10 Horror Movies That Abandoned Awesome Ideas Halfway Through
6. Antebellum
Antebellum's cardinal sin lies with the film's inability to give voice to any type of message regarding its contentious subject matter.
Conveyed in a non-linear fashion, the movie's central premise is as horrifying as it is intriguing. A young African-American woman finds herself seemingly transported back in time to a Confederate plantation, where she comes face to face with the unbridled horrors of slavery.
In devastating fashion for such an original concept, Antebellum quickly falls into the trap that has snared several of its slavery-based peers - getting utterly carried away with depicting the horrific torture and abuse that these unfortunate human beings suffered, in the most graphic and traumatizing of fashions. This might be borderline acceptable if it carried any deeper message, but after a twist that completely subverts the film's narrative, fans are ultimately left with what is little more than slavery-driven torture porn.
Crucially, the movie doesn't even bother with dealing with any of the fallout from the abhorrent events of the narrative after the reveal that the plantation exists in present day. The production's uninspired choice to go with an action-heavy finale means that yet another avenue allowing for more significant social commentary goes to waste. Antebellum set out like it wanted to be a Jordan Peele film, but could not have been further from one by the time the ending rolls around.