Warning: SPOILERS for Sinners.There are a number of things that set Remmick apart from other vampires in Sinners, but his glowing red eyes are among the most mysterious. As the leader of his own horde, not to mention the vampire who’s been turned the longest, it makes sense that Jack O’Connell’s Sinners character would think and act at least a little differently from the newer members of his horde. And with the film’s performances accounting for a major factor in Sinners’ positive reviews, it would seem that his personality differences translated well for the vast majority of audiences and critics.

Remmick only continues to stand out in increasingly eerie ways in the tense build-up to Sinners’ ending. He appears to have powers that others don’t, and the horde’s shared memories and empathic connections all seem to tie directly back to Remmick as their source. But whatever the differences in their behaviors, Remmick’s glowing red eyes stand out as the primary physical feature differentiating him from the vampires he’s turned. And since Mary’s eyes don’t become red after she turns Stack, it can be ᴀssumed this isn’t just a result of having turned others. We must instead turn to other explanations.

Remmick’s Red Eyes Emphasize Sinners’ Devilish Portrayal Of The Villain

The Bad Guy Sometimes Feels Like More Than An Average Vampire

Remmick’s backstory in Sinners is never entirely explored, but it seems at several points in the movie that he’s something beyond the average vampire. For one thing, he seems to have fewer weaknesses. The sunrise kills most of the horde almost immediately at the end of the movie’s climactic battle, yet Remmick appears to have survived running through sunlight with no cover for some time when he first enters the movie. His body is smoking and covered in extreme burns, but he doesn’t erupt into flames as quickly as those he’s turned.

Theories that Remmick is meant to represent the devil also stem from the fact that he seems to have abilities other vampires don’t quite possess. A clear example is the scene in which Hailee Steinfeld’s Sinners character, Mary, is first turned. After a brief conversation, Remmick is seen rising into the air behind Mary as she walks away from the scene. It’s not explicitly shown that he can fly, although this would explain why he seems to drop to the ground with a thud when he first appears in the film. No other vampire is suggested to share this ability.

Finally, there’s something curiously devilish about Remmick’s primary motivation. The role of Sammie’s music in Sinners is somehow one of the most supernatural features of a movie that already includes vampires, and Remmick wants to use Sammie’s musical ability to reconnect with those he’s lost. Although Smoke appears to peek through the veil and see his family at the end of the movie, there’s something much more hellish about the idea of Remmick doing the same. His red eyes serve as a constant reminder that he feels like a much older, more evil enтιтy than the rest of his horde.

Remmick’s Glowing Red Eyes Set Him Apart From Other Vampires

No One He Turns Seems To Share That Feature

In terms of behavior and personality, the main thing separating Remmick from other vampires is merely his ability to hide his personality a bit better. Annie explains that every person’s soul is still trapped inside them when they become a vampire, but their outward expression of personality appears to become more threatening for the most part. Characters like Mary and Stack take no time for this change to set in, and they make little attempt to hide it. Only Remmick, with centuries of experience, is able to truly convince others of his innocence upon first meeting Bert and Joan.

Aside from this, however, the only things truly separating Remmick from the other vampires are his Irish heritage and glowing red eyes. Because vampires share memories and a deeply empathic connection with one another, many of their personality changes seem to be specifically modeled after Remmick. It would be uninteresting, however, if all vampire characters were precisely the same. Aside from differences in personality, Mary and Stack retained from their human sides, Remmick’s glowing eyes are a necessary means of setting him apart from the others.

Why Remmick’s Eyes Aren’t Always Glowing Red

The Vampires Have To Be Able To Hide In Plain Sight

Much like how the other vampires’ eyes only glow white at certain times, Remmick isn’t walking around with devilish red eyes throughout the whole movie. If he were, then it seems almost certain he’d never get close enough to turn anyone. In accordance with Sinners’ vampire rules, they need to be at least trustworthy enough to gain an invite before they can enter a building. As such, they seem to have a slight degree of control over when their eyes glow. Typically, this coincides with when they’re letting down their cover and ready to feed.

In Remmick’s particular case, his eyes often glow right before he feeds or right afterward. The first time his red eyes are revealed, he’s just fed on Bert and revealed his full vampire form for the first time. Remmick’s glowing red eyes only appear when his sharp fangs are out and his nails appear elongated, and he seems to have recently fed each time. In this way, his red eyes work as a reminder of the new blood coursing through his body.

Remmick’s Red Eyes Were Inspired By Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

Coogler’s Inspirations Were Highly Unexpected

Ryan Coogler has talked before about the influence animated movies have had on his films. Sinners, as well as both Black Panther movies, were in part storyboarded by an artist whose credits include numerous Pixar movies and The Iron Giant. As such, it’s no great surprise that Remmick’s glowing red eyes were inspired by Death from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Even aspects of the characters’ demeanors were meant to be similar, adding to the popular theory that Remmick is an even more ancient type of evil than a typical vampire.

The movie draws from a lot more than Puss in Boots. Coogler drew from a wide variety of sources, ranging from an obscure episode of The Twilight Zone to numerous experiences with his own family. The fact that all of these disparate influences could combine to turn Sinners into the most original of Ryan Coogler’s movies is a testament to how unique the movie truly is. Remmick’s eyes are merely one facet of that.