Sinners is being called the most original horror film in a decade — genuine masterpiece or is the bar for 'original' just embarrassingly low now?

• MS

  Morgan S.3d ago

  The boyfriend who fell asleep during Sinners is wrong and this is not subjective.

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• JB

  Jordan B.2d ago

  at the end of the day a Black director made an ambitious, expensive, original horror film rooted in Black history and folklore, it's performing, critics love it, and audiences love it. whatever you want to argue about originality thresholds — this matters for what gets made next. root for it.

  256Reply
• MM

  Maya M.2d ago

  Nope is sitting in the corner crying reading these comments and it deserves better from all of us.

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• DB

  Diego B.4d ago

  ok but can we talk about Delroy Lindo in this?? why is everyone talking about MBJ and not the fact that Delroy Lindo gave one of the best supporting performances of the past decade in this film

  211Reply
• JB

  Jamie B.4d ago

  My grandfather was from the Mississippi Delta. He played harmonica his whole life and always talked about the crossroads mythology, the way Blues music felt like it was summoning something. I took my mom to see this last weekend and she grabbed my arm during the juke joint sequence and whispered 'baby that's real.' She's 71. She's not a film person. She just knew it was true. You can't manufacture that.

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• E

  Elena4d ago

  The Jim Crow setting isn't just atmosphere or backdrop. The film is explicitly arguing that the vampires are a metaphor for how white supremacist systems feed on Black joy and cultural expression. That's not subtle and it's not supposed to be. Some critics are weirdly uncomfortable just saying that out loud.

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• TT

  Theo T.2d ago

  the low bar argument is basically just a way to feel smarter than people who liked something. 'you only think it's great because everything else is terrible' is not the gotcha people think it is. it doesn't make the experience of watching it less real.

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• YB

  Yuki B.3d ago

  I came in skeptical. I left converted. I don't know what else to tell you. Some movies just get you.

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  Drew5d ago

  I genuinely haven't felt that way sitting in a theater since Get Out. There's a scene in the middle of this film — you know the one — where the music just pulls every timeline into the same room and I had actual tears running down my face. Not because it was sad. Because it was BEAUTIFUL. That's not a low bar. That's a film doing something cinema almost never does.

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  Iris4d ago

  People keep saying vampire film like that's a mark against it. Nosferatu is a vampire film. Interview with the Vampire is a vampire film. The genre has produced masterpieces. What matters is what you do inside the container, not the container itself.

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• K

  Kofi4d ago

  Michael B Jordan playing twins could've been a gimmick and it absolutely is not. Both characters feel completely distinct not just physically but in how they carry their trauma. That's acting. That's also direction. Both.

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  Feli3d ago

  the cinematography alone justifies every word of praise. I keep seeing screenshots and they look like paintings. when was the last time a wide release horror film was genuinely BEAUTIFUL to look at

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• Q

  Quinn2d ago

  Two years from now this will be taught in film classes and that commenter will still be on the internet explaining why actually the hype was overblown.

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• D

  Diego4d ago

  the fact that this is an original IP that cost a real budget and opened huge at the box office is genuinely important for the industry regardless of whether you personally loved the film. studios will greenlight more original stuff if this keeps performing. that matters.

  156Reply
• E_

  Elena _x3d ago

  I'll say something controversial: the 'best horror in a decade' crowd has apparently forgotten Hereditary, Midsommar, The Witch, The Blackcoat's Daughter, Men, Saint Maud, Talk to Me, and about fifteen other films that were doing formally adventurous horror before Sinners. It's great. It's not the salvation of the genre.

  156Reply
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  Diego4d ago

  I think the 'originality bar is low' crowd is technically correct but functionally wrong. Yes, studios have trained us to be grateful for scraps. But the response to that isn't to be cynical about a genuinely good film. It's to demand more genuinely good films.

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• K

  Kofi2d ago

  What strikes me is how rare it is for a genre film to be in genuine conversation with history, folklore, music theory, and American racial politics all at once without any of those elements feeling like they were bolted on. Every element is doing thematic work. That's craft, not coincidence.

  145Reply
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  Noah5d ago

  the bar discourse is so exhausting. can people just enjoy a good movie without having to debate whether their enjoyment is legitimate

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  Jamie4d ago

  I work at a movie theater and the audience reactions have been unlike anything in years. People cheering, gasping, one lady literally stood up and started swaying during that sequence. You can't fake that energy. Critics can debate originality all they want, real audiences are connecting with this film viscerally.

  143Reply
• YS

  Yuki S.3d ago

  Comparing it to A24 horror is kind of apples and oranges though. Those are small budget art house films with limited releases. Sinners is doing this at a studio scale with a wide release. That's a different achievement entirely.

  141Reply
• O

  Omar2d ago

  The ending is the bravest thing about the film. It refuses to offer comfort or clean resolution. That IS the horror — not the vampires, but what survives them and what doesn't. If you wanted a tidy conclusion you missed what it was saying.

  136Reply
• S_

  Sam _x4d ago

  Saw it twice already. Second viewing you catch so much more. The way sound design does things the dialogue never has to say out loud. Coogler and Autumn Durald Arkapaw's cinematography is doing half the storytelling. It's a film that rewards attention.

  134Reply
• T

  Taylor3d ago

  The music-horror integration is literally the whole point of the film though. The vampire threat is about what happens when music — this transcendent, culturally sacred thing — gets corrupted and weaponized. Saying the two genres don't integrate is missing the entire thesis.

  134Reply
• E

  Elena4d ago

  As someone who studies American folk music history, the accuracy and depth of how this film treats Blues mythology is remarkable. They clearly consulted people who know this material. The crossroads legend, the way music is depicted as literally capable of tearing the veil between worlds — it's rooted in real cultural belief systems, not Hollywood invention.

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• N

  Noah4d ago

  I'm going to be the contrarian here: it's a very good film, maybe even great, but the third act loses the thematic thread a little. The first 90 minutes are as controlled and purposeful as anything I've seen in years, and then it just becomes a siege movie. That doesn't make it bad. It makes it an A minus instead of an A plus. The discourse has no room for A minuses right now.

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• ER

  Elena R.3d ago

  The score by Ludwig Göransson is doing so much heavy lifting that I almost feel bad for how little credit it's getting in the discourse. The way the music physically transforms as the horror escalates is technically and emotionally extraordinary.

  98Reply
• Q

  Quinn4d ago

  Hot take nobody wants to hear: the horror elements are actually the weakest part of the film. The mythology, the music, the historical setting, the family dynamics — all extraordinary. The actual vampire violence is fairly conventional. Which is fine! But let's not pretend the scary parts are what makes it special.

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• R

  Ravi3d ago

  This is genuinely wrong and you will regret it. The sound design in a proper theater versus your TV speakers is not a minor difference for this specific film. The juke joint sequence alone.

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  Feli3d ago

  Yes absolutely accessible, the film does its own worldbuilding. You don't need prior knowledge. Just go.

  87Reply
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  Marco2d ago

  I've seen it and I think it's excellent but I do want to push back on 'best horror in a decade' because that's genuinely an absurd overstatement when this decade has had Hereditary, Midsommar, Nope, Us, Men, and others. Best wide release studio horror in years? Absolutely. Let's be precise.

  84Reply
• JS

  Jamie S.3d ago

  What I find interesting is that nobody seems to be asking whether the horror-musical hybrid genre actually works coherently. It's doing two very different emotional things in the same film. Get Out worked because the horror WAS the social commentary, inseparable from it. In Sinners the music scenes feel like a different, better movie occasionally interrupting a pretty solid horror movie.

  78Reply
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  Hana2d ago

  look. coogler is talented. the film is good. but the internet has a tendency to collectively decide something is transcendent in real time because everyone wants to be part of the moment. give it two years and people will have more nuanced takes. right now we're in the hype bubble.

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• A_

  Alex _x4d ago

  my boyfriend fell asleep during it so maybe it's not as universally brilliant as twitter is claiming lol

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• Y

  Yuki2d ago

  been seeing some takes that the ending is too ambiguous and unsatisfying. Personally I thought it was perfect but I'm curious what other people think. felt true to the mythology they built.

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  Sam4d ago

  Coogler has been one of the most overrated directors working today and Sinners isn't going to change my mind. Fruitvale Station was his peak. Everything since has been technically proficient but emotionally hollow. Fight me.

  34Reply
• K

  Kofi3d ago

  genuine question: is this accessible if you're not particularly familiar with Blues history or the Delta region? asking for my friend group who are mostly into Marvel and action films and are considering it

  23Reply
• D

  Drew3d ago

  I'll wait for streaming. I said what I said. Not every film needs to be a theater experience.

  19Reply

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