Ryan Coogler's vicious vampire film starring Michael B. Jordan (which now has a Halloween Horror Nights maze at Universal Studios) was one of the biggest movies of 2025, and its impact is still being felt today, including with what could easily be the biggest film of 2026: Forgotten Island.
Dreamworks' Forgotten Island follows Jo and Liza, played by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, respectively, two Filipino best friends who unexpectedly become stranded on the mythical Nakali, a legendary place that they've been looking for their entire lives. Obviously, things don't work out as intended, and the duo, alongside Dave Franco's Raww the weredog, must work to piece together lost memories of a crazy night (ala Hangover) in order to find their way back home.
Directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado's previous film, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, featured a terrifying, yet devilishly stylish, villain called The Wolf. That villain is someone that Sinners director Ryan Coogler used as a heavy reference for how his bloodthirsty vampires would look, especially Remmick himself.
Now, everything is coming around full circle. The Direct sat down with Forgotten Island co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado where the two filmmakers revealed how Sinners influenced how they brought Forgotten Island's terrifying vampire-like villain of Filipino folklore, the Mananangal, to life.
Sinners Helped the Mananangal Terrify Audiences
"We Understood the Sensitivity of How Scary This Could Be..."
While talking about Forgotten Island's terrifying villain, the Mananangal, co-director Joel Crawford revealed that one particular aspect of the character was influenced directly by Ryan Coogler's Sinners.
Joel Crawford: We're so inspired by other filmmakers, and starting on this movie, one of the cool things was like how Ryan Coogler [used the Wolf from 'Puss In Boots' for inspiration for 'Sinners']. And something that just kind of goes full circle, when we were finding the way to balance this villain and how much backstory we tell, we were looking to 'Sinners' [and] inspired by Remmick, that there are certain lines that imply a history, and in a way are much richer without doing a full exposition dump.
Januel Mercado: Just the audience kind of filling it in and understanding, and it feels real because there's just a peek and an insight.
- The Direct: "I'm curious because [with the Manong], the horror takes over you when you see her. Did you guys ever feel like you had to pull back, or you were like, no, we're gonna dive full force into this scary villain?"
Mercado: We did not want to pull back. We wanted to dive full force, but we understood the sensitivity of how scary this could be. So, we definitely strategically revealed her scariness slowly throughout the process, making sure that there was enough levity, comedy, and other elements of the story that help balance the terror she brings to the screen.
Crawford: There's something to paying homage to the roots of this folklore, and because my wife, growing up in the Philippines till she was nine, would hear these stories about the Mananangal, and so it's like, in a way, you don't want to undercut the authenticity of where that is coming from, and we never want to do something for shock.
Crawford noted that what can make any villain or antagonist truly stay with you is that there's always "more than meets the eye."
Crawford: And I think what makes any villain, really any antagonist that stays with you, is that there's more than meets the eye, that they come off as just this scary. And then you understand that there's actually something they're missing, and there's so much more of almost a humanity underneath. And I think those elements, once we brought those in thematically, you understand why the character has to be the way she is in the film.
The entire spoiler-free conversation can be seen below.
