The Devil Has No Dominion In Holy Waters: Witnessing The Sacredness Of ‘Sinners’

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners premiered on April 18 and made box office history, garnering critical acclaim for its heartfelt story, homage to blues music and U.S. Black Southern culture, captivating cinematography, sound design, and the actors who brought it all to life. Coogler takes us back to 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, with some of the liveliest church-going, harmonica-blowing, juke joint-jamming sinners thirsting for a holy oasis in bottles of whiskey and corn liquor at Smoke’s and Stack’s Club Juke. While bloodthirsty vampires threaten to drag them to the underworld, the film reminds us that the devil has no dominion in holy waters, as the sinners journey through and between the secular and sacred, baptizing souls with corn liquor, pure spiritual milk, pickled garlic, and the Lord’s Prayer to repel the dominion of the evil vampires.

In the film’s opening scene, a battered Sammie (Miles Caton) returns to his father’s church—his face slashed, blood dripping, and gripping what’s left of his guitar—and sets the stage for the paradoxical convergence of the secular and the sacred sinner throughout the film. Unbeknownst to the viewer at this point, Sammie had just survived a fight with the devil when he first arrived at his father's church in the morning. He pauses just outside of the all-white church before opening the door, and the camera positioned behind him emphasizes the juxtaposition of the secular and the sacred. Sammie’s dark, tattered clothing symbolizes sin, while the white church doors symbolize purity and holiness. When he opens the church doors, the camera reveals the congregation and his preaching father, both dressed in white, reinforcing the notion that the church is sacred ground.

Sammie’s entry into the church marks the first convergence of sin and holiness, as the congregation looks at him in dismay. As he slowly makes his way toward the front, his father, Preacher Moore (Saul Williams), reassures everyone that Sammie poses no threat. In a powerful monologue, Preacher Moore explains that while his son has “felt the call to sin,” his presence in the Lord’s house signifies his safety—if he is willing to give up his guitar for good. Flashback scenes of vampires unleashing a wrath are interjected during his monologue, revealing that Sammie had been attacked by them before arriving at the church. These moments create an audiovisual exorcism, with Preacher Moore attempting to rid his son of the vampire spirit through the proposed sacrifice of his guitar to close the portal that allowed their entry. Sammie’s past encounter with the vampires and his present search for redemption in the church highlight the paradoxical convergence of the sacred and the sinful. While Sammie seeks refuge in the church, he refuses to part with his “sinful” guitar, as we later learn. This opening scene suggests that salvation and sin, holiness and unholiness, sacred and secular are not polar opposites; rather, they exist as twin flames, much like Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan)—distinct yet intertwined, existing at the same time, much like a sacred sinner.

This convergence is further shown by Slim’s (Delroy Lindo) post-incarceration survival, despite his entanglement with sin. Slim, Stack, and Sammie drive to a plantation to convince Cornbread to join them for the grand opening of Club Juke. During the drive, Slim shares a harrowing story about his friend, Rice, who was lynched by klansmen. Slim and Rice had once shared a jail cell, where they played the blues together, much to the sheriff’s amusement, who then decided to take them on the road for a money-making tour. As Slim recounts their performances for white audiences, non-diegetic sounds of music and laughter from their shows play in the background, transporting the listener to the past and capturing the feeling of their music and their beautiful sounds. Slim reflects on how he “drank his money,” spending it all on liquor, while Rice planned to use his money to travel and start a church in another town. Unfortunately, Rice never made it.

Klansmen stopped Rice at the railroad station, confiscated his show money, and falsely accused him of robbery and raping a white woman before lynching and castrating him. The non-diegetic sounds of this brutal racial violence play during Slim’s recount, forcing the viewer to sonically experience Slim’s anguish he feels over the loss of his friend in such a horrific manner. Overwhelmed by the memory, Slim hums a blues tune, suggesting that the music has a healing power to soothe his pain. This story also underscores the overlap of the sacred and the secular, as Slim was the one who survived despite Rice’s holy intent to open a church. The narrative raises the possibility that Slim’s purchase and consumption of alcohol, acts that are considered sinful, are what saved him and conversely, Rice’s travel plans to open a church, an act that is sacred and holy, is what made him vulnerable to the klansmen’s violence. Perhaps, the refuge that Rice sought in the church was actually stowed away in the holy oasis in the bottles of liquor that protected Slim. After all, the devil has no dominion in holy waters.

The conflicting sacred healing power vested in Slim’s sinful corn liquor mirrors the power found in Annie’s (Wunmi Mosaku) Hoodoo practices. Smoke returns to Annie’s place, asking her to cook and work the bar for the grand opening of Club Juke. Before entering, he pauses at the infant gravesite outside her door and kneels to pay his respects. The gravesite holds a bottle of milk, a white rock with a small black handprint on it, and what appears to be a black wooden stake. The milk, symbolizing nurture and the bond between mother and child, also carries Christian connotations as the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God. While Annie is a Hoodoo priestess—whose spiritual practices are often regarded as evil in Christianity—this introductory visual marker blurs the line between holy and unholy. Annie's late child and her place are first introduced by the covering of the pure spiritual milk and protection of the black wooden stake, though she does not entirely follow Christian norms. 

Annie's sacredness is further complicated when Smoke enters her place and she renews his mojo bag. She sells conjure supplies to young girls, but Smoke criticizes the “fake money” she received from the sale, asserting that real money is the only true power, based on his experiences as a WWI soldier witnessing its influence around the world. Annie, unconvinced, points out that he and Stack returned from war unscathed, retorting, “How you know I ain’t pray and work every root my grandmother taught me to keep you and your brother safe?” She then references the mojo bag she gave him, emphasizing the protective power of her practices.

Annie’s retort underscores the protective power of her Hoodoo practices, asserting that they were responsible for saving Smoke's and Stack's lives, which adds complexity to her spiritual representation in the film. Rather than crediting God for their safety, she attributes their preservation to her maternal Hoodoo practices, passed down from grandmother to mother to child—much like the life-saving bond formed through the transfer of pure breast milk from mother to child. In this context, Annie’s mojo bag is a symbol of this sacred lineage of pure spiritual milk, acting as a form of holy water that proves the sacredness of her "sinful" practices.

This complex interplay between sacred and sin extends further in the film as the color white, initially associated with purity and protection through the church and Annie's pure spiritual milk, becomes a symbol of deception and violence in the hands of the KKK. The conflicting meaning of the color white is most notably revealed when Remmick (Jack O’Connell), the Irish white vampire, arrives at the home of the KKK couple, Joan (Lola Kirke) and Bert (Peter Dreimanis). Remmick falls from the sky, his skin scorching under the hot summer sun as he rushes toward their house. Three black vultures circle above, foreshadowing the deaths of three people and symbolizing three carcasses. In a shot-reverse shot, the couple greets him with shot guns, as they look over him with suspicion while he pleads for shelter. Remmick claims that Choctaw people are chasing him in an attempt to kill him. The camera then pans left, where a point-of-view shot reveals KKK robes in the background of their home. This scene introduces whiteness as a symbol of deception, evil, and violence, standing in direct contrast to the earlier visual markers of Preacher Moore's white church and Annie’s pure spiritual milk.

Remmick is a deceptive vampire, initially pretending to be a victim seeking refuge in the couple’s home, only to later reveal himself as the devil. After the couple allows him in, the Choctaw horsemen arrive, also foreshadowing a biblical apocalypse, in search of Remmick. Joan answers the door with her shotgun and denies them entry. The horseman warns, "He’s not what he seems. God forbid you let him into your home. May God watch over you and be with you." After they leave, Joan returns inside to find Bert, only to discover that Remmick has bitten his neck and turned him into a vampire. Horrified by the bloody scene, Joan screams in agony, and Remmick's fangs, elongated fingers, and sharp nails visually mark him as the devil. Though the horsemen prayed for Joan, she, too, was attacked off-camera and converted into a vampire because neither of them had the protection of holy water, and their alignment with the KKK made them susceptible to evil. Remmick and the couple embody the three deaths foreshadowed earlier in the scene—while their bodies remain intact, their souls have been stolen, leaving them lifeless like carcasses on the roadside.

Later that night, the three vampires visit Club Juke in search of more souls, and this encounter further blurs the boundary between the secular and the sacred. Sammie takes the stage to perform for the club’s grand opening, and his blues music is so powerful that it metaphorically “burns the house down.” His music elicits feelings of freedom and ecstasy from the clubgoers, much like a preacher calling forth the Holy Ghost from a congregation. As Sammie’s music fills the air, the camera pans and tilts across the juke joint, revealing open portals to a vibrant mix of time periods and cultures: a funk/ rock performer, a DJ mixing tracks, '80s break dancers, African drummers, Compton Crip walkers, twerkers from the 2000s, Indigenous dancers, a Peking opera dancer, Sun Wukong (the Chinese Monkey King), a Zaouli dancer, other traditional West African dancers, and 1990s dancers, all gathering to the seductive call of his blues. These portals and holy ghost-like seductions mirror the energy of a lively church service, where the congregation is transported across time and space, receiving the gospel’s call for salvation.

The energy of Club Juke was so intense that it set the roof on fire, and it spread until the entire house was engulfed in flames, creating a fiery hellscape. As the walls burned away, the camera zooms out to reveal the three vampires watching the scene unfold. This transition to the fiery landscape further blurs the line between the sacred and the secular, as the juke joint now mirrors hell more than it does a gospel-infused space. A close-up shot shows Remmick mesmerized by the flames, and as the vampires approach, the scene cuts back to the club, now fully intact, with the lively clubgoers continuing to party. The burning of the juke joint is revealed to be an illusion visible only to the vampires' eyes. The simultaneous reflection of both church and hell in Club Juke suggests that its sinners exist in a liminal space between heaven and hell—neither wholly sacred nor entirely unholy. The intact club serves as a demarcation between the sacred sinners and the infernal realm, and their refusal to admit the vampires in to play their blues underscores that their music, too, is sacred and worth defending—it acts as a shield, protecting them from evil. Ultimately, Club Juke becomes another space that complicates the separation between the holy and unholy. 

The sacred and transformative power of Sammie’s blues is once again underscored in his intimate love-making scene with Pearline, and further shows the significance of holy waters in the film. After his electrifying blues performance, Pearline takes a stronger liking to him, leading to an intimate encounter in a secluded room at Club Juke. Sammie locks the door before making out with Pearline, and soon after, he tenderly professes, “I think you’re beautiful. I just want to taste you,” and proceeds to perform oral sex on her. The soft top lighting on Pearline’s face accentuates her pleasure and surrender, and her moans blend in with the cacophony of seductive sounds emanating from the juke joint. Although Sammie and Pearline are physically isolated from the rest of the clubgoers, they are united sonically, as Sammie's music binds them all together in a shared moment of sensual ecstasy.

The clubgoers and Pearline are both invigorated by Sammie’s orality—his powerful singing and his sexual oral performance, each of which ignites a different form of passion, yet both are deeply connected to the power of his blues. Sammie’s performance demonstrates how his music serves as a vessel for opening portals, transporting people, music, and pleasure across time and space into the heart of Club Juke. His blues possess the ability to "pierce man between life and death," as stated at the beginning of the movie. Pearline's and Sammie’s intimate encounter further emphasizes the transformative power of his music. Sammie’s oral sex pierces Pearline between life and death and this is shown in her subsequent blues performance where she seductively performs on stage, raising the energy in the club and eliciting climactic pleasures from the clubgoers. The direct connection between his mouth (a portal to different lives) and her genitalia (a canal for birthing new life), sparks a new aliveness in her, though death looms when Remmick bites her later that night. Pearline’s renewed energy symbolizes the liminal space between life and death, a space only accessible through Sammie’s blues. In turn, Pearline’s aliveness from their sexual encounter baptizes Sammie in the holy waters of her climax, represented by her sweating and shouting during her stage performance, and this further complicates the boundary between the sacred and the secular. The proof of Sammie’s baptism is reflected in his later proclamation, “I feel like I’m flying,” signifying a new energy within him and a determination to live better, though the soul-snatching vampires await him just outside their doors.

The power and protection of secular holy waters are also highlighted in the final juke joint fight scene, where Annie uses pickled garlic to stop Stack from attacking them. After Mary bites Stack, he transforms into a vampire and attempts to convince the others that he is harmless, hoping they will release him from the locked room. The locked door symbolizes another demarcation between evil and holiness, this time separating Stack from the others, much like Remmick’s earlier position outside Club Juke. Frustrated, Stack breaks free and lunges at Smoke, but Annie intercepts, throwing pickled garlic at his face and burns his skin. Stack runs outside in agony, and this highlights Annie’s baptizing powers. Her use of pickled garlic to repel Stack represents her deep knowledge of warding off evil and her ability to save the souls of men, much like a priest who performs baptisms with holy water. Annie’s power to save souls, including her own, is later shown when Stack returns to bite her, and she commands Smoke to stick the wooden stake in her heart, refusing to surrender her soul to evil. While Annie’s actions are rooted in Hoodoo, her power operates in a space where the sacred and the secular merge, blurring the lines between the two once again.

Annie’s power to save souls is once again demonstrated during Smoke’s and Stack’s final battle at Club Juke. As Remmick and Stack fight for Sammie’s soul, Remmick tragically bites Pearline, pulling her into death and severing the liminal connection Sammie had bound her to during their intimate encounter. This bite closes the gap between life and death for Pearline. Sammie manages to escape, but Remmick pursues him as the twins continue their battle on the Club Juke floor. During the tussle, Stack rolls on top of Smoke, and a low-camera angle point-of-view shot highlights his rage and power just before he attempts to bite his brother. However, as Stack aims closer to Smoke’s neck, he is repelled by an invisible force—the protective power of Annie’s mojo bag worn around Smoke’s neck. Even in death, Annie’s protection shields Smoke from his brother’s violent rage, reinforcing her sacred, baptism-like ability to save souls.

The final baptism takes place with Sammie and Smoke in the water just outside Club Juke, further blurring the lines between the sacred and the secular, and ultimately affirming that the devil has no dominion in holy waters. As Smoke and Stack continue to battle it out at the juke joint, Slim drinks a beer before sacrificing himself to divert attention away from Sammie and Smoke. The scene then jump cuts to Sammie running with his guitar, desperately attempting to escape the vampires, just before Remmick swoops in and attacks him. Remmick turns Sammie around, grabs his face, and threatens to kill him, saying, “I want your stories and I want your songs, and you gon’ have mine.” In this moment, Remmick aims to swap souls with Sammie, and use his blues portal to return to his Irish ancestors. Yet, the power of the holy water protects Sammie and prevents Remmick from killing him.

Remmick forcefully knocks Sammie into the water, forcing him to struggle for balance as he tries to overpower him. He repeats this several times while threatening Sammie, each push and pull into and out of the water mirroring a baptism—one orchestrated by the devil, signaling an unholy convergence of the sacred and the secular. Despite the duress of being assaulted by the devil, Sammie remains strong in his faith and recites The Lord’s Prayer. Remmick mocks him by repeating the prayer, and for a moment he is distracted by his own mockery. Seizing the opportunity, Sammie pulls a broken piece of his guitar from the water and strikes Remmick in the head, fracturing his skull and causing synchronized pain to both him and the watching vampires. Just as the tension peaks, a wooden stake suddenly bursts through Remmick’s chest, piercing his heart, and the camera pans left to reveal Smoke stepping from behind Remmick. As the sun rises, Remmick and the other vampires burst into flames as the sun rises and they all die.

This intense scene symbolizes the combined power of Sammie’s prayer and the large body of water. His prayer activates the holiness of the water, and while Remmick attempts to access the power of The Lord’s Prayer by mocking Sammie, he ultimately fails due to his own mockery. Sammie’s prayer empowers the water, transforming his guitar into a weapon capable of defeating the devil and saving his soul—much like a baptism. This holy water not only baptizes Sammie and his guitar, it also baptizes Smoke, who delivers the final blow to Remmick, proving once and for all that the devil has no dominion in holy waters.

Smoke’s and the guitar’s baptism is further solidified when he returns to Annie and their late child in the spirit realm, while Sammie, with the guitar in hand, returns to his father’s church. Just before setting out to confront Hogwood (David Maldonado), the KKK leader who sold them the juke joint, knowing the vampires would eventually attack, Smoke removes his mojo bag—his Hoodoo spiritual protection, which also foreshadows his forthcoming death. After a gun battle in which Smoke kills several of Hogwood’s klansmen before being shot, he asks Hogwood for a cigarette. Hogwood retorts, “Go to hell.” Just then, baby sounds are heard in the background, and Smoke looks up to see Annie, dressed in all white, breastfeeding their child, who is also clothed in white. This vision directly challenges Hogwood’s harsh words, as the all-white clothing symbolizes Heaven, just like Preacher Moody’s white church and clad white congregation. Annie’s breastfeeding conjures the memory and protection of pure spiritual milk, reinforcing that Smoke, baptized by the water outside Club Juke, is now transitioning toward Heaven through the pure spiritual milk of God. He reaches for their child, fully completing his spiritual journey to the holy side.

In the end, Sammie stands as the sole survivor, holding both his soul and his newly baptized guitar, with his return to the church symbolizing the sanctification of both himself and his music. The ending transports the viewer back to the beginning of the movie when Preacher Moody tried to persuade Sammie to abandon his guitar and the blues. While Sammie continues to play the blues on the same guitar into his elderly years, the final baptism scene reveals that both he and his music have been sanctified in the holy water outside of Club Juke, closing the portal to evil and transforming the blues into a sacred art form. Ultimately, the movie shows the sacredness of sinners who, through the power of multidimensional holy waters, defeat the devil’s dominion to save their own souls. This is the sacredness of Sinners.

—Dominique Young