There has been an incredible amount of hype behind Ryan Coogler’s latest film, Sinners, a horror flick that audiences have been waiting for with bated breath. Everything from the (as of this moment) 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes to the whispers about its premise: “Are they zombies?” “Are they vampires?” It’s been a long time since we’ve seen this much buildup behind a horror film, but I’m happy to say, there’s good reason behind it.
Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, there’s a long list of reasons why fans of all types are excited about this movie. For one, Coogler has established himself as a director who is adored by the masses. Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, and Creed have all been massive hits directed by Coogler, earning him trust from millions of moviegoers. A director is considered great after one hit film. So what do you call someone who hits a home run with every film they direct? Another thing working in his favor is that his stories are unabashedly Black. These aren’t Blaxploitation films, low budget projects, or what would be considered “trauma porn”. Instead, Coogler has found rampant success with majority Black casts and injecting various elements of the culture into his films. And speaking of casts, Michael B. Jordan is a beloved actor and has widespread appeal. So when you find out the movie features two of him, plus Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, Li Jun Li, and Delroy Lindo, it’s understandable that excitement would be widespread.
Another unique element playing in Coogler’s favor is the fact that the film was made with IMAX in mind. Cinephiles and camera heads have been nerding out at the fact that this was shot on their proprietary IMAX 15/65mm cameras. Because of this, the film will be distributed worldwide in theaters and IMAX only.
Aside from the continued Coogler-Jordan collaboration, the beloved director involved his Black Panther compatriots on his latest project. Collaborators include director of photography Autum Durald Arkapaw, Oscar-winning production designer Hannah Beachler, Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and editor Michael P. Shawver.
The film follows Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan), twin brothers who survived WWI and the throes of gangland Chicago, return home with fresh ideas and perspectives. With a truck full of liquor and money to spare, they have plans to invest in a jook joint. With a reputation that preceded them, very few were happy to know of their arrival, except for their younger cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) and a former love interest in Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). Sammie, aka Preacher Boy, son of Jedidiah (Saul Williams), ignores the pastoral advice of his father and takes an interest in blues music, becoming proficient at guitar. The now viral quote from the trailer is issued by Pastor Jedidiah to Sammie as a warning: “You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”
You know a film is good when you can eliminate parts from it and it would still be amazing. I am not a fan of horror by any means, but if I have to watch it, this would be my preferred type of flick. The first hour and a half of the movie is story, that’s it. Even if you removed the last 40 minutes, it still would’ve been a great film. Removing the horror wouldn’t have made a difference because the story that was built from the arrival of the twins was so interesting. A pair of Black twins from Chicago travel down south to become entrepreneurs and spend their own money instead of sharecropping like most of their old friends, they don’t take crap from anyone, and their presence demands respect? The way they carried themselves was so tough, Coogler could’ve made this a gangster film of the Django variety.
A buildup of anticipation is created from the start, kicking off with an image of Sammie, bloodied with a busted guitar, entering his father’s church and disrupting service. After his father begs him to return to the people of God, Jedidiah and the congregants in the church, the story shifts to “a day earlier”, informing us that the events that unfold take place over a day. The young and impressionable Sammie is one of the few people that was happy to learn of the twins’ arrival. He looked up to his cousins, but they both warned him not to follow their path and to forge his own elsewhere (not in Chicago).
Simply put, the voice of Miles Caton was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. For acting, he did an excellent job balancing a young, persuadable relative to his cousins, Smoke and Stack, while harnessing the power of his best weapon (his voice) but keeping it under wraps. As the story goes, Annie narrates a legend about people who made music so powerful that it conjured spirits, “from the past and the future”. Once Smoke and Stack get a sample of his voice, they immediately involve him in their jook joint. Paired with a harmonic playing, key-stroking drunk named Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), the twins were ready to move forward with their plans for a grand opening.
There were countless layers to the film. So much so, many people are going to see this twice, to search for minor elements and easter eggs they may have missed the first time around. The diversity in the cast is rich. Set in the Jim Crow South, room was made for Blacks, Asians, and Indigenous People. With everything working against the twins from the get, it’s very easy to root for them. From racist white owners to the KKK, it’s hard not to cheer them on, regardless of their exploits.
You may have heard the rumor about one of Coogler’s influences for Sinners being an animated film. Well, that rumor is true and you’ll notice it in the film. In Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, there’s a villain known as Death, and there’s a certain detail that Coogler loved and applied it in Sinners.
Fans who aren’t into horror but want to see the film on account of the Jordan-Coogler connection will want to know this. The majority of the “scare” in this film is embedded in the suspense. Again, what’s seen in the trailer isn’t gunning for you straight out of the gates. It’s going to be well over an hour before you start to catch wind of any evil or villainous presence. There are only one or two jump-scares to make sure you’re awake and paying attention. The rest is loads of blood and eerie visuals. There are a few scenes that give From Dusk Till Dawn vibes, but trust, it is a very different movie. The infusion of periodic humor made the horror element much easier to digest, and as long as they spent on the story, you might forget you’re watching a “scary movie”.
Sinners gets an 8.5 out of 10. The delayed inevitable may hurt expectations after opening night. The trailer paints an action-packed picture of a muscular Jordan firing a machine gun and a villainous woman with blood dripping from her mouth, but it’s going to take close to two hours to see. To go with that, in general, it felt too long. At almost 2.5 hours, I need less talk of Hoodoo and rekindling romance and more action. There’s a scene when Sammie finally gets to perform that looks like a one-shot. Various types of music, inspired by Black people, are put on display and culminate in a visual and sound that’s never been done. Mark my words, it’s a scene that people will be talking about for months to come. It’s definitely worth a watch this opening weekend if you can stand some foul language, gun violence, and a lot of blood (just towards the end, but it’s a lot).
Sinners premieres in theaters on April 18.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Trailer: Watch
U.S. Release Date: April 18, 2025