[Review] 'Monolith' Tells a Riveting Sci-fi Horror Tale Wrapped in Conspiracy Theory

​I don’t need to tell you that “the truth” isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to an endless amount of misinformation, our waning ability to dig deeper than headlines, and a rise in unethical journalism more concerned with clicks than accuracy, lies and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire more than ever before. With his impressive debut feature, Monolith, director Matt Vesely expresses this anxiety with an enthralling sci-fi horror tale that’s as unnerving as it is brilliant.
 
A headstrong journalist (Lily Sullivan) has just started her new job as an investigative podcaster after losing her previous journalism gig for reasons unknown. Her show is Beyond Believable, a series exploring strange mysteries from around the world. When she receives a tip about various “black bricks”, as they’re described, falling into the hands of people and holding a strange power over them, she decides to follow the lead and see where it goes. But as the show becomes more popular and she digs deeper into the phenomena, the journalist finds herself wrapped up in a conspiracy that may or may not be true…one where she can no longer tell the truth from her own lies.
 
Sullivan, who endeared herself into the hearts of horror fans as the star of Evil Dead Rise, once again proves she’s an up and coming actress with a complex performance that keeps the audience guessing. We aren’t told the journalist’s name. We’re secluded to her office in an isolated home. For the most part, the only physical contact she has with anyone is her pet turtle, and even he remains walled off from her behind the glass of his tank, the same way she is walled off from the world behind the glass wall of her office. She believes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, recording her subjects before asking if it’s okay…and sometimes not asking at all. Everything we know about this flawed character, we learn through suggestion and subtle expressions enacted by Sullivan, all the while wondering…is she an honest reporter? Does she believe her own story? Has she lost her mind? The filmmakers and Sullivan keep you on your toes until the very end.

Shot almost entirely in a single room and broken up only by the occasional re-enactment of disturbing dreams described by the journalist’s interviewees, Vesely establishes himself as a methodical director that knows how to get maximum tension out of very little. There’s a sort of patience to the camerawork as it creeps and crawls, building anxiety in the viewer as we wait to see what’s around the next corner. Credit to Lucy Campbell’s script which sucks the audience in and encourages us to “listen” and become investigative journalists ourselves as we dissect truth from lies on the way to a stunning conclusion. The deeper the journalist digs, the stranger the story becomes, and the harder it is to know what’s real and what’s not. There’s a dreamy quality to the film, accomplished by placing us squarely in the uncomfortable shoes of the journalist with few moments of relief that let us leave that space. Monolith sucks you in like the gaping maw of a dark void, pulling you closer and closer with ease. What makes it so disturbing is that you as the audience start to understand how easy it is to slip into a realm of conspiracy theories and tumble down the rabbit hole. That, dear reader, is truly terrifying.
 
Yet what’s most nerve-rattling about Monolith is what it says about the current state of our culture. By framing the story around a journalist who believes she is ethical but isn’t always so, while putting on display how quickly information spreads, true or not, Vesely’s film shows how easy it is to create mass hysteria now. A truth is only that if enough people believe it, opening the door for any lie to become “true”. Are the people reaching out to the journalist with their stories telling the truth, or looking for their moment of fame? Does she even care about the integrity of her story, or does the popularity of it matter more? And what happens to a world where the story is given more weight than the facts? Campbell’s script explores all of this through an intricate plot with multiple layers that’ll have more curious viewers wanting to watch it again and again. Admittedly, the film stumbles a tad with some all-too coincidental bits towards the end, but recovers nicely with a shocking punch that’ll leave viewers stunned.
 
Riveting. Intelligent. And deeply discomforting, Monolith is an astounding debut feature from both Vesely and Campbell that has me anxious to see what each does next. Between the director’s talent at creating so much dread out of so little and the writer’s gripping storytelling, this is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys a good cerebral mystery. It’s only February and still far too early to tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Monolith ends up being one of the best sci-fi horror films of the year when all is said and done. Sit down with it and listen. It has quite the story to tell.

Monolith arrives in theaters and on digital February 16th from Well Go USA.

By Matt Konopka