Monolith is a low budget sci-fi thriller that pretty much features just a single on-screen character. The Interviewer (Lily Sullivan, Evil Dead Rise) is a disgraced investigative journalist, who was fired from The Evening Journal after the subject of her expose was cleared of all charges, and it came to light that she had failed to corroborate her evidence and properly vet one of her key sources. The Interviewer still stands by her article, and while she admits she made some mistakes, she feels like her former employer is using her as a scapegoat. With angry mobs and press constantly hanging outside her apartment, she moved back in with her parents, and now works on the podcast Beyond Believable, which delves into unsolved mysteries and hoaxes. Her boss, Jarad (voice of Damon Herriman), is constantly asking when she’s going to post her next episode, but The Interviewer is a bit stuck for a topic. That is until she receives an anonymous email with the subject “The Truth Will Out”, with the name of a person to contact.
As the podcast host interviews Floramae King (voice of Ling Cooper Tang), she hears a story about a mysterious black brick that appeared one day and changed her life. While it had been 20 years, and the details were a bit foggy, Floramae says that the brick had some sort of power over her, before it was stolen and sold to an art collector. The interviewer doesn’t think much about the story, but tracks down the art collector and learns that there are more of these bricks, and some very interesting details about them. She is able to weave this into the start of an eerie alien conspiracy and mystery, which seems to resonate with her listeners. The Interviewer starts to hear from listeners who have had their own similar stories involving these bricks, and the podcast really takes off. However, the more The Interviewer talks about the bricks, the more it seems to affect her own sense of reality and mentality. And as she delves deeper into the rabbit hole, she discovers that she, too, may have encountered one of these bricks in her childhood. Who sent The Interviewer the anonymous tip about the bricks, what has she gotten herself into, and is it too late for her to turn back?
In some ways Monolith reminded me of Mercy Road, where we are primarily in one location the whole time (in this case The Interviewer’s parents’ home) and all interactions with other characters are done via audio, and not seen on camera. However, Lily Sullivan is great at keeping the viewer engaged and invested with her performance. She is the only on-screen actor for the majority of the film, except for a couple flashbacks and a low quality Facetime call that is difficult to make out. As characters are telling their stories about the brick to The Interviewer, we are usually presented with more of a live action diorama that evokes the emotions of the events being described rather than an actual recreation of those events. However, the film never feels lacking in characters or locations as the voice performances recounting these stories are quite vivid. You get sucked into this mystery about the bricks and what may or may not be happening. At the same time, we see The Interviewer start lose her own sanity.
The filmmakers really embrace the low budget nature of the film, purposely leaving several things ambiguous and up to the viewer to decide or make their own sense out of. The film gets into your mind, and the result is several tense moments that may not have been intentional but end up working quite well. For example, there was one scene where the house blinds are slowly opening, and I was anxiously anticipating that something was going appear in the windows, though nothing ever did. The filmmakers mention in the audio commentary that they heard from many viewers who had the same experience, and it ended up being more of a happy accident for them. The film also opens and closes with some narration, and this too is left a bit ambiguous and up to the imagination of the viewer to decide what it meant by it.
Well Go’s Blu-ray features pretty solid picture and sound, though sometimes the low budget nature of the film can definitely be seen, such as the overly-hazy nature of some scenes (which the filmmakers blame on an overzealous smoke machine) and some inconsistency in the sound levels for some of the phone interviews. However, there is this constant rapidly reverberating rhythm in the score anytime The Intervieweer is talking about the bricks, which helps to build the tension. Well Go’s Blu-ray releases tend to be barebones, but for this film we actually get an 8-minute behind-the-scenes featurette as well as a filmmaker commentary, plus the usual trailers. The Blu-ray comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, and our review copy did not include a slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:34:30)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
- Subtitles: English SDH
Extras:
- Behind The Scenes (7:49)
The filmmakers discuss how the film came about as part of a low budget program, how the script evolved, the sci-fi elements, the challenges of being the only on-set character, how the camera style changes over the course of the film, finding the right location, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Matt Vesley, producer Bettina Hamilton, star Lily Sullivan (“The Interviewer”), writer Lucy Campbell, and director of photography Michael Tessari. - Audio Commentary (1:34:30)
Director Matt Vesley, writer Lucy Campbell and producer Bettina Hamilton provide an entertaining and informative commentary throughout the feature. They discuss making their first feature film, how it was developed under a low budget film deal, letting the film be defined by by its low budget, how the pitch evolved, the hazy look of some scenes, shooting chronologically, casting the movie, the audience interpretations they didn’t think of, and more. They also share lots of behind-the-scenes stories about the production. - Trailer (2:17)
- Previews
- Sting (2:15)
- A Creature Was Stirring (2:05)
- Your Lucky Day (2:15)
Final Thoughts:
Monolith is an entertaining and often tense low-budget sci-fi thriller that leaves the viewer with some questions to contemplate at the end. Despite only having one on-camera actor, the film makes use of some strong voice performances, and actor Lily Sullivan really sells her character’s interactions with the off-camera characters. Well Go’s Blu-ray features solid picture and sound, and includes some entertaining bonus material. I think it’s worth checking out.
Monolith [Blu-ray]
40% Off $29.98 $14.99 (as of May 3, 2024 09:41 GMT -04:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Monolith
$3.99 (as of May 3, 2024 09:41 GMT -04:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
