What actually happens
A sawmill purchased with money nobody asked about
In 1932, identical twins Smoke and Stack Moore, both World War I veterans, come home to Clarksdale, Mississippi, having spent seven years in Chicago on the mob's payroll. They use money taken from criminal syndicates to buy a shuttered sawmill from the landowner Hogwood and open it as a juke joint serving the Black community nearby. Sammie, their younger cousin who sings and plays guitar, joins them even though his father Jedidiah, a pastor, says blues music is sinful. The twins recruit Delta Slim to perform, Grace and Bo Chow to supply the joint, Cornbread to work the door, and Smoke's estranged wife Annie to cook. Annie practices Hoodoo and credits it for keeping the twins safe, which Smoke doubts because it did not save their baby daughter. Stack meets his ex-girlfriend Mary again. Elsewhere, an Irish vampire named Remmick, on the run from Choctaw hunters, takes shelter with a married Klan couple and turns them into his thralls.
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The best gig in town, with an audience outside
On opening night, Sammie, Delta Slim and a singer named Pearline play, and Sammie's music pulls in spirits of musicians from the past and future. It also pulls in Remmick and his vampires, who offer cash and a song in return for entry. Smoke is suspicious and says no. Inside, the twins learn that the patrons pay in company scrip, so the joint will never turn a profit. Mary decides they need outside money and goes out to talk to Remmick, who turns her into a thrall. She then seduces Stack and bites him. Smoke shoots Mary, which does nothing, and she escapes. Cornbread is turned outside. Smoke closes the joint early, and the patrons and Bo who leave are turned as they go. Stack comes back as a vampire, but Annie drives him off with pickled garlic juice. She tells the survivors how to keep vampires out and how to kill them. The vampires share a hive mind, though each keeps a personality.
Please, no one invite the neighbors in
Remmick cannot enter the joint without an invitation, so he negotiates from the doorway. He says he will visit the Chows' house and turn their daughter Lisa, then offers to leave everyone else alone if they hand over Sammie, whose music could call up the spirits of the community he lost. Remmick, Stack and Mary also try to sell the survivors on the freedom that comes with being a vampire. During the pitch they mention that Hogwood runs the area's Klan and intends to hit the joint at dawn. The survivors turn all of it down. Everyone inside is now stuck between the vampires, who are patient, and the Klan, who are scheduled.
Grace holds the door open
Grace is furious and wants to kill the vampires before they turn anyone else, so she invites them into the joint. That starts the fight everyone has been dreading, and it comes near the end of the night. Grace, Bo, Annie and Delta Slim are killed. Mary is devastated by Annie's death and flees. Remmick turns Pearline. This is the stretch where four of the main characters die, so you can brace for it now. Smoke incapacitates Stack, then helps Sammie take down Remmick. When the sun comes up, Remmick and his horde burn away.
The ending, explained
Smoke sends Sammie home, then goes after Hogwood and his men, kills them, and is fatally shot. After death he is reunited with Annie and their daughter. Sammie ignores his father's pleas to seek salvation and moves to Chicago. In 1992, Sammie is a successful blues musician when an ageless Stack and Mary visit him at his club. Stack explains that Smoke spared him once Stack promised not to hurt Sammie. He offers to turn Sammie and spare him his coming death, and Sammie declines, content with his life. Sammie plays a song for them, since they have been fans all these years. He admits that night still haunts him, but that day was the best of his life right up until sundown. Stack agrees, since that was when he last saw his brother or daylight, and the only time all of them were free.
The post-credits ruling
Yes, there are two. A mid-credits scene jumps ahead in time to show where the survivors ended up, and a brief scene at the very end shows a character playing music. Stay for both.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Sinners scary?
Yes, Sinners is a 6.5 out of 10. The dread is medium and comes from a long siege with jump scares and violence.
How does Sinners end?
Sunrise destroys Remmick and his horde, but Smoke, Annie, Grace, Bo and Delta Slim are dead by then. Sammie moves to Chicago, and in 1992 he turns down an offer from Stack and Mary to become a vampire.
Does the dog die in Sinners?
No dog dies in Sinners. A snake is killed on screen, which is the only animal death in the movie.
Is there a post-credits scene in Sinners?
Yes. Sinners has a mid-credits scene that jumps far ahead to show where the survivors ended up, and a short scene at the very end of the credits with a character playing music.
Who is Remmick in Sinners?
Remmick is an Irish vampire who is hiding from Choctaw hunters when the movie starts. He turns people into thralls who share his hive mind, and he wants Sammie because his music can summon the spirits of a lost community.
