O Podcast

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "Monolith" (R - 2022 - VOD)

Genre: Drama/Sci-Fi

My Score: 6.8 Cast=5 Acting=8 Trailer=7 Ending=5 Story=8 Visual=6 Direct=8 Sound=7 Genre=5 Sub-genre=9

A headstrong journalist whose investigative podcast uncovers a strange artifact, an alien conspiracy, and the lies at the heart of her own story.

"You have to stop what you're doing...you are in danger." What starts out slow begins to build...in intensity and suspense. When the sci-fi stuff started to kick in, I was fully on board...I couldn't wait for the ending. I think this just went a little too long and that caused the ending to be a little flat. This is available to rent on Prime for 3.99 and I feel this is worth a watch. I'll leave it up to you if you want to rent it or wait for it to appear on a streaming service.

A strong willed, but seemingly on the way out journalist runs a podcast covering unsolved mysteries from her parents' lavish, isolated home. When she receives an anonymous email she follows it up and is told of a strange black brick that had altered the life of an ex maid. Investigating further she discovers an art dealer who has acquired a few of the bricks and had them scanned - he sends the results to the journalist. As the investigation progresses further and more people contact her, she begins to realise that she may in fact be directly involved in the mystery herself.

A tense and interesting low budget independent sci-fi thriller filmed entirely in the house and with just one actor seen, the unnamed journalist, played convincingly by Lily Sullivan. The investigative element involving interviewing various affected characters over the phone is well done and is actually the best part, as the possible ways in which the brick might be affecting people slowly emerges leading in turn to how the mystery might be directly involving the journalist. It is sci-fi and inevitably it brings the threads together with a bit of out there weirdness, but it's well enough handled and overall this is a fascinating and tense 94 minutes.

Again, this goes to show you don't need huge budgets to create good sci-fi. Absolute props to Lily Sullivan who's crushing it carrying the whole thing as a one-woman show. Now you have to know before you go in that it is extremely slow paced sci-fi with little to no special effects, and everything hinges on the atmosphere, closer to a psychological thriller in that way. In fact I find the poster for the movie a tad misleading. While it kept me engaged for the vast majority of the time, there are some pacing problems in certain places so that was unfortunate.

But overall it's definitely something I would recommend for people who can appreciate "non-flashy sci-fi".

Monolith maintains more of a single setting and person concept as it uncovers the mystery behind random blocks of black stone that just appear in people's lives.

The main character is a disgraced journalist that has moved to a new home that is more isolated to avoid the public. She is tasked with creating a new "mystery pod cast" and begins with these blocks.

As the film progresses, little details from talking with others who have found these blocks creates more uncertainty regarding what they are, why they are, and what do they do.

Monolith starts with a realistic focus on the main character and her stress from recent events of her problematic journalism. The film unfolds slowly around the bits of information and this leads us wanting to know more, but in this situation, there isn't clearer information.

If you are expecting tradition film plotting, don't watch this. If you want to experience the uncertainty and the mystery without needing an answer to resolve the tension, Monolith creates this atmosphere and suspense. Lily Sullivan as the lead character and only person on screen is captivating and holds this film with a tight grip even as she loses hold on her reality.

Monolith is a tricky one, an eerie one location thriller that tries a pretty ballsy bait and switch manoeuvre with its ending that I'm not altogether sure about being effective or not. A semi-famous radio journalist (Lily Sullivan) from a wealthy family sits alone in a fancy secluded manor, doing interviews over the phone for her podcast that probes into various obscure conspiracy theories. Her latest fixation is on some shred of evidence over the years that objects of alien origin have somehow made their way into human households, and she tries to track down accounts that back this up. What she really finds is some half forgotten secret closer to home that might even relate to her own past and this is where the film attempts a prompt and jarring turn right into left field that, although fascinating, grounds what could have been a spooky extraterrestrial horror experience into something very, how should I put it, socioeconomic and decidedly "of this world." It's a shame because I felt like the former option would have made for the better, stronger film. In any case it's still creepy, atmospheric, well acted and makes good use of its single location trappings.