Vrinda Bachchan
‘Antebellum’ is a spooky thriller film that takes you back to the Civil War years when the horrors of slavery were rampant in the South. Imagine the creepiness of ‘The Shining’ mixed with the heart-wrenching plight of the slaves in ’12 Years a Slave’ – that’s basically what ‘Antebellum’ is all about. It is the directorial debut of activist duo Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz (known together as BushRenz). It stars Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, and Jack Huston in pivotal roles. The movie follows a successful author, Veronica Henley, who finds herself trapped in a literal nightmare, somehow traveling through time to land in a Southern plantation during the American Civil War.
The film starts with the horrific torture of Eden, a slave on the plantation, before turning on its axis and stumbling into a different timeline where Eden is Veronica in the modern-day. Veronica is thrown back into the old timeline, or maybe an alternate reality, in a mind-bending mystery. Mostly, the plot focuses on Eden’s unsuccessful attempts to escape her harrowing fate. Set in a world of casual cruelty, proper southern ritual, and uninhibited, unabashed brutality, the film is unsettling (as it aims to be) and also pretty scary. If you’re curious to know where ‘Antebellum’ has been filmed, we’ve got all the information for you.
Antebellum Filming Locations
This psychological horror film, which is also a commentary on racial injustices ingrained in American history, was filmed almost entirely in the southern American state of Louisiana.
New Orleans, Louisiana
The cast and crew of ‘Antebellum’ filmed the modern-day scenes in New Orleans, which is popularly known to locals as “NOLA” or the “Big Easy.” The charming city of New Orleans, home of Mardi Gras, is where the movie was partly shot and also where the crew stayed for the duration of filming.
Evergreen Plantation, Wallace
The majority of the film was shot in an actual plantation with a history of slavery. The Evergreen Plantation is a privately owned plantation located on the west side of the Mississippi River in St. John the Baptist Parish, near Wallace, Louisiana, and along Louisiana Highway 18. The main house was constructed in the late 1700s. Back then, the plantation’s primary crop was sugarcane, which was cultivated by enslaved African Americans until emancipation. The historic plantation is where the scenes set in olden times were filmed.
Read More: Best Movies About Slavery
