Four months ago we got our first trailer for Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s mysterious new horror movie starring Michael B. Jordan—and finally today a new glimpse is here. It shows us a more of the film’s frights, while still keeping things enigmatic enough to make us eager for more.
It seems clear that music is going to be a big theme woven into Sinners’ deep-South, small-town, 1920s setting, with a tease about how the right sort of talent can conjure spirits from the past and future and “pierce the veil” between the living and the dead. There’s a repeat of the “you keep dancing with the devil, he’s going to follow you home” warning from the first trailer, and one of the twins played by Jordan declaring he doesn’t believe in magic, ghosts, or demons, “just power.” We also get better looks at characters played by Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell, and more—plus lots of fire, fear, and freaky imagery.
Check it out!
io9 also got an early look at a clip, not released to the public, of Omar Benson Miller’s character, Cornbread, asking Jordan’s character and his friends to invite him in. That friendly request turns to begging, and then we see our suspicions about what kind of supernatural monsters are going to be lurking in Sinners’ shadows are 100% correct.
And indeed, at a press event with Coogler ahead of the trailer’s release, the director confirmed what we’ve been suspecting all along: Sinners is about vampires! But he also made the distinction that Sinners is “genre-bending, genre-fluid. There are vampires in the film, but it’s really about a lot more than just that. It’s one of many elements and I think we’re going to surprise people with it.”
Asked about what inspired the story behind Sinners, Coogler spoke about his own family members who once lived in Mississippi, including his maternal grandfather and his uncle James, who was a big blues music fan and “had a profound influence on my life.” In terms of cinematic influences, the writer-director name-checked the Coen brothers (specifically Inside Llewyn Davis, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men) as well as Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn, obviously, but also The Faculty— “a remake of The Thing, definitely my favorite horror movie”), and The Thing director himself, John Carpenter.
“But truthfully, the biggest influences are not in cinema,” Coogler said. “The novel Salem’s Lot, that’s a massive influence on the film. And then there’s a deep-cut influence. My favorite thing ever made is the Twilight Zone—Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone—and my favorite episode is called ‘The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank.’ Salem’s Lot and ‘The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank’ are probably the biggest influences.”
Coogler praised his entire cast, led by his frequent collaborator Jordan—who plays twins in Sinners. “They are identical twins, but they are two different people; it’s not as simple as two sides of the same coin,” Coogler noted, adding that he had “twin consultants” (fellow filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller) work with Jordan on shaping his characters.
He also spoke highly of his creative team on the film, most of whom are also frequent collaborators. That includes two-time Oscar-winning composter Ludwig Göransson—pals with Coogler since their film-school days at USC. “This movie is about many things,” Coogler said. “But one of those major throughlines is that it’s about a guitar player. So this is a movie kind of written for him, and I can’t wait to hear what he does with this. He cuts loose on this.”
As for the gore you’d expect to see with a horror movie—well, let’s just say it sounds like Sinners will not disappoint. “I direct close to the camera,” Coogler laughed. “And [there were] certain days where we got covered in blood.”
Sinners hits theaters April 18.
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