Vampires have been around in folklore and media for centuries, but their portrayals are far from ubiquitous. While the creatures are typically blood-sucking beasts, the rules of their worlds differ from film to film, as well as elements like their tone and more.
2025 has already produced a unique vampire film with Sinners. The Ryan Coogler movie presented a version of vampires that was intertwined with the historic Hoodoo tradition in Louisiana folklore. It mixed this with soul music and a period piece to create a truly unique vampire experience.
This work paid off for the movie, as Sinners earned fantastic reviews. The movie ended up with a 97% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes and a nearly as high 96% Popcornmeter. This includes a 9 out of 10-star review from ScreenRant‘s Mae Abdulbaki, who called the film one of the best of the year.
Sinners showed the great potential of the vampire genre. However, before this 2025 movie’s release, vampire films were suffering from a negative streak.
The 2020s Had A Lot Of Disappointing Vampire Movies
This Included Morbius And More
Prior to Sinners, the 2020s were full of vampire disappointments. After a generally slow time in cinema during the COVID era, the early part of the decade kicked off with the 2022 films The Invitation and Day Shift. Neither really got off the ground, earning mediocre reviews.
One of the decade’s most iconically bad movies so far is even a vampire movie: Morbius. The Jared Leto-led film was notoriously panned and bombed in theaters. This created an especially bad rap for the vampire genre.
Other vampire efforts were not much better. Renfield was considered a lame attempt at a Dracula movie, Salem’s Lot was a fairly weak Stephen King adaptation, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter was a theatrical disappointment.
Even going further back, the 2010s were not a great era for vampire movies either. They had remakes like Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows and were largely overshadowed by the Twilight movies. As such, vampire movies have not had a lot of joy in them for a while now.
2024 Started A Turnaround For Vampire Movies
Abigail And Nosferatu Were Released
Last year began to change the game for the vampire movie. April 2024 saw the release of Abigail, a dark comedy-horror about a seemingly sweet young girl who is actually a vampire. The film got strong reviews and put an entertaining twist on the supernatural subgenre.
The vampiric year really picked up again with Nosferatu. The Gothic drama was Robert Eggers’ take on the German Expressionist classic, featuring Bill Skarsgård as the тιтular vampire. The film was artistically rendered and thematically thought-provoking, making a much better effort in the vampire realm.
Nosferatu got great reviews and did well at the box office. It was appreciated enough that it eventually wound up with Oscar nominations for its technical components.
Abigail and Nosferatu served as great reminders that the vampire genre could be good. This set the horror subgenre on a better path, helping things change course prior to the release of Sinners.
Sinners Is The Best Vampire Movie In Years
It Transcends Even Nosferatu
Even though these two 2024 films are strong, Sinners is better by a long sH๏τ. Abigail, in particular, is far less serious in comparison to Coogler’s movie. Sinners was also an original story, whereas Nosferatu was a remake, imbuing much-needed originality into the genre.
Sinners is also incredibly unique in its production design, score, and other technical elements. It supplements this with fantastic performances, making it stand out from other films in the genre.
Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Jayme Lawson, and Delroy Lindo.
This makes Sinners easily the best vampire film in over a decade. The last time a vampire film was this strong had to go all the way back to the 2008 version of Let the Right One In. Even that, however, was a book adaptation, separating it from Sinners.
Sinners Shows What The Future Of Vampire Movies Could Look Like
Other Films Should Follow Its Example
Sinners has easily become the biggest and best mainstream Hollywood vampire movie of this century. As the genre comes around the 2024 turn and heads into the future, Coogler’s movie is a testament to how far the genre can go.
Sinners does not shy away from the elements that make a vampire film a vampire film. It still has blood-sucking, and it still includes many of the classic rules that typify the genre. The vampires are sensitive to garlic, they cannot go into the light, and they can be killed with a stake to the heart.
Vampire movies do not have to be reductive works of blood splatter and night stalking.
That said, the movie still finds a way to blend genre and tone. It is a drama as much as it is a horror film, and even borders on being a musical. In all of this, it maintains its status as a spectacle film, using its high budget to its advantage. Sinners feels extremely fresh, breathing new life into the genre.
As the vampire genre enters a hopeful new era, it has a lot to learn from Sinners. Vampire movies do not have to be reductive works of blood splatter and night stalking. Rather, they can be just as dynamic and interesting as other works within the horror genre, making them more commercially and artistically viable.
