‘Sinners’ Ending Explained: Fangs for the Memories
Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” is here. And based on the early response to his 1930s-set vampire movie, which stars Michael B. Jordan as bootlegger twins who return from Al Capone’s Chicago to set up a juke joint in their small Mississippi town, everybody is going to be talking about it.
There will certainly be much discussion about the movie’s ending, which goes all out. If Coogler eases you into the movie’s horror tropes, by the end everything is turned up to 11.
Let’s talk about the ending of the movie, but obviously, beware of major spoilers. If you haven’t seen “Sinners” already, it’s best to return here after you’ve watched. And if you’ve been turned into a vampire, so be it!
What happens at the end of “Sinners?”
Well, much of “Sinners” has been built around the juke joint that Smoke and Stack, the twins played by Jordan, are opening – collecting a bunch of townsfolk to help out with the operation and reconnecting with the loves the brothers left behind. But wouldn’t you know it, a rascally vampire named Remmick (played with lip-smacking intensity by Jack O’Connell) shows up and it all goes to hell.
By the end of “Sinners,” Remmick has turned many of the lovable characters introduced in the first hour of the movie into vampires, including Hailee Steinfeld’s Mary, Omar Benson Miller’s Cornbread and Yao’s Bo Chow, one of the grocers that helped supply the juke joint with all that catfish. Stack has also become a member of the undead army of blood-suckers.
When the vampires finally infiltrate the juke, Grace Chow (Li Jun Li) sets her husband on fire and they both burn together, her plunging a stake into his heart. Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Smoke’s lover, is bitten by Stack and Smoke kills her before she turns into a vampire. Pearline (Jayme Lawson), the love interest of young Sammie (Miles Caton), is also turned and killed. Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), the old bluesman, sacrifices himself to let some of the other characters escape.
Not that it does much good. (We were also hoping for a “Day of the Dead” moment when Delta is ripped apart by various vampires. Alas, Coogler does not go full George A. Romero.)
At that point, things are bleak.
What else happens?
Well, at the very end of the movie, with most of the characters dead or turned into vampires, Remmick chases Sammie into a nearby stream. Remmick wants to use Sammie’s soulful blues abilities to reconnect with loved ones that Remmick has lost (there’s an implication, earlier in the movie, that a Native American group of vampire hunters had just killed Remmick’s wife). Remmick starts to drown Sammie, a baptism of sorts since Sammie starts singing a hymn, which Remmick doesn’t take too kindly too. He seems to be from ancient Ireland, and the hymn brings up the English who invaded his land.
Finally, Sammie rears back and hits Remmick in the head with his guitar, which has a silver face. It lodges in his head and makes Remmick even more monstrous. Just as Remmick is about to strike Sammie, Smoke plunges a stake through Remmick’s heart. He goes up in flames as the morning sun starts to crest over the horizon, killing the amassed vampires. They saved the town. But at what cost?
What happens to Smoke?
Smoke sticks around the juke joint. Remmick has told him that Hogwood, the white man who sold himthe factory where the juke joint now stands, was a grand wizard of the KKK and that he and his cracker buddies were going to come back and murder them all. Well, Smoke is the only one left. He kills all of the KKK guys but is fatally wounded. As he starts to pass on, he sees Annie and their young baby. She hands the baby to Smoke and he passes on.
What about the stuff at the beginning of the movie?
Oh right. The first scene of the movie is young Sammie returning to his preacher father. He’s got a scar across his cheeks from Remmick’s claws and he is clutching what is left of his guitar. We then flash back to the day before.
At the end of the movie, we return to this moment. Sammie’s father tells him to put down the guitar. Sammie refuses. He goes back to the car and drives away. He is free – or at least part of him is.
What’s next?
We flash forward to 1992, to see Sammie as an elderly blues musician, playing in a smoky club.
Is there anything else?
Yes, but now we’re getting into post-credits scenes, which is a whole separate article.
Are there any dangling questions at the end of “Sinners?”
There are a few actually! One concerns Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (Lola Kirke), the two KKK members that Remmick turns into vampires after fleeing the Native American vampire hunters. When Remmick kills Bert, there’s a baby carriage in the room. Did they have a child that Remmick ate? Was Joan pregnant? Did they lose a child? This is never explained or expanded upon. If they did have a child who died, that would connect them to Smoke and Annie, who went through a similar tragedy. Also: why did we never see those Native American vampire hunters again? They were pretty neat!
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