MIAMI – The South’s painful past comes back to haunt moviegoers in the new horror thriller “Antebellum.”The movie is the brain child of Miami filmmakers Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz, who left their successful South Florida public relations firm in 2017 to make their Hollywood dreams come true. “When we got here, it was within six months that we had a bidding war for our first picture, which is ‘Antebellum,’” Bush said. “Antebellum” is their first feature, a horror film not just on its surface, but at its core. The film resonates loudly with the social challenges our nation is facing right now in confronting its fractured past. With nods to Gone with the Wind, Bush and Renz wanted to set the record straight and show the Antebellum South how it really was, making moviegoers not just jump out of their seats, but also think.

Much of the horror of “Antebellum” is in its unflinching depiction of the violence inflicted on slaves. Monae hopes the film acts as a catalyst for discussions about systemic racism in a politically divided nation. The movie grew out of a literal nightmare that co-writer-director Gerard Bush had after his father died. In addition to Monae, the cast also includes Jack Huston, Eric Lange, Kiersey Clemons, Gabourey Sidibe and Jena Malone. Bush said he realizes that audiences will be uncomfortable watching the film, but he believes that unsettling times calls for unsettling art.

This image released by Lionsgate shows co-writer/directors Christopher Renz, left, and Gerard Bush on the set of "Antebellum." Filmmakers Bush and Renz planned to release their feature-length debut film, Antebellum, in the spring of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic exploded internationally. In Antebellum, Mone gives moviegoers a modern Black heroine who takes charge of her own liberation without a male-dominated cavalry. Their path to feature-length films with a racial justice message has been a long time coming, Bush and Renz said. Even as they anticipate finding box office success with Antebellum, Bush and Renz are already at work on their second feature-length script, under a newly formed production company, Gloaming Pictures.