The second trailer for horror movie Sinners has dropped, and it’s a juicy, detailed and thrilling three minutes. Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther, helms a period horror movie that stars Michael B. Jordan and Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers, attempting to put their lives back together by returning to their hometown. Only, just about everything there is wrong.
Further specifics about the plot remain blissfully unknown, but the larger beats are there for everyone to see. This is, on its face, a vampire movie, rather given away in the trailer by all those sharp, pointy teeth, blood pouring down their chins, and the way their victims appear to come back to life. But, it’s obviously a film about a whole lot more than that.
This is set in the American South, in the 1930s, in the Jim Crow era. The trailer begins by invoking recognizable myths surrounding early blues music, talk of people with musical talents so great that it becomes a curse, racist descriptions from fearful conservative Christians of its being “the devil’s music,” and the folkloric tales of the likes of Robert Johnson, who was said to have sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to gain his extraordinary abilities. In this trailer, we’re told, such musical gifts can “pierce the veil between life and death.”
Which is, presumably, how vampires step in. And, given the period setting, the allegories are clear.
Ryan Coogler came to prominence via Rocky spin-off, Creed, but really hit the big time with Marvel movie Black Panther. Sinners is the first film he’s directed since 2022's Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, and it’s a bold change of direction. It also looks like a beautifully shot movie, its palette invoking ‘30s era sepia tones, and boasts a hell of a cast. Alongside Jordan is the wondrous Wunmi Mosaku, who was so hypnotic in Lovecraft Country, as well as recently playing the comically furious B-15 in Deadpool & Wolverine. Also appearing are Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty), Hailee Steinfield (the MCU’s Kate Bishop) and Omar Benson Miller (8 Mile, Ballers).
Sinners is out in theaters April 18.
.