Monolith

A young, disgraced journalist has isolated in her parents’ country estate, desperate to re-establish her credentials with a podcast about unexplained phenomena. After many failed attempts to find a suitable subject, an anonymous email arrives simply reading “Floramae King + the brick” as well as a phone number. The Interviewer learns from Floramae about a simple black brick that mysteriously appeared just before a traumatic event in her family’s life. It turns out that there are actually many bricks, appearing all over the world, having a profound effect on those they come into contact with. Determined to keep up the momentum with further episodes, her deep dive into this mystery soon becomes an obsession, leading to a global conspiracy and possibly an otherworldly threat.

A single character in a single location works to the advantage of this paranoid thriller, mirroring the isolation and escalation of The Interviewer’s (Lily Sullivan, EVIL DEAD RISE) transformation from skeptic to believer. Her nuanced performance carries us through an intricate script that escalates from self-doubt and guilt to science fiction to moody horror. MONOLITH is a brilliant debut feature from director Matt Vesely, a cleverly crafted trip down the rabbit hole and across the vast reaches of space.