Quick Links
Sinners marks yet another collaboration between director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, as the duo tackles a wide variety of topics in a horror film that goes much deeper than just the vampires that it features. From showcasing the importance of the blues and the impact that the genre has had on the realm of music to subtle social commentary about racism, there is no shortage of nuances sprinkled throughout the movie’s two-hour running time.
However, it is its ending that brings great closure to the ideas and characters present in Sinners, while the mid- and post-credits scenes set up a potential future for Coogler’s brand-new IP.
Major spoilersfor Sinners below.
Sinners Ending Explained
Sinners primarily revolves aroundthe story of identical twin brothers, Elijah ‘Smoke’ Moore and Elias ‘Stack’ Moore, played by Michael B. Jordan, as they try to escape their questionable past and use the money that they stole from gangsters for some actual good. This goal brings them from Chicago to Mississippi and results in them buying asawmill from Hogwood, a racist landownerwho is not exactly ecstatic about selling his property to two Black men.
The brothers actually want to transform the sawmill into ajuke joint for their fellow Blackcommunity members so they can have a place where they can have a good time without having to worry about the racism that was prevalent in the United States in a year like 1932.
During the first half of Sinners, the brothers go throughextensive preparation for the opening nightof their new juke joint, recruiting various people so they can handle their respective services. These people include their cousin, Sammie ‘Preacher Boy’ Moore, someone whose music hasthe power to transcend the barrierbetween the past, present, and future; Annie, Smoke’s spiritual wife with whom he had to endure the death of their infant daughter; and Pearline, a married woman who loves to sing and develops feelings for Sammie.
As the celebration ensues on the juke joint’s opening night, it becomes increasingly apparent that Sammie’smusic is truly special, as various eras of music are showcased in one stellar sequence, all of whichowe their existence to the blues.
However, positivity is not the only thing that his music attracts, as halfway through the night,a trio of vampires shows upat the party and begs the brothers to let them in. Thebrothers refuse to give them entryinto their juke joint, after which the vampires start to pick people off one by one to bite them and convert them into their race.
The first victim at the party is Mary, Stack’s ex-girlfriend,who then bites Stack, which leads Smoke to believe that perhaps his brother is dead, since vampires are not really the first thing that usually comes to mind.
This results in the event coming to an end, as all the attendees are asked to head back home, but as soon as they step outside the juke joint,they fall victim to the vampires, turning into vampires themselves. During this time,Stack also regains consciousness and returnsas a vampire, regrouping with the rest of the vampires outside.
With just a few survivors left inside the juke joint, including Smoke, Annie, Sammie, and Pearline, the head of the vampires, Remmick, tries to negotiate with Smoke, explaining that he is onlyhere for Sammie and his music, as his supernatural powers can bring the vampire’s community back to life.
Along with tempting the survivors with freedom from racism and immortality, Remmick also reveals that the first person he bit was the son of Hogwood, and through the vampire community’s hivemind, he found out that Hogwood is a Klansmanwho is going to kill Smokein the morning. However, the negotiations do not come to fruition asSmoke refuses to give Sammie up, and since vampires can’t enter a building unless they are invited in, Remmick’s group waits outside for a potential window.
That windowcomes in the form of Grace, a Chinese survivor whose husband gets converted into a vampire, after which he and Remmick threaten her that they will go for her daughter next.
Creating a Molotov cocktail to combat the vampires,Grace dares them to come in, which was the invitation that they needed to enter the building, leading them to attack the survivors inside as a battle ensues. Grace and Delta Slim, a musician who agreed to be the pianist at the juke joint, both get devoured during the battle,but it is Annie’s death thathas the most impact on the characters in Sinners.
As Annie gets bitten and is about to turn into a vampire, she asks Smoke to kill her before she can transform, resulting in him being the one who has to runa stake through his wife’s heart.
However, although Smoke is devastated by Annie’s death, it is Mary and Stack who are equally crushed by her passing, as they actually believed that their friends becoming vampireswould fix all their collective problems. The remaining three survivors, Smoke, Sammie, and Pearline, then have to face Remmick and Stack as Mary runs away, whichresults in Pearline also getting bitten.
Two confrontations take place simultaneously, as Stack and Smoke fight it out inside the juke joint while Sammie has to survive against Remmick outside, with justa little while left before sunrise.
It also turns out that thespiritual necklace that Annie gave Smokeactually comes in handy, as Stack is unable to bite his brother, proving Annie’s earlier words about how she was the reason the brothers remained protected from harm.
As Remmick tries to bite Sammie, the Preacher Boy hits the vampireon the head with his guitar, breaking it in the process, but the impact has rippling effects on the rest of the horde as well, as the other vampires also get stunned for a short while. This is when Smoke, after seemingly winning the fight against Stack, showsup from behind and impales Remmick, after which the sun rises and the vampires perish.
Remembering Remmick’s words about Hogwood, Smoke decides to stay at the juke joint to prepare for the incoming attack while Sammie heads over to his father’s church, marking a full-circle moment tothe opening scene of the movie.
As Hogwood and his men arriveon the scene, Smoke shoots at them and picks them off one by one, killing them all until only Hogwood is left, fatally injured on the ground. Living up to his name, Smoke asks Hogwood for a cigarette and lights it up, but because of the amount of blood that he has lost, Smoke sees avision of Annie and their daughterin the afterlife.
Annie tells Smoke to put the cigarette out if he wants to hold his daughter, making Smoke realize that he was alwaysmeant to be a loving fatherand stay with his family instead of heading to Chicago for shady business with his brother.
Right before dying, Smoke empties his gun into Hogwood to finish the job, while over on the other end, Sammie’s fatherbegs him to let music go,as it brings nothing but trouble. However, Sammie refuses and leaves,taking his broken guitar with himand deciding to stick with his music and true nature despite everything that went down at the juke joint.
Sinners Mid-Credits Scene Explained
Earlier in Sinners, Sammie has a heartfelt conversation with Smoke about moving to Chicago to seriouslypursue a career in blues music, which is something that he does end up doing. In its mid-credits scene,the movie fast-forwards to 1992, 60 years after the horrifying incident took place, and shows a much older Sammie sitting in his own blues club in Chicago, which he decided to call Pearline after losing the potential love of his life that night.
He is then visited bytwo unexpected individuals, Stack and Mary, all glammed up, as the former reveals that Smoke could not bring himself to kill his brother but only spared him on the condition that he leave Sammie alone.
Which is why, to respect his brother’s wish, Stack politely asks Sammie if he would like to turninto a vampire and gain immortality, especially considering that Sammie is quite old now and would be nearing death soon anyway. Sammie declines,after which he performs a songfor Stack and Mary upon the couple’s request.
Sammie then looks back fondly atthe most eventful day of his life, as everything was absolutely perfect until it all started to go wrong after the arrival of the vampires at the juke joint.
However, unlike Sammie, even though Stack became immortal after becoming a vampire, he has had to live with some massive trade-offs, including not beingable to soak in the sunlightwhen he wants to. Stack also reminisces about that night, stating that immortality does not exactly come with the kind of freedom that Remmick originally promised, remembering hisbrother Smoke and the final momentshe spent with him.
Not only does the mid-credits scene act as the true ending of Sinners, but it also sets upa potential sequel or spin-offwith Michael B. Jordan’s Stack and Hailee Steinfeld’s Mary.
Sinners Post-Credits Scene Explained
While the mid-credits scene is set in the future and lays the groundwork for what is to potentially come, it is the post-credits scenethat takes Sinners back in timebefore the night at the juke joint. The scene marks yet another full-circle moment in the movie, as Sammie is seen sitting in his father’s church andplaying This Little Light of Mineon his guitar.
The samesong is sung by the churchgoersduring the opening scene of the film, but while Sammie’s father is completely fine with a choir singing it in church, he would find its blues rendition by his son unacceptable and evil.
It is an interestingcontrast between different points of viewthat someone, or society, can have about basically the same thing, just done differently. The post-credits scenealso cements Sammie’s importance to Sinnersas a whole, which is arguably even more significant than the identical twins that it focuses on for the majority of its running time.
