“I want to tell you a story. All you have to do is listen.”
With those opening words, Monolith instantly hooks its audience into a mesmerizing narrative which focuses on a disgraced journalist who starts investigating a strange conspiracy story on a podcast she works for, “Beyond Believable”. It’s clickbait to be sure, or at least that’s what she’s expecting, but there’s little fiction to the story she begins to investigate.
And it concerns a black brick. It’s mysterious in nature and seems to be alien . . . or says everyone who holds it for any length of time. But is it believable? There’s the rub that she’s facing.
Starring Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise), the journalist at the center of this strange story, Monolith is brave in its approach to the narrative and bold in its cinematography (from Michael Tessari), startling viewers with long and intense shots which rely on the use of the actor’s voices to draw us in. It is almost hypnotizing as the conspiracy goes deeper and deeper upon the discovery of more bricks, each layered with unique symbols.
The truth is that mass hypnosis is what we are dealing with here. Between her podcast, the amount of people listening and sharing their own experiences with mysterious black bricks, and possible alien experiences, the truth is indeed out there in this atmospheric chiller.
Suddenly, stories about strange creatures are flooding her ears while she conducts interviews. And thanks to the Kubrick-like spell cast by the cinematography, we, too, are drawn into this strange, strange tale. Everyone feels like there are messages layered in the bricks. Once held, they feel the weight of it; the call for communication. There’s something unfinished in the bricks; a power they can’t control.
The words of the people she is interviewing haunt her. There seems to be similarities here in their stories and so she sets out to connect the dots, even if she thinks the whole thing is still a stretch. What else is she going to do?!
Directed by Matt Vesely and written by Lucy Campbell, this single-setting movie shares similar vibes with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as its subject matter grows more intense as more and more people email her with their history with the black brick. Some can’t stop staring at it; some have tried to get rid of it, yet still it remains with them. Kudos also goes to production designer Jonah Booth-Remmers, who’s design keeps things graceful, well aligned, and stark . . . where anything could happen.
And this atmospheric pressure is slowly affecting all of them. Even our unnamed journalist is affected. The emails from her listeners don’t stop coming in with their own stories about a black brick and then, as we keep digging alongside her, she finds herself involved when a mysterious package reveals a startling truth.
Monolith is presented by Well Go USA Entertainment and will be released Friday, February 16th in theaters everywhere.
Something awful is coming and this is just the way it has to be.
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 94 mins
Director: Matt Vesely
Writer: Lucy Campbell
Cast: Lily Sullivan; Ling Cooper Tang; Ansuya Nathan
Genre: Mystery | Thriller
Tagline: Something terrible is coming
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Official Site:
Release Date: February 16, 2024
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A headstrong journalist whose investigative podcast uncovers a strange artifact, an alien conspiracy, and the lies at the heart of her own story.
