Ryan Coogler’s latest film, “Sinners,” has become the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2025, making over $250 million worldwide within three weeks of its release date. Featuring Michael B. Jordan in a dual role, alongside Hailee Steinfeld and newcomer Miles Caton, “Sinners’” theatrical success was built upon an incredible word-of-mouth campaign and 70mm IMAX showings. Despite a series of critical articles focused on the movie’s profitability, “Sinners” has surpassed expectations for an R-rated horror, especially one that centers a Black cast in the 1930s Mississippi Delta. “Sinners” is still showing in theatres (including the Rutgers Cinema), so this article will not feature any major spoilers for the movie!
“Sinners” is the second major vampire-centric movie making waves in 2025. Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” was released on Christmas of 2024, with hype for the movie sustaining through the winter. Drawing inspiration from F. W. Murnau’s and Werner Herzog’s 1922 and 1979 films, respectively, about Nosferatu and Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula,” Eggers’ “Nosferatu” is the classic vampire reborn on screen. The story submerges the audience into 1800s Germany, starring Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, and Bill Skarsgård. Emblematic of a well-done period piece, “Nosferatu” earned nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 97th Academy Awards.
However, the most important thing about these two movies is, in fact, not the vampire renaissance or the recession indicators. “Nosferatu” and “Sinners” both expand the vampire mythology beyond Stoker’s 1897 “Dracula” (and previous vampire stories), but they hold on tightly to the central female character of the original novel: Mina Murray-Harker. The original “Dracula” is a compilation of letters and journal entries, archived by the wife of Jonathan Harker, with the Harkers and their friends working to ward off Dracula’s influence in England. The unfortunate case of this classic novel is that its 1992 movie adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola is entirely unfaithful to the book. The book itself is tragic, romantic, and understands that the vampire Dracula is a villain, as well as the strife that he represents.Â
“Nosferatu’s” titular character represents the fear of the plague as well as the fear of female sexuality that permeated 19th-century society, while “Sinners’” vampire Remmick represents cultural assimilation and loss of community. Both of these interpretations are present in Stoker’s novel, with one particularly poignant quote by Jonathan Harker:
“I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks.”
Page 322 of Dracula by Bram Stoker
Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen in “Nosferatu” and Wunmi Mosaku’s Annie in “Sinners” both fulfill the Mina Murray archetype that Winona Ryder’s character could not in Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” They are the women who recognize they are in a horror movie, the women who know how to save the day. Willem Dafoe’s von Franz tells Ellen that she would have been “a priestess of the goddess Isis” in another time, and Annie’s spiritual practice of hoodoo enables her knowledge of tactics to kill a vampire. Both movies highlight the roles of their prophetic female leads in defeating the vampires, just as the original novel did. Mina Murray-Harker is the savior of the classic vampire novel, hidden away in every subsequent adaptation that replaces her with Lucy Westenra’s damsel-in-distress. Ellen and Annie’s knowledge is what saves the other main characters of “Nosferatu” and “Sinners,” and they represent the centrality of the female characters in vampire horror.Â
If you’re looking for more vampires and more women, try out the podcast “Re: Dracula,” a faithful audio drama of the 1897 novel. AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” is now on its third season, adapting Anne Rice’s 1976 book series, and Hulu’s “What We Do In the Shadows” recently concluded with six seasons. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” and John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” are two short stories that precede Stoker’s “Dracula,” and both are absolutely worth a read for any budding vampire enthusiast!