By Mo Moshaty

In Ryan Coogler’s Sinners,1930s Mississippi is not just a backdrop, it’s a living, breathing oppression, thick with the rot of generational racism and the unshakable truth that no matter how faithfully you walk the line, the line will always be drawn against you and no amount of proverbial kowtowing will help you to survive. With an evil that seeps from every corner of the landscape, what emerges is not just a horror from the otherworldly but the brutal certainty that for black and brown bodies even the act of hope and change is dangerous.

At the center of our story is Sammie Moore (Miles Caton), a young pastor’s son whose designs on the blues have him and his father Jedidiah (Saul Williams) at odds. Jed believes that the devil resides in the sinful blues and if Sammie isn’t careful – that evil is going find him one day. But Sammie isn’t chasing sin, he’s chasing peace. A life lived on his terms, on what’s within his soul. His God-given musical ability is unmatched, thus so his talents are meant to be enjoyed far and wide. And Sammie can only get far and wide with the help of his twin cousins, Smoke and Stack.

Smoke and Stack, played by the unequivocal talent of Michael B. Jordan in a dual role, bring a different kind of struggle and heartbreak. The twins are back from Chicago where they were running toward freedom, but freedom’s a moving target, especially when the rules just change, not disappear. The chains are still there, just quieter. Back home in Clarkesdale, Mississipi, the boys have a new venture in mind: a juke joint bought from nefarious Hogwood (David Maldonado), for us, by us, but old spirits stir, old demons haven’t died, and old debts will always need to be paid. One spirit is Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) Smoke’s old paramour who’s ties to the ancestors reveal a blessing and a curse. An old demon lies in Mary (Hailee Steinfield) Stack’s life-long dalliance who’s persuasion paves the way for danger. Old debts come in the form of Bo and Grace Chow (Yao and Li Jun Li), shopkeepers and regulators that Smoke and Stack rely on to facilitate everything from bloody cleanup to a grocery haul and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), an aging, alchoholic, and complacent blues musician who has seen more pain and murder than one should.

Things are looking up with Slim and Sammie taking care of the music, joined by flirtacious singer Pearline (Jayme Lawson) Annie and Grace on Kitchen and Bar, hapless bodyguard, Cornbread (Omar Miller) on the door, it’s going to be a sweet Mississipi summer night to remember…until…an injured man knocks on the door of a remote-living Klansman couple Bert and Joan and then all hell and I do mean HELLLL breaks loose.

In a fight for identity, freedom, blues and survival, the film culminates in a bloody and gut-wrenching massacre that has horror fans screaming. A killer soundtrack by Coogler’s long-time creative partner Ludwig Göransson permeates the entire film and percolates along with the terror. Every frame hums with the ache of people trying to outrun something they were born into. And the most gut-wrenching part? It shows, without apology, that no matter how good you are, how careful, how quiet, how under the radar and “assimilated” you appear, sometimes survival still isn’t enough. Sometimes, just being is what puts the target on your back. This film lingers. It wounds. And it tells the truth the way only horror can: loud, raw, and unforgettable.

SINNERS releases in cinemas April 18th