Sinners

The latest project from acclaimed American director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) reunites him with Michael B. Jordan as together, they take on the horror genre.

The opening shot is of Michael B. Jordan’s character sitting next to a derelict warehouse, accompanied by wind and an ominous sound that could be some kind of composite of wine glasses and a waterphone. The use of sound here in diegetic space is deliberately obscure. At 0:06, we get a flash of a man holding a gun in the darkness, followed by the sound of a gunshot. The scene then returns to Jordan, whose character seems to react to the sound. At 0:10 we get another split-second snippet of a person running at night with an accompanying sound—this time, a more industrial sounding clang.

These flashes get more intense, and as Jordan picks up his weapon, we get the studio title card and the first use of the main musical cue. This is a 3-3-2 rhythm pattern known in Latin American music as a tresillo (though it’s also quite common in modern pop music). This pulse repeats between lines of descriptive monologue that nevertheless contains no major plot points or details. There is a subtle use of auditory synch between the reloading of the gun at 0:35 and the rhythmic tresillo pattern.

At 0:45 we get the director’s title card and the vague addition of voices to the musical arrangement, though none are so clear as to make out what they are saying. The pulse becomes more insistent, now with the addition of distortion. At 0:54, the scene breaks in sync with the sound of a church door crashing opening, accompanied by ominous, low voices. We see the juxtaposition of the title cards and monologue at 1:08: “No ghosts, no magic,” he says, while the screen invites us to Coogler’s “new vision of fear” (emphasized by the preceding scene at 1:05 where we read such fear on the characters’ faces, quite vividly). At 1:08 a final screech leads to an audiovisual blackout where the monologue adds, “till now,” as if in response to the promise of said fear. At 1:16, a wind-laden, turbulent sound gradually intensifies until an exaggerated breath—presumably from someone blowing out a lantern—snuffs it out, leading to another audiovisual blackout. This is followed by a cry for help: "Let me in, man!"

At 1:23, the editing style echoes the first part of the trailer, except now these split-second, violent scenes are strewn across the default of an empty, black frame. This absence of the visual underscores the fact that Coogler reveals next to nothing about the film’s plot, much less the eldritch horror the film might contain. It does, however, effectively draw greater attention to the sound design at this point. This includes reverberant, industrial noise, classic escalating strings, violent percussion, and thundering sound effects such as the banging of the door as the on-screen character begs to be let in, with the occasional scream for good measure. The snippets become more and more frequent and urgent, turning into a tune-less montage.

At 1:46 the gun as a synch-point returns, again connecting to the earlier sequence where the loading gun rhythmically aligned with the soundtrack. Now we have an insistent pattern, breaking from the earlier 3-3-2 rhythm—befitting for a climactic point. The vantage point, with the audience facing Jordan, deliberately withholds the visual of the horror on which he's presumably unloading lead.. The tresillo rhythm returns, accompanied by a couple of screeches, just as the main title card and release date nearly lead us to the end.

Overall, this trailer stands out for what it chooses not to reveal, while still building anticipation and curiosity. In its concise two-minute runtime, it demonstrates an elegant editing structure—playing with synch points, rhythm, and recurring motifs that are expanded upon and intensified—creating a sense of completeness. And all of that without a traditional melody.

Sinners reaches theatres March 7th.

— Curtis Perry