Kory Nicholoff could have seen “Sinners” in a movie theater in his hometown of Detroit. Instead he drove nine hours round trip to see it in Indianapolis.He wanted to watch Ryan Coogler’s horror film about vampires and blues music in the most expansive,

"Sinners," though, is more than just a higher-budget vampire thriller with better production values. There are layers of depth to the story, with the movie also serving as an examination of Mississippi Delta blues music and life under Jim Crow in 1932. And it does both incredibly well.

This year, the Oscar season prayer has a name, and it is “Sinners.” With “Sinners,” writer-director Ryan Coogler, one of Hollywood's most quietly seismic forces, steps into a genre long neglected by the Academy,