“Antebellum” has recently been available on DVD, Blu-ray and, above all, UHD Blu-ray. The horror thriller should actually have run on the big screen – and that’s exactly where it should have belonged with its magnificent pictures …
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“Antebellum”, the debut of the directing duo Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz, begins with a five-minute tracking shot without a cut – once across a southern plantation during the American Civil War. We see a magnificent mansion, just as you know it from “Gone with the Wind” – and of course the trees draped with the iconic Louisiana moss. There is hustle and bustle, a Confederate unit is apparently stopping off. The camera slides on over a lush picnic meadow to the slave shelters, where the viewer witnesses a series of unspeakable horrors …
The start of “Antebellum” is just as devastating as it is visually impressive – and it would have developed its full impact above all on a big screen. But because that is not possible in times of the pandemic, the horror thriller has meanwhile been released directly for home theater.
Even the trailer is a spoiler
Now it’s not that easy to write about “Antebellum” without anticipating at least one of the two central twists. The very structure of the film is a surprise that an impartial viewer, who experiences the first 40 minutes of the film as a barely less disturbing continuation of “12 Years A Slave”, would certainly not count on it. So if you just want to be amazed by a movie again, you should neither watch the trailer nor read the rest of this article.
- »” Antebellum “as Blu-ray on Amazon*
- »” Antebellum “as UHD 4K Blu-ray on Amazon*
I did watch the film on UHD Blu-ray, but because “Antebellum” really lives so much from its two central twists, I would not say that it is a film that you would necessarily watch more often. A loan should therefore also be sufficient – if possible in 4K, which is really, really worthwhile here, but at least as a stream doesn’t even cost extra:
- »” Antebellum “as a stream on Amazon*
- »” Antebellum “as a UHD 4K stream on Amazon*
If you read on now, as I said, you do so at your own risk (even if we will of course not spoil the big second twist at all) – here is the trailer:
So yes: after 40 minutes, “Antebellum” jumps into the present – initially without any further explanation. Janelle Monáe, whom we just saw as the humiliated slave Eden, now plays the bestselling author and civil rights activist Veronica. Veronica also has to do with racism, for example when she is treated condescendingly by the concierge in the hotel, even though she lives in one of the most expensive suites in the house.
But Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz don’t stop at just showing us that less has changed in people’s minds over the centuries than one might have hoped …
… instead they take this idea to extremes with another amazing twist, where you can’t help but think immediately of the twist grandmaster M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable”). This second turn is not only incredibly perfidious – it will also split the audience in the middle like with a blow of the ax: Is that a brilliant commentary on America today? Or is that just exploitative nonsense?
There is hardly any clear right or wrong answer to this question, but in any case there will be discussions after the film – and these are currently more appropriate than ever when you consider that only a few days ago the federated flag was in the middle of intruders was hoisted in the American Congress …
Webedia GmbH
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* The links to the Amazon offer are so-called affiliate links. If you buy via these links, we receive a commission.
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