Forget monsters and zombies and boogiemen. Humanity has already inflicted the scariest horrors on itself.
If you watch Antebellum, its likely that you have an idea what you signed up for. Its trailer makes pretty clear what type of movie it is and what type of subject matter it tackles, so if you are looking for escapism, this won’t be where to find it. Thankfully, the trailer is also restrained enough to reserve the specific plot mechanics for the film itself, and there is a lot of impact to be wrung out of precisely how the story gets to where its going. The trailer for the Russel Crowe vehicle Unhinged, by contrast, (my other 2020 horror viewing experience of the weekend) gives you the first two and a half acts beat-by-beat, which ultimately makes you wonder why you dropped $20 to catch it on early access in the first place.* Slavery is by its very nature horrific, but that doesn’t make it easy to craft a horror movie around the concept. Antebellum is not perfect, but it succeeded in both selling the horror concept of the film while also re-contextualizing the very real tragedy of America’s history for me in a chilling way. No matter how well executed and realistic a historical drama can be, I always find myself internalizing the events with a bit of a safety buffer. Something about the distance of time allows me to compartmentalize what I’m watching. For whatever reason, this film shattered that buffer in a discomfiting way.
I may be in the minority in my opinion, as the limited reception I’ve come across online has been lukewarm at best. As I stated previously, it isn’t perfect. I adore Janelle Monae as a musician, and I have been impressed with her acting in the past, but Antebellum asks a lot of her. If I’m being honest, her performance strains a bit under the demands of the film. That being said, the film’s biggest issue is a lack of subtlety. There is some truly leaden symbolism, particularly a moment involving a Robert E. Lee statue, and the snippets of dialogue that hint at current political views are liable to induce some eye rolls. Yet, maybe this isn’t a topic that calls for subtlety at all. Despite its obvious flaws, watching this film was a very powerful experience, and perhaps it wouldn’t have been if it were concerned with pulling punches. The young directors (Gerard Bush & Christopher Renz) may have been able to thread the needle a little better with some more experience under their belts, but they still produce their share of stunning moments like an incredible, brutal, opening tracking shot that sets the whole story into unnerving motion. It is not a fun movie, and perhaps if I return to it the imperfections will grate on me more, but I can’t deny that Antebellum hit me in the gut harder than anything else I’ve watched this season.
*And thus concludes my critical analysis of Unhinged. I try to reserve my final slot of the year for a success of some sort, a way to celebrate the genre on its most important day. Unhinged is certainly not that.
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