“Antebellum” (** out of four) was a maddening horror melodrama about a successful author and inspirational speaker (Janelle Monae) who finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality which seems a series of dreams and nightmares reflecting back to when she was in slavery and she must sort out the mystery between the present day and the past before it’s too late. Monae is solid as usual but the thin storyline veers back-and-forth between the past and present bizarrely and becomes pointless and pretentious after a while. Film also doesn’t end so much as stop. Directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz admitted this was all-too-obviously inspired by (i.e. ripped-off from) “The Shining”.