — but go in with eyes wide open,” he wrote.. “He’s fighting evil with evil in the movie, and unfortunately Christianity takes the L for the sake of cultural empowerment. Beautifully shot. Spiritually conflicted.”

That was what I did when I went to watch Sinners. I went with my eyes wide open and garbed in the “full armour of God.”

Ultimately, I can’t tell you if you should go see Sinners. If you don’t like horror movies, Sinners is not your fare. If you are in double minds, maybe you shouldn’t see it. But if you like a superbly-made and entertaining movie, then go see it.

But remember, in the language of the streets, “ija wa, ija o si, always guiding.”