Marvel's Best Director Is About to Revitalize an Underrated Horror Genre
Dance with the devil.
There’s a real demand out there for a Black vampire film, and even if Marvel still can’t seem to figure out how to make its Blade reboot work, another MCU alum has us covered. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler has stepped back from Marvel to shepherd a new horror film starring frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan. Sinners will hopefully deliver everything horror fans have been hoping for... and maybe a little extra.
While there isn’t much known about the plot yet, the trailer for Sinners sets the stage well enough to keep us invested. Jordan will star as twin brothers, one of whom might secretly be a vampire. And he’s not the only bloodsucker stalking the southern town they call home, forcing our protagonist, Smoke, to face the might of a full-on vampire invasion. Adding a bit more flavor to the festivities is its period setting, which pushes Sinners into a horror subgenre that’s been missing on the big screen for some time.
The return of the vampire period drama
There was a time when Victorian horror films were a dime a dozen, particularly if a villainous bloodsucker was involved. Age-old vampire stories, like Dracula and Nosferatu, were once a staple of the genre that were remade time and again. But somewhere along the way, Hollywood became more interested in exploring present-day vampires.
That’s resulted in some fun films, like Only Lovers Left Alive and this year’s Abigail, but it’s also limited the historical vampire stories we’ve seen on the big screen. There was 2023’s middling The Last Voyage of the Demeter and 2014’s Dracula Untold, a superhero-esque origin story for the vamp with a less-than-stellar reputation, and that’s been about it for high-profile period films. There have been some good contemporary vampire thrillers, but you would arguably have to go all the way back to 1994’s Interview With the Vampire, much of which is also set in the South, for a well-regarded look at vampire history.
Sinners represents a return to form in more ways than one. The film has a refreshingly straightforward premise, borrowing from classic horror stories like Night of the Living Dead. It will also share some connective tissue with Black-led historical series like Lovecraft Country and Interview with a Vampire. It will be interesting to see what else Coogler brings in his first horror film, but vampire lovers should be in good hands next year.
