This week, we’re back to discuss Ryan Coogler’s musical horror film, Sinners. Following a pair of gangster brothers in the 1930s who return home to rural Mississippi to open a juke joint and find themselves facing down a supernatural horror. Blending horror, history, and blues music, it’s a rich and complex film that we also had an absolute blast watching. Topics of discussion include the film’s use of music, its historical setting, use of vampire lore, and recommendations for similar media.
Content warnings: discussions of segregation, racism, murder, lynching, forced religious conversion
Episode 44 – Literary Death MatchSlow Horses (TV show)Between Two Fires by Christopher BuehlmanAny Other City by Hazel Jane PlanteLittle Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane PlanteBonus Track dir. Julia JackmanSing Street dir. John CarneyThe 100 Nights of Hero by Isabel GreenbergBlack Panther dir. Ryan CooglerBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever dir. Ryan CooglerCreed dir. Ryan CooglerQueen of Katwe dir. Mira NairFruitvale Station dir. Ryan CooglerRobert Johnson (musician)“Me & the Devil” by Soap & SkinWest Side Story (movie/musical)Anna and the Apocalypse dir. John MCPhailHow to Blow Up a Pipeline dir. Daniel GoldhaberMickey-17 dir, Bong Joon Ho“Doubling Up: How ‘Sinners’ and Other Movies Multiply One Actor” by Esther Zuckerman for the New York TimesAnora dir. Sean BakerPoor Things dir. Yorgos LanthimosThis Film Is Not Yet Rated dir. Kirby DickNickel Boys dir. RaMell Ross“Ryan Coogler’s Road to Sinners” by Jelani Cobb for the New Yorker“Ryan Coogler Didn’t Want to Hide Anymore” by David Sims for the AtlanticPuss in Boots: The Last Wish dir. Joel CrawfordThe Vourdalak dir. Adrien BeauThe Last Voyage of the Demeter dir. André ØvredalAMC’s Interview With the VampireBlue Eye Samurai (TV show)Geeshie Wiley (musician) “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie” by John Jeremiah Sullivan for the New York TimesRhiannon Giddens (musician)A Complete Unknown dir. James MangoldGet Out dir. Jordan PeeleOddity dir. Damian McCarthy“Let’s Talk About the Irish Music in Sinners” by Leah Schnelbach for Reactor Dracula by Bram StokerThis is England dir. Shane MeadowsLord of the Rings: Return of the King dir. Peter JacksonRing Shout by P. Djèlí ClarkThe Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValleAmerican Ghoul by Michelle McGill-VargasThe Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex JenningsLovers Rock dir. Steve McQueenArtie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia StephensAbbott by Saladin AhmedTrail of Lightning by Rebecca RoanhorseDaughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee CorthronThe Diviners by Libba BrayMy Heart Struck Sorrow by John Honor Jacobs published in A Lush and Seething HellCastlevania: NocturneLone Women by Victor LaValleTrouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn JohnsonMonsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope