Watch Antebellum (2020) online

Antebellum is a 2020 American thriller film written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz in their feature directorial debuts. The film stars Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, and Gabourey Sidibe, and follows a modern-day African-American woman who finds herself in a Southern slave plantation and must escape.

Antebellum was released in the United States through premium video on demand on September 18, 2020, and theatrically in several other countries. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who felt it did not live up to the premise's full potential.

In a Louisiana slave plantation run by Confederate soldiers, slaves are treated harshly and not allowed to speak without permission. Those who attempt to escape are killed and their bodies burned in a crematorium. After a failed escape attempt, a black man named Eli watches as his wife is murdered and her body placed in the crematorium. A woman who had been assisting them is later brutally beaten and branded until she submits to being called Eden.

A group of new slaves is brought to the plantation. Among them is a pregnant woman whom the daughter of the plantation owner, Elizabeth, names Julia and places in the care of Eden. Julia asks Eden to plan an escape while Eden urges her to keep her head down. That evening, during a dinner where Julia and Eden are forced to wait on soldiers in the army, a shy Confederate soldier named Daniel is attracted to Julia and arranges to go to her cabin later. When Julia tries to play on his kindness and asks him to help her he beats her for speaking to him without permission, causing her to miscarry.

In her cabin, after being raped by the general, Eden hears a ringing cell phone. In the modern era a cell phone rings, awakening Eden, who is actually Veronica Henley, a renowned sociologist. She is preparing to take a trip to speak and promote her book, which is particularly hard for her because she has to leave her loving husband, Nick, and her daughter, Kennedi. She has a bizarre online meeting with Elizabeth which leaves her uncomfortable but she dismisses her feelings and cuts the meeting short.

While in Louisiana on her book tour, she meets her friends and agrees to go to dinner with them. In the meantime Elizabeth sneaks into her hotel room and steals her lipstick. Intending to go back home early in the morning, Veronica leaves dinner in what she believes is her Uber ride but is actually a car driven by Elizabeth. Elizabeth's husband Jasper knocks Veronica out revealing that Veronica and "Eden" are the same person.