ReviewAntebellum movie review: provocative horror starring Janelle Monae fumbles its message on racial violence

Directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Benz unveil a provocative, genre-bending thriller that attempts to convey the horrors of slavery

Antebellum’s deadly serious tone, while respectful to its subject, sits at odds with the slick and almost playful nature of its execution

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Janelle Monae in a still from Antebellum (category IIB), directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz. Jena Malone and Jack Huston co-star. Photo: Matt Kennedy

Published: 5:00pm, 10 Sep 2020Updated: 7:18pm, 11 Sep 2020

2.5/5 stars

As racial violence escalates across America, reaching a fever pitch not witnessed in more than half a century, first-time filmmakers Gerard Bush and Christopher Benz unveil a provocative, genre-bending thriller that attempts to parlay the horrors of slavery into late-night popcorn entertainment.

Confederate soldiers wielding whips and chains in the cotton fields of the Old South in the US become bogeymen on a ghost train thrill ride, while singer-turned-actress Janelle Monae portrays the film’s resilient heroine, Eden.

One of many slaves held prisoner on a rural cotton plantation, her foiled attempts to escape have left her branded and without hope, until a pregnant young girl (Kiersey Clemons) arrives, and demands that they try again.

Monae also plays Veronica, a respected academic, activist and author in present day Washington, who specialises in African American disenfranchisement. She heads south to New Orleans for a speaking engagement, only to begin experiencing strange goings-on, as well as the prejudice ever-present in her daily life.

The specifics of Bush and Renz’s visually startling nightmare are best left to be discovered as they unfold on-screen. Suffice it to say that Antebellum leans hard into the brutal iconography associated with America’s past.