20 Most Disappointing Horror Movies of the 2020s (So Far)

17. Antebellum

Antebellum 2020
Lionsgate

Antebellum is a textbook example of a horror film that simply failed to live up to its magnetic marketing. 

The trailers were purposefully vague in detailing the particulars of how Janelle Monáe's modern-day protagonist ended up in a Louisiana slave plantation, though led many to believe that the plot would involve time travel.

The apparent idea, of a contemporary Black woman being captured by white supremacists and sent back through time to live out her life on a plantation, is rife with dark potential, aided by marketing which basically sold it as a Jordan Peele-adjacent socially conscious horror film (despite Peele having no involvement with it).

Yet even with a stellar central performance from Janelle Monáe, Antebellum wasn't really this movie at all - time travel's got nothing to do with it. 

And even if you can forgive its shambolic final twist, the film's early momentum grinds to a halt by act two, at which point it becomes a decidedly less interesting slog all the way to the finish.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.