The new trailer for Ryan Coogler's upcoming vampire horror movie Sinners is here – and it's brimming with brothers, blues music, and bloodsuckers.
Set in 1930s Mississippi, Michael B. Jordan (who's previously worked with Coogler on Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, and all three Creed films) plays twin brothers Elijah and Elias Smoke, who find themselves fighting for their lives – and eventually, one another – when they return to their hometown.
While the promo, which you can watch above, reveals a lot more than the previous cryptic teaser, it's still pretty mysterious. From what we can gather, though, it'll see Miles Caton's Sammy inadvertently open the door between life and death with his otherworldly guitar-playing – inviting a whole bunch of supernatural threats into his and his friends' world.
In a Q&A attended by GamesRadar+ prior to the trailer dropping online, writer-director Coogler teased that while Sinners "has vampires in it", there's a lot more to the story than that. It's largely inspired by Hoodoo culture, specifically the stories of Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson; both of whom were acclaimed performers in the Jim Crow South who, according to legend, sold their souls to the devil in exchange for their musical mastery.
"It's a very genre-fluid film," he added. "[There's] a lot of Coen Brothers influence in this, starting with Inside Llewyn Davis. There's some O'Brother [Where Art Thou?], definitely some Fargo and No Country [for Old Man]. Robert Rodriguez was a big one. I think, on the nose, it'd be very easy to make comparisons but it's actually quite close to The Faculty, which is a remake of The Thing, which is one of my favorite movies – definitely my favorite horror movie. So there's a lot of [John] Carpenter in there, as well."
Coogler went on to mention Green Room and The Twilight Zone, specifically 'The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank' episode, before noting that "the biggest influence", however, wasn't a film but rather a novel: Stephen King's Salem Lot. "It's about the town, and not to give too much up, this movie is about a community," he explained.
"The movie was made to be seen with a crowd, with people that you don't know," said Coogler. "We've had a chance to show it to a few people and it's always been really rewarding. I think horror films, specifically in Black culture… You know, we were talking about [Get Out and director] Jordan [Peele], earlier; we're known for talking to the screen," he laughed. "This film was made for that. This was made to be talked to."
Also starring Jack O'Connell, Omar Benson Miller, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, and Hailee Steinfeld, Sinners releases in theaters on April 18. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.
