A growing phenomenon among Canadian films is attempting to hide the country of origin in an effort to appear more appealing to international markets (before you say “Scott Pilgrim!”, remember the cult flick bombed when first released).
While this is hardly The Sinners’ biggest problem, it doesn’t help the outcome. The imagined setting—a Bible-thumping American town—is one-note and personality-free. The lack of texture also applies to the characters, each one defined by a single trait, by design and execution.
Inspired by the overheated teen thrillers of the 90’s (think The Craft meets Cruel Intentions with a dash of I Know What You Did Last Summer), the title refers to a group of teenage girls who rebel against their oppressive, overly religious surroundings by giving each other nicknames inspired by the seven deadly sins and engage in light satanism. That’ll show them.
Because the teens are also the community’s mean girls, they gang up against one of them who told the local preacher about their extracurricular activities. The girl in question (who’s also the narrator) disappears, and The Sins (that’s how the call themselves) scramble to cover their tracks even though it’s not clear they’re responsible.
Why the movie is called The Sinners and not The Sins (far better name)? It’s just one more of the bad decisions made in the making of this feature.
Directed by Courtney Paige and written by Paige, Erin Hazlehurst and Madison Smith, The Sinners is competently shot and adequately acted, but that’s about it. The script has countless problems: The dialogue is flat (more often than not, I was able to predict the following line) and story escalation from thriller to slasher is abrupt and unjustified. The big twist comes out of nowhere because it’s not built as much as dumped onto the viewer.
Even more noticeably is the blank at the center of the movie. Grace (Kaitlyn Bernard), the leader of The Sins and theoretical protagonist is underwritten and unappealing. A notch more interesting is her best friend/love interest, Tori (Breanna Coates). It’s not like it’s a better developed, but Coates has the same insouciant quality as her dad (Kim Coates), which translates into a little more depth.
A thriller with no thrills, a slasher with little gore, an indictment of religious indoctrination that misses the darkest aspects of zealotry. The Sinners swings and misses every time. Kind of remarkable in a way. One prairie dog (out of five).
The Sinners is now available on VOD.
