16 Oscar nominations and $396M worldwide at the box office.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners was THE movie of 2025, gaining mass popularity for its stacked cast and incredible score; it took theaters by storm.
The film, set in Mississippi, follows twin brothers as they return home to open a night dance joint in the 1930s, only to find looming evil awaiting them and the people around them. Sinners quickly became a new favorite in the genre of Southern Gothic horror for film viewers and created something that most people had not seen in film before, despite having such a simple plotline.
Traditionally, the academy doesn’t add horror films to its nominations for films. SO, if “the academy doesn’t like horror movies,” why on earth is this the most Oscar-nominated movie of all time?
It’s simple, Sinners is so much deeper in meaning than your average Scream movie. (Not that Scream isn’t a fantastic movie, Sinners is just so much more than a horror movie.)
First and foremost, this movie tackles racism and flawed systems in such a unique way. The effects and horrors of racism aren’t just shown through the interactions and experiences of people; it’s shown through vampires.
Yes, vampires.
The first human to appear as a vampire was an Irish-American man, who, at this time, the Irish-American people faced discrimination along with many other immigrant families, such as Italian and Jewish Americans. They were seen as “poor” and “different” due to their immigrant heritage, yet still, they were seen as more human due to the color of their skin.
We then cut to the African American community, who either fought for their freedom or were sharecroppers and still faced harsh treatments and discrimination after the official end of slavery. They also live and interact daily with the Asian American people, who also face discrimination and persecution.
All different groups of people face different levels of prejudice and hate in different ways. In the film, all of the groups come together to celebrate life, drink, and party through the night, which is represented through the music and the gathering of cultures across the entire span of time to create art and life.
Yet, the joy is disturbed when the vampires, at this time all Irish-American people, come to take the souls of those celebrating. One by one, each character is taken and turned from their human self into an immortal being, symbolizing how all of us eventually become victims of hatred and bigotry spewed from those who hold the power.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Eventually, all the characters, except for Sammie Moore, die in different gruesome ways, whether it be being turned into a vampire or dying a human death, symbolizing how once you let the evils of hatred take over, it consumes until it takes everyone with it, no matter what your race is.
Overall, this movie is phenomenal and easily one of the best films we’ve seen in the last decade. We’ll see how it does at the Oscars this year, but either way, it is deserving of every single Oscar nomination that it has been awarded.