News Sinners Werewolves or Vampires? How Ryan Coogler Chose the “Monster” for Sinners Which shapeshifter is the best for Sinners? By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on October 20, 2025 Credit: Warner Bros. Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is rightfully getting a lot of award buzz, and to help that effort, the writer-director is sitting down to talk about how the film came to be. One of those conversations was a panel discussion hosted by the Directors Guild of America on Sunday, where Coogler shared how Sinners ended up with vampires instead of another type of supernatural being. “I knew the movie would always be kind of a shape-shifting movie,” he said (via Gold Derby). “But I didn’t know it would be crazy as it was. There was always going to be a musical element. It was always going to have horror element. And they were always going to end up in that juke joint. It was always going to be working with Delta blues… all forms of popular music kind of branch out of that.” Coogler also shared that the decision to go with vampires came about after discussions with his wife and producing partner, Zinzi: “I was like, ‘Yo, what kind of monster should they be?’ We were thinking about werewolves and stuff. But it kept coming back to vampires. I don’t think there’s a cryptid or monster more sexy or seductive as vampires can be. Also, it just makes sense for the music that that it would have to be a common monster that can offer a deal that’s attractive. So we zeroed in on that creature.” Sinners would have been a different movie if there were werewolves in it rather than vampires. I’m usually Team Werewolf, and I’m sure the version of Sinners with werewolves would still be great, given it would still be from Coogler. But vampires work so well in the film, and help make it the modern masterpiece that it is. [end-mark]   The post Werewolves or Vampires? How Ryan Coogler Chose the “Monster” for <i>Sinners</i> appeared first on Reactor.