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"Sinners" is incredible.
I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. Our own Alix Blackburn declared Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's vampire horror film her "favorite movie of 2025 so far."
While I agree with her, that wasn't the first thought I had while watching it. Instead, I couldn't get over how Coogler basically did his own version of "From Dusk Till Dawn" — only much better.
The similarities between 'Sinners' and 'From Dusk Till Dawn' are uncanny — but Coogler's movie is so much more
For the record, I love "From Dusk Till Dawn." It's definitely my favorite movie about vampires and it might just be my favorite horror movie. It's certainly in the conversation.
If you've never seen it, "From Dusk Till Dawn" is a movie about two brothers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) who, while on the run from trouble, end up in a saloon having to fight off a horde of vampires.
If you've already seen "Sinners," that premise might seem familiar. After all, it's a movie about two brothers (both Michael B. Jordan), who open a juke joint and end up having to fight off a horde of vampires.
Oh, and it turns out that they, too, might be running from some trouble.
The similarities go beyond that. One brother is level-headed, the other isn't. One brother has to decide at one point whether or not to kill the other, who has turned into a vampire.
There are even similarities in dialogue, with both Clooney's Seth Gecko and Jordan's Smoke having lines in their respective movies about how they don't believe in vampires. Each movie also features eerily similar rundowns of what can potentially hurt or kill a vampire: stakes, garlic, etc.
However, "From Dusk Till Dawn" is nothing more than a B-movie pulpy action movie about surviving a vampiric assault. There's no deeper meaning.
"Sinners," though, is more than just a higher-budget vampire thriller with better production values.
There are layers of depth to the story, with the movie also serving as an examination of Mississippi Delta blues music and life under Jim Crow in 1932. And it does both incredibly well.
Like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino before him, Ryan Coogler wants to make a great vampire movie. But he's also trying to deliver a deeper message, and his ability to do both seamlessly is a big part of what makes "Sinners" so special.
If you've already seen the movie or read about it, you know that there's an moment in the middle of the movie where Sammie (Miles Caton, in an incredible debut performance), is playing guitar at the juke joint and suddenly, the scene transforms into an audio/visual brief history of Black music in America. Salma Hayek dancing for Quentin Tarantino at the Titty Twister, it is not.
But as amazing as that scene is, it's not the one that sticks in my mind the most.
That honor goes to when Smoke goes into a store in Clarksdale and asks the shopkeeper, Bo (Yao), for a sign to be made for the juke joint. Bo then tells his daughter Lisa (Helena Hu) to go find her mother, Grace (Li Jun Li), and so she goes across the street to an identical shop and gets her mother.
Well, nearly identical. Because while the shop Smoke is in is filled with patrons of color, the other shop is solely filled with white people. In fact, each side of the street in town is segregated by race.
It's a moment that drives home that yes, like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino before him, Ryan Coogler wants to make a great vampire movie. But he's also trying to deliver a deeper message, and his ability to do both seamlessly is a big part of what makes "Sinners" so special.
Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.
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