Ryan Coogler, celebrated for directing acclaimed and culturally significant films like Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, adds another standout to his filmography with Sinners, a new vampire horror film starring Michael B. Jordan. If you haven't seen this incredible movie yet, we strongly recommend that you do because you're missing out on a chilling, genre-bending story that delivers powerhouse performances from each member of the cast.
However, chances are you have already seen the movie, given that you landed on this article. It could be that you missed some things while watching and are now looking for answers. Or, maybe you haven't seen the movie at all and have just heard all the hype surrounding it and wanted in on what everyone’s talking about. Either way, consider this your spoiler warning because we’re about to dive deep into the ending of Sinners. What happened to Smoke and Stack? Who survived and who died? Oh, and what about that mid-credits and post-credits scene? Let's break it all down.
Major spoilers from Sinners ahead!
How does Sinners end?
Sinners takes place in 1932 Mississippi. It follows twin brothers and WWI veterans, Smoke and Stack, who have returned home from working in Chicago with Al Capone to open a juke joint. After purchasing a sawmill from a racist white man named Hogwood, they begin converting it into their new business. They quickly gather the people they need to bring their vision to life, including their young cousin Sammie, a gifted musician and aspiring guitarist, the drunken pianist Delta Slim, and singer Pearline to provide entertainment.
Local shopkeepers Grace and Bo are brought in to handle the food, while Smoke reaches out to his estranged wife, Annie, to take on the cooking duties. Field worker Cornbread is also brought in as security. Although not invited, Stack's ex-girlfriend Mary decides to show up unannounced as well.
As night falls, every Black American in the Delta town of Clarksdale, Mississippi, gathers for the grand opening of Smoke and Stack’s new juke joint, Club Juke. The crowd is dancing and socializing, enjoying the celebration, when suddenly, three white people appear at the doorstep, asking to join in the festivities. Suspicious of their intentions, Smoke and Stack send them away. However, they don't go far because they have some sinister plans in mind.
The leader of the trio, Remmick, is a bloodthirsty vampire who turned the other two into his kind earlier in the film. His vamp minions, Joan and Bert, are both deadly and loyal, but it’s later revealed by Remmick that one of them is secretly connected to the local Ku Klux Klan, led by Hogwood. Remmick explains to Smoke and the others that Hogwood only sold them the sawmill because he and his Klan had planned to return the next morning to murder anyone on the premises.
Remmick tries to get them to see his side and twisted vision, which is to turn everyone at the juke joint into vampires, creating a new community where race doesn’t divide them. He is particularly determined to turn Sammie, as his music holds the power to break the barrier between the living and the dead. With this supernatural ability, Remmick hopes to reconnect with his long-gone ancestors. At this point in the film, Mary and Stack have already been turned. Mary is turned when she goes outside to talk to Remmick and the others to figure out their intentions, and she later seduces and turns Stack. More and more partygoers are eventually turned as well. Remmick has a whole army of vampires now and is ready to attack those who are still living and taking residence in the juke joint. Those remaining are Smoke, Pearline, Annie, Sammie, Delta Slim, and Grace.
Their only hope is to hold out until sunrise, knowing the vampires can’t survive the daylight. However, they ensure they are prepared with the necessary tools to kill the vampires if necessary. But after Remmick threatens Grace that he and his followers will target her daughter next, Grace lets them in and a blood-soaked battle ensues. In the battle, Annie, Grace, and Delta Slim lose their lives. Pearline is later turned after being bitten, and Sammie tries to escape from the juke joint but Remmick catches up to him. While they're fighting in the lake outside, Smoke and Stack have an intense battle inside the juke joint.
After Sammie uses his guitar and smashes it over Remmick's head, it slows him down and Smoke arrives just in time to stake him. The sun comes up, and Remmick and his followers begin to incinerate. The only two survivors of the juke joint massacre are Smoke and Sammie. Smoke urges Sammie to return home, then arms himself with a collection of guns, bracing for the arrival of Hogwood and his Klan. When they show up, Smoke takes them all down in a fierce and fiery final showdown. But in the process, he suffers a fatal wound. As he dies, he's reunited with Annie and the child they lost. Although Sammie returns home as Smoke told him to, we later discover that he eventually leaves Mississippi and travels to Chicago to pursue his dreams of becoming a blues musician.
What happens in the mid-credits and post-credits scenes in Sinners?
In the mid-credits scene, we flash forward to 1992 Chicago, where an elderly Sammie has made his dream come true of being a successful blues musician. After playing his set at a blues club, he sits at the bar. A bouncer comes in telling him that a fan has offered some money for a sit-down with him. Sammie tells him that he can let them in, but he's surprised to find out that the fan is Stack and Mary. Stack explains how he survived the juke joint massacre. Smoke spared him on the condition that he never harm Sammie, and he kept that promise. Mary, meanwhile, managed to slip away just before sunrise, avoiding the fate that claimed the other vamps.
Stack offers to turn Sammie into a vampire since he's nearing his death, but Sammie declines the offer. After Sammie plays them a song on his restored guitar, Stack and Mary begin to leave the club. But before they make it out the door, Sammie tells Stack that he often thinks about that night at the juke joint, sharing that before the vampires arrived, it was the happiest day of his life. Stack agrees with him and says that it was the last time he saw his brother, the sun, and that it was the only time he ever felt free.
Finally, the post-credits scene transports us back to 1932 Mississippi, before the chaos unfolded. A young Sammie sits alone in his church, gently strumming his guitar and singing “This Little Light of Mine." After this wraps up, the movie comes to an end.
Sinners is now playing in theaters.