I wanna start out with saying this...This movie was intense. It was such a master piece honestly. One of the better movies of 2025 in general and not just a horror movie. It had everything you needed in it....horror, suspense, thrills,chills, laughter, happiness, sadness, wicked awesome blues and we love the blues over here. I was unsure if I was going to like it based off of what others said .. we had so many mixed reviews from people we had to of course make our own.
Let's talk a little bit about the plot ... Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. ... This one had Ryan Coogler as the director who was the director of "Black Panther" and "Creed". Starring Michael B. Jordan. It was set back in 1932 in Clarksville, Mississippi. Michael B. Jordan plays two different people in the movie that just happens to be twins as well. I am sure that helped when playing 2 characters however in this he made them look alike but also little subtle things that made them look slightly different. The way he played them was a clear difference that allowed us to clearly understand which brother was which. The Brothers names were Smoke and Stack. Smoke being the more serious, abrasive, stoic, one who took care of business ( had such a calm but intimidating vibe ) and Stack was the one with a silver tongue. He was charming and kind and seemed to have such a fun spirit about him. After moving out of Clarksville to spending time in Chicago, Illinois for a while, they end up working for the mob and accumulated quite a lump sum of money. They go back to their hometown Clarksville , Mississippi and make a deal with a local Clarksdale landowner named Hogwood (Dave Maldonado) to purchase an abandoned sawmill and turn it into a juke joint. The two brothers warn Hogwood that they are willing to defend their property from The Klan if necessary, however the landowner told them no worries there is no Klan anymore.
They then end up going and recruiting a bunch of people they know would be good at working their new joint. This included their cousin Sammie ( who can sing and play the blues like no other. When he plays its like you are transformed into so many ages of music and time) , Smokes estranged lover, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) to cook for them, local musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a man named Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to be their doorman, and local Chinese grocers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo (Yao) Chow to supply food and to paint a sign.
Meanwhile it cuts to a husband and wife in a small house on a bunch of land. A guy falls from the sky basically and runs to the house and knocks asking if he had permission to come in because he was being chased by Indians and needed to get away and because the farmer and lady of the house eventually believed him they let him in. A bit later Indians arrived and knocked on the door and asked the lady if the man had come by and then you realize they are hunters of some sort . The sun was about to go down so they decided to leave but warned the lady that if she let him in they are already dead basically. They were not wrong.
Cut back to the twins. leaving the train station you end up meeting a lady who was stacks ex girlfriend and she is now married but tells him she is still in love with him. He tells her to leave so she leaves angrily. You can tell Stack still loves her but wanted her to leave to protect her. They also leave after that.
Flash forward a bit They end up cleaning the mill they bought up and get it all set up for the opening of the Juke that night. Everything seems to go accordingly through the night and even Sammie met a lady who was also married and ends up getting her to sing a song later that night.
Sammie gets a moment to perform his blues song and it shows an amazing scene. This scene was all genres of poc culture and music. It was so soulful and beautifully done it was so amazing to watch how Sammie made music come to life. Meanwhile Stack's Ex girlfriend shows up and stirs up a little trouble. This song Sammie is playing ends up drawing an attraction the the man from earlier that had showed up on that wife and husbands doorstep his name is Remmick. Not only does he show up but the married couple also is with him. ( what didn't we just see them being unalived ???) They all look very different. They show up and ask to be let in. The doorman told them no wait right there and they go get the twins. They and Slim, Annie, and Cornbread the doorman tell them to go... Remmick the leader says we just wanna come in and sing and then they sing for them ( which isn't too bad) and they tell them no again.
They kindly walk away and well we think they are leaving. You can feel it in your bones that they are not leaving for good. It is so eerie ... skip to the party is kicking off and everyone is having a good time. Stack and Mary get to talking and he admits Smoke is talking about how they are basically financially not going to make it too far. Mary remembering that the folks outside were saying that they had plenty of money to give and spend she decided to tell them she is going to go outside and talk to them and see how much money she could maybe get them to invest or spend. So then he lets her go. Let's just say Mary leaves to chat and at first it seemed alright but,,,,we know in a horror suspense it never is.
Cut back to the party and Pearline ( the girl Sammie met that was married but apparently she doesn't care ) starts to sing her song and everyone is jamming. Cornbread is sitting there at the door and Mary comes back into play. She asks Cornbread if she can enter...which Cornbread was like well yea....finding it odd she was treating him unkindly and asked a strange question he shakes it off and goes to use the restroom. He asks Slim to watch the door while he does and he leaves and is gone for a loooong while. Stack then sees Mary and she seduces Stack and they go have.....fun in a storage room. Smoke is wondering where he asks Sammie to find him. Sammie finds him and hears them doing the things * wiggles eyebrows* and is like nope I am not interrupting that. Smoke says...screw that I'm going to get him. He heads down and opens the door only to find Mary is now feasting on Stack....he runs Mary out for the room and stays with Stack until he passes away.
This is where the movie gets very intense. They are able to get Smoke out of there even though he did not want to leave his brother. They lock him up inside so no one sees what is going on inside and just in case he turns into one of them as well. They shut the party down and tell everyone you need to go home and during this time Bo Chow goes to get the car for him and his wife.
Soon Cornbread returns and asks to be let in...considering what just happened the others inside ( Sammie , Smoke, Pearline, Annie, Slim, and Chows wife ) they were a little skeptical and said you never asked before now and he said now come on can I come in to help you get Stack out and they found everything he was saying suspicious and so they say no and tell him to go home. He asked for his payment so Smoke goes to hand him his payment and Cornbread tried to bite him and Smoke shoots him twice causing him to fall back. They see him still moving so they close the door and Annie informs them what they are.
Cut to Stack's voice is heard from the storage room, demanding to be let out. Annie cautions Smoke not to, before Stack bursts through the door running for them. Annie then throws some water with garlic on him, scalding Stack and sending him rushing out the front door. After that they hear singing from outside revealing that Remmick had turned everyone who left earlier into one of them ( Vampires ). You also find out Bo Chow was also turned. Remmick claims that he is mainly there to turn Sammie, Sammie possesses something special when he sings that Remmick has desired for a long time. He also tries to entice the others claiming that becoming vampires will give them a connection and a belonging that the living world denies them. He also informs then that the man who sold them the Mill was a member of a Klan ( KKK ) and is sure that they are going to be coming for everyone at the mill in the morning.
Smoke denies him and refuses to give them Sammie. Grace ( Bo Chows Wife ) hears Bo telling her that he will turn their child Lisa. They continuously taunt the ones inside and Grace snaps causing her to do what the rest of the gang inside was begging her not to do. After figuring out what they were and Annie explaining even if they kill the main Vampire the others have already lost their soul. They still have their bodies and memories but they are already dead and will need to be burned by the sun or killed with a stake. It is the only way to let them be free. Grace ( back to ) can't take it anymore and ends up screaming that its ok to come in and when that happens...the war begins. The alive versus the undead. They are doing pretty good until Grace, Pearline, and then Annie get bit and ripped up. Before Annie could turn a very emotional Smoke holds her and she asks please stake me so I don't come back as one of them. It broke Smokes heart but he did as she asked. Knowing how bad this was Slim in a heroes effort sacrifices himself so that Smoke and Sammie could escape. As they were leaving they were met by both Remmick and Stack .
Battling it out Smoke tries to take on his brother as Sammie ends up fighting Remmick. Sammies does what he can to fight off Remmick, ends up breaking his guitar over Remmick's head, with a silver portion of it cutting into his head. Appearing out of nowhere Smoke appears and stakes Remmick, causing him to burst into flame and following him all the other vampire follow suit as the sun rises.
Going to the car Smoke pulls out that suitcase he had been carrying around with him out of the trunk revealing what we all have been wondering through the entire movie ... what was inside the case. It was a while lot of artillery. He then tells Sammie take the car and get out of here. Sammie goes reluctantly as Smoke stays behind. Turns out Remmick wasn't lying about the Klan coming for them....this time Smoke was ready for them. They show up and look around seeing no one around. Coming forward is Smoke telling them if you step on my property I will end you and ...lets just say he ends them all. However Smoke was also hit causing him to bleed out and during this he sees Annie and their daughter who had passed away. Smoke then passes on to be with his family.
Sammie returns to his family's church, where his father urges him to renounce his love of the Blues. Instead, Sammie takes off in the brothers' car, the remnants of his guitar clutched in one hand. It skips forward and reveals that Sammie had grown old and became a famous Blues musician. Sammie walks over to the bar where he had just played at gig years and years later.
Walking up to him is Stack and Mary. Sammie confused but not scared talked to them and Stack reveals that smoke let him and Mary live as long as they left Sammie Alone. Which they held true to their word. He then senses that Sammie is about to leave this world and tell Sammie he can make the pain and aging go away and save him. Sammie denies it but isn't angry or scared in fact feels a sense if happiness and calmness. Sammie confesses that although he still has nightmares about that evening, up until the sun set, it was the best day of his life. Stack agrees, as it was the last time he saw his brother and the sun, and confesses that it was the only time he felt truly free. Smoke smiles and Mary smiles as they stand up and leave.
That is about summing the entire movie up. It was brilliant, cinematically beautiful, and the story was well written. The acting was top notch, the emotions were high and you felt that. I honestly think it is in my top 5 of this year and for the last few years. This one we highly recommend seeing ASAP.
