Monolith

February 15th, 2024

MOVIE: MONOLITH

AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 3 ½ STARS (Out of 4)

Everybody has a podcast these days. But making a podcast cinematic is an incredibly hard thing to do. Director Matt Vesely was up to the task with his film Monolith. It will undoubtedly be a challenging film for the common viewer, where the setting is just a single place, with a single character, phone conversations, and a creepy tone that digs into your head. Monolith is razor sharp, delivering an eerie feeling that grows minute to minute, and you can’t stop listening.

Lily Sullivan (star of Evil Dead Rise) plays the lead character, just known as “The Interviewer”, who was recently fired from her journalism position, after a story went bad, and is now focusing on her strange phenomenon podcast. She’s gone back to her parent’s home, hoping to reset, and focus on making her next venture a success. Then out of the blue, she receives an email, with an attached image, and details about a woman named Floramae. The more she digs into things, she discovers Floramae was once in possession of a mysterious black brick. Those who have come in possession of the brick began to have terrifying visions, getting sick, and unexplained occurrences. But was it all real? Being a dedicated journalist she continues at the detriment of her sanity.

From a cinematic standpoint, what makes Monolith work so well is an example of great storytelling, and direction. Written by Lucy Campbell, the text is so rich, with crisp clear audio, making the story that each new subject tells more in-depth than the next. It also helps that Sullivan delivers a killer performance, all on her own, with a voice that sounds made for ASMR videos, or a podcast of her own. And Vesely sets the stage perfectly, in a house with glass windows, mixing the audio with visuals that look equal to someone’s most abstract and terrifying nightmare. To make Monolith work takes great precision and that’s what it has.

The narrative goes deeper and deeper as more characters reveal their ownership of one of the black bricks. The Interviewer discovers deeper mysteries into what the bricks are. Secret writings are engraved on the inside, like symbols, or unexplainable signs. Meanwhile, the mystery of it all is driving her mad, as her pet turtle and the sound of other voices are her only company. Monolith plays like soundwaves, going down into darker depths, and rising high to an incredibly climactic ending.

The way Monolith works is fascinating. I’d mention movies to compare it to but there’s not many like it. You could reference films such as The Guilty or Locke, films with singular characters and singular locations, but Monolith does much more. It was made for just under one million dollars (unheard of in today’s age) with the thrills and chills of a big-budget horror production. It also has this undertone about what it means to be an artist, a creative obsessed with their craft, pushing the boundaries and discovering the haunting truths that are out there. Monolith is a must-see kind of horror. Or is it must-hear? Either way, my ears are perked up.

MONOLITH IS PLAYING IN THEATERS AND ON DIGITAL FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16TH, 2024.

3 ½ STARS

Written by: Leo Brady
leo@amovieguy.com

Leo Brady