I watched Magnolia years ago. Didn't like it.
SINNERS is the finest vampire movie in at least 33 years
I hated Sinners. Nothing happened for the first third of the movie and the vampires made no sense. Everyone who gets bitten and survives becomes a vampire. Everyone who gets bitten and dies also becomes a vampire. Besides the fact that the whole world would be nothing but vampires within a few weeks, the vampires are not actually killing anyone, so why are they the bad guys in this movie? Let's all be vampires! They are all telepathically connected so there will be no wars. Speaking of which...
Why did the vampires let themselves get burned up in the sun? They were all telepathically connected to their maker, so they should've known that sunlight is deadly. And why didn't they warn their maker that someone was sneaking up behind him to stab him in the back? They all watched it happen. Throughout the movie, vampires seem instinctively compelled to transform all humans around them into vampires. But then we learn that two of them survived into the modern age and calmly leave when the main character refuses their offer to become a vampire.
The main character has some kind of spiritual power to call on the spirits of musicians from the past and future to enhance his music. But no one actually sees them, so in practical terms, the only thing his music does is attract vampires. If it was me, I would give it up.
Why did the vampires let themselves get burned up in the sun? They were all telepathically connected to their maker, so they should've known that sunlight is deadly. And why didn't they warn their maker that someone was sneaking up behind him to stab him in the back? They all watched it happen. Throughout the movie, vampires seem instinctively compelled to transform all humans around them into vampires. But then we learn that two of them survived into the modern age and calmly leave when the main character refuses their offer to become a vampire.
The main character has some kind of spiritual power to call on the spirits of musicians from the past and future to enhance his music. But no one actually sees them, so in practical terms, the only thing his music does is attract vampires. If it was me, I would give it up.
I mean the stuff in the first third of the film is character, it's world building, it's making these people seem like real people so we give a shit when they die?
As for everyone who's bit becomes a vampire, I have to wonder how many vampire films you've actually seen because that's an extremely common trope. Not always for sure, often its a case of the vampire draining his victim and then feeding it his blood to turn them, but simple transmission, vampirism as a virus, is probably as popular, heck go back to Bram Stoker, Dracula drains Lucy until she dies, and then she comes back as a vampire.
By all means don't like a film, but criticising a vampire movie for doing things at least 50% of vampire movies do seems odd.
As for everyone who's bit becomes a vampire, I have to wonder how many vampire films you've actually seen because that's an extremely common trope. Not always for sure, often its a case of the vampire draining his victim and then feeding it his blood to turn them, but simple transmission, vampirism as a virus, is probably as popular, heck go back to Bram Stoker, Dracula drains Lucy until she dies, and then she comes back as a vampire.
By all means don't like a film, but criticising a vampire movie for doing things at least 50% of vampire movies do seems odd.
Also, it isn't a genre film. The vampire part of the story serves the broader elements of living in a world where one is considered an "other" and the things one does to keep a sense of self and find pleasure and one's own place and sense of power in that world. Also what happens sometimes when someone who is without power in society is suddenly presented with a form of power. What do you do with it? It has a lot of elements that are relevant to what is going on in America and the world right now. In that sense, it is a great companion piece with One Battle After Another.
I've watched plenty of vampire movies and it's not as common as you think. Dracula 2000 is the only other movie that comes to mind where both the survivors and the dead become vampires. (EDIT: I think From Dusk Till Dawn and The Last Voyage of the Demeter may be other examples). In the Dracula novel, this only happens to those who die. In many movies, it only happens to those who survive. In others, it requires vampire blood. Sometimes just drinking the vampire blood is enough, but in other stories, the victim needs to be drained first, as you mentioned.
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Of the top of my head....
Eli bites a women in Let The Right One In who doesn't die but still turns into a vampire.
Caleb is bitten in Near Dark, not killed and becomes a vampire.
In Abigail, Abigail bites Sammy on the arm and she turns into a vampire without dying first.
The Sheriff in 30 Days of Night becomes a vampire purely by injecting himself with vampire blood.
There are a whole heap of variations obviously, but the point remains that the vampire lifecycle shown in Sinners isn't remotely atypical.
Eli bites a women in Let The Right One In who doesn't die but still turns into a vampire.
Caleb is bitten in Near Dark, not killed and becomes a vampire.
In Abigail, Abigail bites Sammy on the arm and she turns into a vampire without dying first.
The Sheriff in 30 Days of Night becomes a vampire purely by injecting himself with vampire blood.
There are a whole heap of variations obviously, but the point remains that the vampire lifecycle shown in Sinners isn't remotely atypical.
A friend of mine yesterday asked me to compare FROM DUSK TO DAWN with SINNERS...which is comparatively similar to comparing WYATT EARP with TOMBSTONE. Both films share the same frenetic ending, but SINNERS clearly goes farther in virtually every respect, even while lacking a special-FX sex machine and classic black hammers.
It would have quite fun had DAWN's studio not to reveal the sudden genre twist halfway through. I love major surprises. That's partially why the first ALIEN trailers intrigued so many people in 1979.
One of my favorite moments near the end of SINNERS is when one of the vampires displays great concern for ANNIE. It was lots more justifiable----and moving---- than the terrorist in VANTAGE POINT swerving his car on the road to avoid hitting the generic staring paralyzed kid in the middle of the street.
Yes, I did say that in many movies, it only happens to those who survive. My problem is with movies where both the survivors and the dead turn into vampires.
Cool. I'm thinking this must the first time in quite a while a horror movie has one big Oscars like that.
My two cents...
-I suspect the other vampires didn't inform Remmick about the sun coming up because they were so ensnared in his hive mind, and by that point he was dead set on biting Sammy that he wasn't thinking about the sunrise. He had escaped centuries of them thus far and I suspect arrogantly thought he would do so again.
-The vampires at the end calmly leave Sammy because they still care for him and respect his refusal. It wasn't explicit that the vampires in Sinners became heartless and consumed only by hunger. Perhaps after decades living as vampires as well they had also learned to control their urges. I also wonder if the vampire couple's love for each other held back the hate Annie said Sinners' vampires were cursed to live with.
-As others have already said, the first hour of the movie did the world building and character development so that the feelings the vampires expressed made sense to the audience why they cared about Annie, Sammy, etc. Being a vampire in Sinners didn't strip away your humanity. Even Remmick ultimately ended himself because of a profound sense of loneliness and homesickness. He wanted to see his ancestors again and be among them and Sammy's musical gift was his way to do that. I never read Dracula, but I've seen enough versions to know that Dracula himself often is depicted as longing for a lost love (some aspect of his human existence) so this isn't uncommon. It was just done Sinners' style.
-While the other club patrons might not have seen the ancestors Sammy's music conjured, I can't say they didn't feel their presence. Even if they didn't, the idea that the people would hand over their blood kin, after all the character development that had been established, would not have worked for the story. Furthermore, considering the setting that would be like handing over a relative (or friend or any Black person) to a lynch mob.
-There were a lot of things not explained about Sinners' vampires, a lot of lore it would be great to see explored in more movies, comics, novels, video games, or on streaming. However, what worked so well was how Sinners was a film with vampires in it, but not necessarily a vampire film. The vampires in Sinners were stand-ins for social ills. To me, a vampire film introduces the vampires pretty early in the process and the story is mostly about defeating them. Sinners wasn't really about that. The vampires became a manifestation of racism. Really, Sinners could've worked as a drama/action/thriller without the vampires but putting them in it made the film all the more special to me.
-I suspect the other vampires didn't inform Remmick about the sun coming up because they were so ensnared in his hive mind, and by that point he was dead set on biting Sammy that he wasn't thinking about the sunrise. He had escaped centuries of them thus far and I suspect arrogantly thought he would do so again.
-The vampires at the end calmly leave Sammy because they still care for him and respect his refusal. It wasn't explicit that the vampires in Sinners became heartless and consumed only by hunger. Perhaps after decades living as vampires as well they had also learned to control their urges. I also wonder if the vampire couple's love for each other held back the hate Annie said Sinners' vampires were cursed to live with.
-As others have already said, the first hour of the movie did the world building and character development so that the feelings the vampires expressed made sense to the audience why they cared about Annie, Sammy, etc. Being a vampire in Sinners didn't strip away your humanity. Even Remmick ultimately ended himself because of a profound sense of loneliness and homesickness. He wanted to see his ancestors again and be among them and Sammy's musical gift was his way to do that. I never read Dracula, but I've seen enough versions to know that Dracula himself often is depicted as longing for a lost love (some aspect of his human existence) so this isn't uncommon. It was just done Sinners' style.
-While the other club patrons might not have seen the ancestors Sammy's music conjured, I can't say they didn't feel their presence. Even if they didn't, the idea that the people would hand over their blood kin, after all the character development that had been established, would not have worked for the story. Furthermore, considering the setting that would be like handing over a relative (or friend or any Black person) to a lynch mob.
-There were a lot of things not explained about Sinners' vampires, a lot of lore it would be great to see explored in more movies, comics, novels, video games, or on streaming. However, what worked so well was how Sinners was a film with vampires in it, but not necessarily a vampire film. The vampires in Sinners were stand-ins for social ills. To me, a vampire film introduces the vampires pretty early in the process and the story is mostly about defeating them. Sinners wasn't really about that. The vampires became a manifestation of racism. Really, Sinners could've worked as a drama/action/thriller without the vampires but putting them in it made the film all the more special to me.
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I didn't really get that impression. The white supremacists stopped being racist when they became part of the vampire hive mind. And it was thanks to the vampires that Smoke was able to ambush the KKK and kill them all.
The vampires represented racism in a more metaphorical sense. They were attempting to steal Sammy's voice (and his culture and personhood) for their own (or more so Remmick's) use.
Remmick was an arch manipulator. He had no problem playing to the couples' prejudice when he saw they were Klan, and he had no problem professing a belief in racial equality when he thought that would appeal to the non-white club patrons. I can't say that the Klansmen stopped being racist when they became part of the hive mind because their inclinations might have been repressed or overridden by Remmick and his desire to get Sammy.
The vampires had little to do with taking out the Klan. The brothers already suspected Hogwood of being Klan. That's why they told him if they saw him or his "buddies" again they would kill them. Their mistake was leaving their trunk outside. But they already were expecting a fight.
I believe the vampires represented the anger of the oppressed. The white vampires themselves were Irish and represented a group that was discriminated against as well. They were drawn to the club because of the music, not because it was a black club.
Which, strangely, one of my brothers objected to. He truly thought the film was displaying bias then. God knows how he feels about ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER....but even if you find the movie lacking, Sean Penn is uniquely, watchably bonkers.
