The trailer and butterfly-bound poster art (borrowed from The Silence of the Lambs) may convince audiences there’s horror ahead. And there is, just not the kind inspired by the empty-headed, atrocity-inducing monsters to which audiences have grown accustomed. On their best days, Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers are no match for the inhumane massuhs of the deep South or Hitler’s jackbooted SS officers. The trailer, featuring characters in present day dress, also cautions audiences that at some point, a chronological leap is in order. The setting is what’s known as a “reformer plantation.” (To give you a hint, the enclosure comes equipped with a state-of-the-art crematorium.) Compliance is mandatory. Those who disobey are roped and branded like cattle, which is exactly what slaves were: the property of their owners, sold to the highest bidder much the same way one might purchase a prize bull or an impounded car at a government auction. New to these parts, Eden (Janelle Monáe) is still foolish enough to believe in the possibility of escape. For the first hour my head throbbed; diversity does not a movie make and this type of simplistic "bad whites vs. good blacks" had to go. And it did. It’s fun to be fooled. If ever there was a case of the end justifying the means, it’s this. To say more would spoil things. Experience it for yourself. (2020) — Scott Marks