The first full trailer for the mysterious Antebellum offers more Janelle Monáe, few answers
Aux Features Coming Distractions
The first teaser for Antebellum, a forthcoming horror film from the producers of Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us and writer-directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz, was tantalizingly vague. Not quite opaque, but very, very light on details. Now the first full trailer is here, and surprise! It’s still mysterious.
That’s not a complaint, mind, and it’s certainly more substantial than its predecessor (which was great—again, not complaining, we love a cryptic teaser.) It appears that Bush and Renz, the team behind the viral “Against The Wall” PSA making their feature debut, have crafted some sort of timey-wimey horror mystery in which Veronica (Monáe), who the synopsis calls a “successful author,” gets pulled or sent back in time to pre-Civil War era in which Black Americans, Veronica included, are still enslaved. Text pops up throughout the trailer, asking a question: “What if fate chose you to save us from our past?”
What does that mean? Not a fuckin’ clue, but we can’t wait to find out when Antebellum arrives in theaters on April 24. And frankly, we don’t need answers to get us interested; you had us at “Janelle Monáe.” The cast also includes Marque Richardson II, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Tongayi Chirisa, Gabourey Sidibe, and Jena Malone.
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How are they calling this a trailer? It’s more of a tease than the teaser.
(And BTW, I’m fine by this…I know almost nothing about this movie but I’m there on opening day)
Although this looks more supernatural, it immediately reminded me of Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred.
That was also my thought!
Because it is. Hopefully they paid her estate.
_Auntie Bellam_In a misguided bid to get MTV to play music videos again and hire him as a VJ, Bill Bellamy disguises himself as a boisterous older lady to infiltrate the household of the TV network’s president. Rated PG for mild racism.
Monae is such an arresting on-screen presence. Part of that is that she’s drop-dead gorgeous, of course, but she’s also just instantly engaging when she’s on camera. I don’t know if this movie’s for me, plot-wise, but it might get me in the cinema just based on its star.