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Popverse has already reported on some of the SFX that went into making Ryan Coogler's horror movie Sinners, currently smashing records with both critics and the box office. But even though I'll always be here to talk about a good monster design, arguably even more important to creating a period piece is the costuming. In order to pull off the difficult task of resurecting 1930s Mississippi, Sinners' pegged one of the best in the business, Ruth E. Carter. Interestingly, though, the secret to making her costumes as immersive as they ended up being was to not focus on the fact that this was a monster movie at all. 

Carter's previous work designing fashion for film includes Malcom X, Black Panther, and Yellowstone. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar published April 24, Carter was asked about what it was like seeing the incredible audience reaction to the 1930s vampire flick, Carter said that it was "unexpected" because, in her own words, "we knew we were making a horror picture, but I never focused on the horror part."

"I focused on the Mississippi Delta," says Carter, "And the blues and the sharecroppers and the migration and all of that. I had to remind myself, 'Oh, they're gonna bloody this one up!' When one of my team members said, 'You know we're gonna have to make 10 of these [pieces]?,' I would say, 'Oops! Sorry guys. I was just focusing so much on the story of it all.'"

Indeed, the costuming Carter and her team created perfectly achieves the time travel that it was intended to, transporting the viewer into the American South circa 1932 (and not for nothing, it somehow makes Michael B. Jordan sexier than he already is). Looking back on her work, you could say that Carter is pleased.

"The response to it all is what I wanted it to be; I wanted people to see the Mississippi Delta and I wanted them to see the story of the blues. Now that it's rolling out and people are seeing this is more than just a horror film and that it has all of these layers—we made it with the intention of having those layers. There was a story within a story within a story."

As anyone who's seen the film will surely agree, Sinners is absolutely a layered work, and we have Carter & Co. to thank for a lot of them. Even if, in between those layers, there are buckets and buckets of blood.

Sinners is in theaters now.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.