Genre Grapevine on the Influences that Shaped Ryan Coogler’s Sinners

Sinners, the acclaimed supernatural movie written and directed by Ryan Coogler, is easily the year’s best film with both critics and audiences. With Sinners now showing up on streaming platforms, I wanted to discuss the many influences that shaped the film as people rewatch this modern classic.

Coogler’s film did a masterful job of diving into Black life, culture and music in 1930s Mississippi while also bringing this period alive with a flair that felt both modern and timeless. For people interested in learning more about the history behind the film’s setting and time period, check out the African American Intellectual History Society’s excellent Sinners movie syllabus. The syllabus features lists of well-cited sources on topics ranging from the Mississippi Delta and the Jim Crow South to the Great Migration and the Black horror genre.

However, the influences on Sinners extend far beyond historical narratives and facts. In my opinion Sinners was heavily influenced by many current Black writers in the horror and dark fantasy genres. As I watched the film, I kept seeing aspects of stories by authors I deeply admire appear on the screen.

One of the first authors who came to mind was the late Randall Kenan. While technically not a genre writer, Kenan was a deep fan of speculative fiction and this love shows up in his amazing short story collections Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and If I had Two Wings. Most of Kenan’s stories are set in Tims Creek, a mythical small town in North Carolina. His stories are extremely atmospheric, with the setting wrapping around both characters and readers like air that’s so humid it might spit into rain at any moment.

My favorite story of Kenan’s is “Run, Mourner, Run,” which explores the intersection of race relations, queerness, and poverty in the rural South. The first time I finished “Run, Mourner, Run” I had to stop, take a deep breath, and immediately reread the story. Kenan was a master of visual language, using it to not only pull you into the characters and plot but to also create the stifling setting of a rural South that won’t let you go – that refuses to let you escape unharmed – no matter how hard you fight.

I felt that all-encompassing atmosphere of not being able to escape all up in Sinners.

Another author whose works I feel inspired Sinners is Chesya Burke, a horror and fantasy writer whose short fiction has been collected in the brilliant collection Let’s Play White. Burke’s powerful stories explore not only the external terrors of the horror genre but also the internal horrors released by those fears. As I watched the vampires in Sinners offer people an escape from the world they’re trapped in, I was reminded of Burke’s story “CUE: Change” where a similar promise is made. In Burke’s story it’s the undead making this offer instead of vampires, but the premise is the same: If you join us, you’ll embrace a better world. Of course, the cost to join that better world is something you probably don’t want to be paying. But sometimes the world around you is so messed up you’ll latch onto anything that promises deliverance.

Even the idea of “playing white” from the title of Burke’s collection is one the central themes of Sinners. Anyone who has read her story "Walter and the Three-Legged King” – from which the collection’s title comes – will see that Black genre writers have long been wrestling with the theme of resisting oppression as horror. And I saw echoes of other of Burke’s horror stories in Sinners, from the twins in "Please, Momma" synching with the Smokestack Twins to the way the film’s story arch parallels "The Teachings and Redemptions of Ms. Fannie Lou Mason.” Burke’s stories frequently have a deep cinematic feel to them and I could totally see "The Teachings and Redemptions of Ms. Fannie Lou Mason” – which tells the story of a Black woman travelling from community to community trying to save people because she can see pending disasters about to strike – as a major Hollywood film.

Finally, there’s a deep literary vein surrounding Black vampires that likely influenced Sinners. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler is one of my favorites and, as the last novel published before the famed author died at far too young an age, a story many readers will be familiar with.

I also recommend people check out The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez. Originally published in 1991, this groundbreaking story follows a young woman who escapes slavery in Louisiana only to be rescued by a female vampire. Eventually becoming a vampire herself and taking the name Gilda, the stories follow the woman from the 1850s to the 2050s as she searches for a home while also exploring issues of race, power, and sexuality. It’s worth noting that the 25th anniversary edition of The Gilda Stories published by City Lights Books is both updated and expanded, meaning even if you’re already familiar with this influential novel it’s well worth reading again.

Finally, how Sinners reflects the price of living forever is also found in Tananarive Due's African Immortals series, and in particular the 2001 American Book Award-winning novel The Living Blood. While this popular series isn’t a true vampire story, there are many parallels with the genre. In addition, Due perfectly captures the painful payments demanded by immortality along with how the resulting powers are apt to be manipulated by others.

As you rewatch Sinners, definitely check out all these literary writers whose works laid the groundwork for this amazing film.