Historically, Black horror has been a genre of outliers. Every so often, a film or series will appear with such distinction and gusto that it affects the zeitgeist: from the micro shift that 1992’s Candyman brought, to the way Jordan Peele’s Get Out and his subsequent films renewed the entire genre landscape. However, these movies have been paradoxically rare constants of the horror scene—ever-present but fleeting.
Stepping into that space is possibly the preeminent Black male director of this generation, Ryan Coogler. Never one to play to taste or type, one of Coogler’s biggest strengths has been his versatility. Having played in the biographical drama arena with 2013’s Fruitvale Station, and the superhero space with 2018’s record-breaking Black Panther and 2022’s Wakanda Forever, Coogler starts the middle of the decade strong with his highly ambitious film, Sinners.
A supernatural horror film set in the 1930s Jim Crow-era South, Sinners stars Coogler’s favorite leading man, Michael B Jordan, and the story follows twin brothers, “Smoke” and “Stack” (known as The Smokestack Twins and both played by Jordan), who return to their hometown of Mississippi with a cache of stolen money and guns and dreams of getting richer by opening a Blacks-only Juke Joint.
There are three main storylines throughout the film—all of them are technically love stories—and Sinners walks us through them with style and clarity. First is Sammie (Miles Caton), a young preacher’s son who is talented with the guitar, wants to break out of his father’s shadow and wins the heart of a local songstress, Pearline (Jayme Lawson). Then there’s Elijah (the only brother of the twins identified by his birth name), known as Smoke, who rekindles his romance with a medicine woman, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), with whom he fathered a child who passed away. And finally, there’s Stack, who has a tempestuous relationship with a white-passing woman, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld).
Sinners does something with its plot and structure that we don’t nearly get enough of these days in cinema: misdirection. The film sells itself as more of a psychological thriller—and it does have those elements—but it’s more of a survival action film, akin to a modern Night of the Living Dead. The film starts calmly, full of sharecroppers, church folk and all the other Southern (and very distinctly Black) charms of the day. Early on, it toes the line of potentially being a crime drama, teasing the history of the Smokestack Twins’ illegal dealings in Chicago, before their return to the countryside.
Director Ryan Coogler keeps the tension high with the pacing, and there’s an emotional, anticipatory push and pull that would make George Orwell proud. The film lays out so many possibilities that it forces you to engage with an open mind.
The backdrop of the American Jim Crow South is deliberate, and Ryan Coogler leans in to the zeitgeist of the times. The Ku Klux Klan, rock-and-roll and blues being categorized as “the devil’s music” by the Black church, the distrust and paranoia that racial tensions spurred, and also the unity between marginalized groups—its all there. In fact, the unity between communities is an aspect highly glossed over in American historical media, but is on full display here, as the Smokestack Twins share a close friendship with Chinese American shop owners Bo (Yao) and Grace Chow (Li Jun Li), who help the twins put the finishing touches on their club. Like Grace Lee Boggs did with the Black Power Movement in the 40s and 50s, the Chow family stands not just alongside the African Americans in their communities, but in direct opposition to their white overlords in reality and in the supernatural. It’s a commentary from Coogler that’s easy to overlook, but if you’re a little more historically inclined, the undertones are much appreciated.
Sinners doesn’t try to reinvent the vampire genre, instead it leans into all the tropes: steak in the heart, holy water, garlic and all. It’s a smart move on Coogler’s part, keeping the focus on the characters—and the fact that we’ve never seen this demographic of races and faces in these situations—gives the plot an even stronger mystique. In that sense, the vampires are almost secondary to the human nature of the film.
It’s been 12 years since Michael B. Jordan’s breakthrough performance in Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, and in that time, Jordan’s profile and star have risen substantially. His creative bond with Coogler has also strengthened, with the two collaborating on massively successful films. Spending that much of your career with a director with a singular vision, it becomes easier to gauge their artistic tendencies. In Sinners, their synergy has never been stronger.
Having one actor play two characters in the same film can be a redundant and self indulgent venture, but Jordan creates distinctions between both twins, and finds a way to finesse their shared vocabulary and mannerisms in a way that is simply magical.
Jordan is surrounded by an incredible cast. Miles Caton does an outstanding job portraying Sammie, a young aspiring musician surrounded by pros in their respective fields (literally and figuratively) who’s coming into his own as a man and artists. Hailee Steinfeld is irresistible as Mary, Stack’s scorned lover who returns to win him back.
Wunmi Mosaku works miracles (pun fully intended) as Annie, the love of Smoke’s life and the mother of his child. Her role is multilayered and complex; she’s stern but compassionate, alert but with a peaceful presence. The maternal instinct she infuses into the role, while doubling as the encyclopedia of all things witchcraft, gives her character twice as much gravity.
Bolstered by Omar Miller, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Lola Kirke, Jack O’Connell, and the flawless Delton Lindo, one would be hard pressed to find any fault in the casting.
Ludwig Göransson’s score for Sinners is a wonderland of atmospheric storytelling. With his signature blend of orchestral depth and experimental/electronic whimsy, he crafts a sonic backdrop that is at once haunting and strangely playful—never overwhelming the scene, yet always shaping its emotional temperature. What makes Göransson’s work particularly special here is how effortlessly the score stands on its own while simultaneously melting into the fabric of the film; it’s a soundtrack that doesn’t just support the mood—often times it is the mood.
The presentation of Sinners is brilliant. It’s shot big and wide, choreographed stylishly and then deliberately aged to perfection. There’s a subtle grain over the film which could be attributed to using Panavision System 65 Studio cameras in conjunction with the IMAX cameras, but more than likely the vintage look was exaggerated—most tastefully—in post production. When we’re on the cotton fields, driving through the saloon towns and watching the chain gangs work, there’s an almost documentary feel to the movie. It’s both immersive and vouyeristic to feel like we’re living within the era and also so far apart, given the timeframe. It’s jarring to know that it was still within the last 100 years that these scenes, sans the sci-fi, were actually playing out across the United States for a long time.
Sinners is another gem in the crown of Coogler’s unblemished catalog and a film you simply must see.
Sinners releases April 18, 2025.
PROS
- Stellar casting, with a script that allows each member to shine
- Addictive pacing with high stakes and high rewards to keep you attentive at all times
- Geniusly staged musical sequences and opulent costume and set pieces give the film an even grander scale
- Michael B. Jordan carries the double leading role with style and ease
CONS
- None
Rating – 5/5 Pocky
Elijah Isaiah Johnson is a writer/illustrator/animator. His most recently published works include the Amazon best-seller Nightmare Detective, Noir is the New Black, the Comixology Indie best-selling series Leaders of the Free World, The Formula and much more.
