Monolith Digital Review | Road Rash Reviews

4 star eerie and effective sci-fi thriller.

Monolith is a 2022 Australian science fiction thriller film written by Lucy Campbell (The Big Nothing) and directed by Matt Vesely, in his extremely well conceived and executed feature directorial debut.

It is available on UK Digital Platforms from 26th February 2024, courtesy of Blue Finch Films Releasing.

“I wanna tell you a story. All you have to do is listen.”

Monolith tells us the story of a disgraced journalist (Lily Sullivan – Mental, Evil Dead Rise), also known as The Interviewer, who has been offered a second chance at a career. She is to record an episode for a podcast known as ‘Beyond Believable’, dedicated to investigating the unexplainable.

Depressed following her fall from grace, she is working from her parents home while they are away on holiday. She is struggling to find a story when an anonymous email drops into her inbox, which just says Floramae King + The Brick, and an included phone number. She calls Floramae (Ling Cooper Tang – True Spirit, Ticket to Paradise), who reluctantly tells her about a mysterious black brick which suddenly appeared one day where she was working as a housekeeper. It had a profound impact on her, but was sold by her employers without her consent to an art dealer.

The Interviewer tracks down the art dealer Klaus (Terence Crawford – Escape From Pretoria, The Babadook), who also confirms that the black bricks had a great effect on him, including terrifying visions. He has collected many of them and upon scanning, discovered that the interiors are covered with unknown symbols. When the first episode of the podcast blows up, she is inundated by similar stories from all over the world. What are these mysterious objects and how is she connected to them?

“Somebody thought it was interesting enough to email me about, and you say the brick was special, right? What’d it make you feel?”

Monolith is an excellent sci-fi film, made on a tiny budget and relying almost entirely on the acting performance of the only on-screen actor Lily Sullivan, who carries it brilliantly. She has a really solid story to work with and a good script. The performances of the people on the other end of the phone are also good, not breaking the carefully crafted immersion.

The tension and unease build gradually and inexorably towards the shocking conclusion and the story has more than a few surprises up it’s sleeve. For such a low budget affair and from a relatively new director it’s impressive stuff. Well worth a watch and I look forward to seeing what he has to offer next.

“As I listen to Floramae and Klaus describe their experiences, these powerful, dark objects, I feel a kind of terror creep over me. Who sent this anonymous email and what do they want me to find?”