by Chat McDuffie
Howard University News Service
Forget movie of the year — “Sinners” is a cultural event, a cinematic reckoning that redefines what Black horror and Southern storytelling can look like. Vampires, hoodoo, southern blackness, religion, blues and blood infiltrated our minds when the film opened in April. If you’re like me, some notable scenes constantly replay in your head.
If you haven’t experienced this masterpiece in person, it’s back in theaters until Thursday. That’s a perfect way to wrap up Spooky Season. After reading my deep dive into this film, you may be even more inclined to visit the theaters. So, spoiler alert!
I am a third-year MFA film candidate at Howard University, hailing from the small rural town of Statesboro, Georgia. Growing up, media and entertainment were my escape. Books, music, dance, theater and film were all ways for me to travel to another world without physically leaving this one.
Of all the film genres, horror, history and Black film instantly became my favorites. I was first introduced to the artistic subgenre of Southern Gothic at the age of 5 when I watched “The Color Purple” on VHS with my mama. Since then, this film and subgenre have remained in my time capsule, serving as inspiration for my current and future films.
Southern Gothic is a film subgenre that blends Gothic elements with settings in the American South. It often features flawed characters, decaying settings and
sinister events. Some of my favorite films and TV shows that are Southern Gothic include “Eve’s Bayou,” “Beloved,” “Daughters of the Dust” and “Lovecraft Country.” Now we have a new body of work to add to the collection, and that is, of course, “Sinners.”
Ryan Coogler, right, and Michael B. Jordan speak the same creative language, and that chemistry translates into every project they touch. (Photo: Eli Adé/Warner Bros.)
Ryan Coogler wrote, directed and produced this new and exciting take on a vampire story like we’ve never seen before. He combined the harsh reality of the racist South with elements of religion, music, lust and, yes, sinning. All these things may seem like they don’t mesh well, but they very much coexist. Every detail in this film feels intentional — from the strumming of guitar strings
and banjos woven into the score to the deliberate use of colors like red and blue to define its characters. Nothing is accidental; each choice serves a purpose. The fact that Coogler developed this story about a place where these events would seem to never take place gives a voice to those who feel unseen and unheard. This is what Southern Gothic film is about. This is what Black filmmaking is about. This is why his craft speaks volumes and will for generations to come.
As a director, producer and writer, my goal as a filmmaker is to have the artistic control you want in a project. Coogler worked out deals with companies like Warner Bros. that give him full ownership after 25 years.
What does that mean?
Usually, when writers sell a script, the production company reserves the right of full creative control unless they work out something together. We all have films that we’ve seen grow over the years, and those same production companies still own the rights to them. Therefore, they’re still profiting off them. This deal that Coogler secured is unheard of in Hollywood, especially for a Black filmmaker. With it, he will forever profit from his work.
“Sinners” is also the first movie to be simultaneously shot on Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76:1 aspect ratio, which measures width to height) and IMAX (1.90:1 and 1.43:1). In our day and time, films are shot digitally now with the use of 4K and 6K cameras. The larger the imaging surface, the higher the resolution and the shallower the depth of field in the digital world. Before digital, films were created in analog movie formats, such as Super 8 (1.36 aspect ratio) and Super 16 (1.66).
