After closing out 2024 with fanged box office smash Nosferatu, 2025 is kicking off as we mean to go on with fresh vampire flick Sinners coming this month. And just as Count Orlok was shielded from our eager eyes until we got to witness the imposing creature on the big screen, much of Ryan Coogler's eerie horror film has been shrouded in secrecy with its posters and trailers leaving much of its terror to the imagination. And our imaginations have been running wild, with many genre fans taking to social media to discuss what exactly will go down in the deep south-set chiller.
What we do know is Sinners stars Michael B Jordan playing twins, marking the fifth feature collaboration between him and Coogler following Fruitvale Station, Creed, and both Black Panther films. For Coogler, this is his first foray into genre cinema and it looks to be seriously creepy if Sinners' tense and atmospheric trailer is anything to go by. So ahead of the film's eagerly anticipated release, FANGORIA has everything you need to know – from release date to cast, plot, and more.
Release date
Sinners creeps into cinemas on April 18, 2025. It marks Coogler's first film since the emotional release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022 which paid tribute to its late lead star Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer at the age of 43 in 2020. Speaking about his return to the camera this year, Coogler told The Hollywood Reporter (THR): “I'm blessed to have found this medium that I can work out deep philosophical and existential questions that I may be struggling with while contributing to an art form that means so much to my family. Each film brings me closer to understanding myself and the world around me.”
The release coincides with Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk's summer camp slasher Hell of a Summer, which is released on April 4 and could make one hell of a double bill. Sinners was originally set to hit our screens on March 7 but was swapped for Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17, another Warner Bros title.
Cast
As previously mentioned, Michael B. Jordan stars in this film in two roles – twins Smoke and Stack. Speaking about his role, the actor said the biggest challenge was the “technicality of shooting his scenes” (per THR). He continued: “I did every scene like four times, five times, so I think the balance between going back and forth was difficult at times but you find a rhythm and after a while, it was second nature. I had a lot of fun.”
Sinners boasts an all-star cast, with Blade's Delroy Lindo, True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld, Eden Lake's Jack O'Connell, and 8 Mile's Omar Benson Miller starring. The ensemble is rounded out by His House's Wunmi Mosaku, The Running Man's Jayme Lawson, The Exorcist's Li Jun Li, and Gone Girl's Lola Kirke.
Plot
The official synopsis for Sinners reads: “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.” But what exactly is that evil? Fans deduced vampires were part of the root cause of the twins' troubles, and Coogler confirmed this in an interview – but there's a chilling twist. He revealed: “But it's not the only supernatural element in the movie,“ Coogler teased. “The film is about more than just that.”
We also know music is going to play a very important part in Sinners' narrative, with Lindo continuing: “It's central to the foundation of this narrative, it's central to the history of this culture and central to the history of this country.” Mosaku added that there's “blues music throughout the whole movie,” which creates a story “rooted in community, love, music, inspiration, ancestry, hope — and then also vampires.”
Giving his verdict on what fans can expect from the film, Miller told Deadline in an interview that he thinks Sinners is “going to be a whopper.” He continued: “In this world of ‘content‘, there are still people who make films. It's really exciting. And it's not safe. Ryan is making something creative. And it's multi-genre. He's as good as anybody behind a camera today. I stand by that.”
Trailer
The first trailer for Sinners released last year gave us more questions than answers, offering plenty of discordant visuals, sinister music, and Jordan firing a tommy gun for good measure. “I've seen men die in ways I didn't even know was possible,” his character comments, “Of all the things that I've seen, I ain't ever seen no demons, no ghosts, no magic… till now.” Despite his admission, we only get hints at the horrifying creatures set to plague our nightmares, which is surely one of the key elements fuelling such hype around the title.
We don't get any death scenes or real explanation as to who these characters are, where they are, and what their motives in the narrative will be, with the Sinners trailers purely creating a vibe designed to chill your bones and pique your interest. And consider our interest piqued.
A clip from the film released in January gives us a little more insight into our characters, taking place in Smoke and Stack's speakeasy where a trio of musicians – played by O'Connell, Kurke, and Peter Dreimanis- play a haunting rendition of Pick Poor Robin Clean. A new trailer released shortly after certainly wasn't skimping on the bloodshed and fangs, blending its thoroughly eerie horror elements with plenty of action for good measure, making Sinners look like a whole heap of fun.
And we're not done there, with a second clip showing the vampire in action trying to gain entry across a threshold to wreak havoc, while teasers and a featurette took us behind the scenes of the gore heading our way in mere days.
Production
We first got wind of Sinners back in January 2024 when an untitled period film with Coogler attached was reported to be in development, with Jordan cast in the lead role. An intense bidding war for the distribution rights began, with Warner Bros winning the deal. The cast was slowly revealed through the coming months before principal photography began in New Orleans in April 13, 2024. To keep the film's plot and premise as under wraps as possible, they began production under the working title “Grilled Cheese” until filming wrapped on July 17 and we eventually gained more details about Sinners.
Coogler described the film as “genre-fluid” (per Nerdist), opening up on his inspirations: “[There is] a lot of Coen Brothers influencing this, starting with, I would say, Inside Llewelyn Davis… definitely some Fargo… Robert Rodriguez is a big one. I think on the nose it would be easy to make From Dusk to Dawn comparisons. But it is actually quite close to The Faculty, which is the remake of The Thing, which is one of my favorite movies. Definitely my favorite horror movie.”
He also went on to compare the film to Salem's Lot, and the work of John Carpenter. So it's safe to say he's done his genre research. And he backed that up too, as Bloody Disgusting reports he told the publications and other members of the press: “This film was heavily researched. We went really hard to make sure that the only make-believe in the film is the supernatural. So, we wanted the world to be extremely tactile the same way that we approached our other films…”
He also opened up about the blues music at the heart of Sinners, and how it works in tandem with the film's horror: “The film deals with American music, blues music, which is, if you know the story of Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson, all of that is there. Hoodoo culture, all of these concepts and ideas.” He continued: “But it is the supernatural creature that's most associated with seduction, that's most associated with choice. That aspect is something that's very present in blues music, also called the devil's music. There was just a contrast between the secular lifestyle and that. The film is in conversation with all of those things.”
