Sinners

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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With Hitchcockian elegance, patience and verve, director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) takes on the genre of Gothic Horror in “Sinners.” In bold beauty laced with whispers of dread and claustrophobia, Coogler has crafted a meticulous vampire tale set in the hateful violence of the Jim Crow South. The film is a sizzling slow burn chiller, full of emotive performances and evocative music pieces reminiscent of Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt. 

In bold and vivid tones, the story centers on Sammie (Miles Caton) and his desire to be a blues guitarist. His father ( Saul Williams) is a preacher and believes that Sammie is playing The Devil’s music.

The youngster is disciplined on his musical path and fate aids his calling when Sammie meets twin brother gangsters and music promoters Stack and Smoke (both played by Michael B. Jordan) who convince him to play in their newly purchased barn (a former Klu Klux Klan site) soon transformed into a vibrant Blues hall. Everything progresses smoothly until some eerie country folk ask for entrance.

The pace is masterful. With grand panoramic scenes of blue sky and cotton fields, the director usurps the negativity of “Gone with the Wind” and re-fashions these scenes into new images.

Every delicate and quiet moment points to the evil and obliterating qualities of racism, savage and deliberate. Each scene speaks for suspense.

Although the last third echoes a very hectic vampire film reminiscent of “From Dusk Till Dawn,” this film has enough emotional resonance to carry it beyond the usual stakes and circumstance.

Even with its sundry fright conventions of gruesomeness and garlic, the heart and poetic dread expressed make this film a spiritual sangre-sister to director Spike Lee’s “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” (2014).

Look for the actual Blues legend Buddy Guy in a post-credits sequence that has enough Halloween pathos and impact to compete with the entire film.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com