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Stack & Smoke

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SINNERS (2025)

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SINNERS 2025, dir. Ryan Coogler

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SINNERS 2025, dir. Ryan Coogler

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Jack O'Connell as Remmick SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

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“Maybe once a week, I wake up paralyzed reliving that night. But before the sun went down, I think that was the best day of my life.”

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(x)

bonus:

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CHOCTAW VAMPIRE HUNTERS in RYAN COOGLER'S SINNERS (2025)

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Sammy's Anti-Baptism

God is not going to save you.

One of my favorite parts of Sinners (and there are many) is the focus on how Christianity has been used to rip away culture from groups throughout history.

Sammy lives on a plantation, in a house so small his siblings sleep shoulder to shoulder on the floor. But what is the big white pristine building? The church.

The church was a huge part in colonizing black folks and it was immensely effective. The number of people on TikTok saying the movie was too "spiritually unclean" and they had to walk out... accidentally validating one of the massive points of the movie. If you can Christianize someone, you can erase their ancestral knowledge/power.

Annie never forgot that knowledge. She talks of haints and vampires with knowledge that only comes from generations passing down information. She makes mojo bags for the twins, and sells her wares, serving those in her community. Annie preserves ancestral knowledge and magic, which gives them a fighting chance when they realize something is wrong.

Since the beginning of the film, Sammy has been told that his guitar is in direct conflict with the church, that it will call upon the devil, and that he's asking for trouble. In reality, the guitar and his gifts don't call upon the devil; they call upon the spirit of his ancestors. Again, the church is directly in conflict with ancestral magic/knowledge.

At the very end, Sammy thinks he's about to die in the lake. He starts reciting prayers, only for Remmick to speak them in unison. He then says "The people who took everything from us spoke those words too." Touching upon the cultural erasure that the Romans enacted onto the Irish people. It's low key a "ah, they got you too?"

What saves Sammy's life? Not god. Not his prayers. His guitar. The silver they knew to use because of Annie. Because she didn't let the church erase the powerful knowledge in her lineage.

When he goes home, his father, the pastor demands, "let go of the guitar, give over to god."

He never lets go of his guitar.

Sammy knows. God is not where power lies. The gifts bestowed upon him is where true power is. And that is within him.

(P.S. The vampires chanting in the dark "love and fellowship" gave "thoughts and prayers" vibes.)

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"There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true it can pierce the veil between life and death. Conjuring spirits from the past and the future. In ancient Ireland, they were called Filí. In Choctaw land, they call them Firekeepers. And in West Africa, they're called Griots. This gift can bring healing to their communities, but it also attracts evil."

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Timelapse drawing under the cut

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Papa's here. - Smoke Moore

We was free. - Stack Moore

Sinners 2025 Movie

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Sinners (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

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I love you.

SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

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Y'all ain't gonna keep me from my husband.

GRACE & BO CHOW SINNERS│2025

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SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler