Antebellum: How Other Horror Movies Can Learn From Its Biggest Mistake – Screen Rant

Antebellum received harsh reviews due to its brutal depiction of slavery. Here's how other horror movies can avoid making the same mistake.

Warning! Spoilers for Antebellum below.

Antebellumultimately received negative reviews upon its release, but it was most highly criticized for its graphic depiction of slavery. The cruelties of slavery were central to the movie's plot, but many thought the horror movie would have benefited from scaling back what was shown.

Antebellum'strippy timeline bounces back and forward betweenVeronica (Janelle Monae) at a slavery plantation and her comfortable life as a successful author. While at the plantation, Veronica both sees and suffers horrible abuse at the hands ofthe owners. However, the final act ofAntebellum reveals that the entirety of the movie takes place in the present, making the depiction of the treatment of slaves all the more terrifying.

Related:Antebellum: What The Butterfly Symbolism Means (& Why It's So Important)

When it comes to depicting violencepertaining to real-world issues, horror movies are judged by different standards than other genres.Antebellum ignored that unspoken rule, which led to its negative reviews. The movie would have likely seen positive reviews if it scaled back on the violence.

Antebellumis not the first film to depict slavery at such a graphic level. 2013's12 Years A Slave showed the horrors of one man's experience as a slave, and even won numerous awards. But the biggest difference between the two films is thatAntebellum is a horror movie and12 Years A Slaveis a drama. Violence and gore are often used for shock value in horror movies. Dramas typically only use extreme violence when it's really necessary. When12 Years A Slave showed the monstrosities of slavery, it felt necessary to the story of protagonistSolomon Northup. To contrast, whenAntebellum showed shocking violence, it came across asexploiting a shameful and traumatic part of history for the purpose of extra scares.

Even if they have the best intentions, horror movies have to play by different rules than dramas do. Since horror movies often deploy unnecessary violence, overdoing it can border on being deemed torture porn. When it comes to depicting real-life brutalities, that doesn't sit well with a lot of people. It can be effective to highlight more graphic, realistic violence to prove a point, butAntebellum missed the mark when it came to this. Other horror movies can learn from this mistake by realizing that less is more. It might not always be appropriate to depict high levels of violence, but there's nothing wrong with allowing the audience to imagine that it happened.

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Antebellum: How Other Horror Movies Can Learn From Its Biggest Mistake - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero