Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025)

In the first episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew talk about Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s 2025 supernatural horror film. Met with immediate critical acclaim, it stars Michael B. Jordan as identical twins Smoke and Stack, whose Mississippi juke joint gets terrorized by vampires on opening night.

Is Sinners really a horror film? What is the role of memory and sentimentality in its broader narrative? And in the incredible dancing sequence… are those hints of Beowulf? Join us as we chat about genre mixing, themes of the post-racial collective, and the contours and currents of Black horror’s evolution today.

Film: Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025)
Theme Music: “Play the Game” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)

Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon.