'Monolith' & other horrors

Overdue collection of capsule thoughts on recent horror films, including Matt Vesely's excellent thriller 'Monolith,' Jonathan Glazer's singular 'The Zone of Interest,' and more!

SO MUCH OF WHAT HAPPENED in 2023 helped illuminate my 2024.

I opened the year by reading that humans only get to live about four thousand weeks, and I alerted myself to the fact that I’ve already lived a fourth of that. I’ve since spun down a spiral of rethinking how I might allocate the very finite resources of life.

One of my commitments this year is to be more active with this newsletter. And as I’m sure a lot of you who subscribed (I’m very appreciative, you won’t believe how much), I can definitely do more.

Which brings us to today’s email — a kind of late ‘Field Notes From Hell’ dispatch-cum-long-due newsletter update.

Let’s dig into what’s new.

• I’m changing the format of the newsletter. I will no longer curate news stories and trailers. You guys are already too plugged in. Instead, I’ll focus on sharing capsule reviews of the horror films I’ve watched that week.

• I’m effectively turning this into a weekly review and recommendations newsletter. I’ll do my best to cover what’s playing in theaters, streaming, and VOD, but I do not claim this to be the most comprehensive digest.

• I’m shifting focus to making YouTube videos. You’ll still get exclusive things here, and as OG subscribers, you’ll get first dibs on video premieres, but yep, I’m allocating more energy into finally making long-form videos, which was my original goal, anyway.

Now that that’s done, let’s move on to this week’s reviews. There’s plenty.

Monolith ★★★★☆

2024, dir. Matt Vesely

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Enjoyed this thoroughly. I immediately caught the vibe it was going for. Less The War of the Worlds and more Pontypool, where inevitable self-destruction is all but assured through the hapless proliferation of language in media. Here, a monolithic black brick becomes the curious subject of a disgraced journalist-turned-podcaster played by Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise).

The film uses the brick as a visual metaphor for repressed trauma and depression — an ugly thing that one just one day "receives" and that one would prefer not to discuss. Not sure if I like the ending too much, though.

The Seeding ★★☆☆☆

2023, dir. Barnaby Clay

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Usually love me an atmospheric slow-burner (especially when it's seemingly designed to make men wince), but I just couldn't buy into the bulk of what happens in The Seeding.

The film follows an explorer (Scott Haze) who finds himself stranded inside a pit and at the mercy of a litter of sadistic children. There, he finds a fellow "hostage," a woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) who seems to have situated herself well despite the situation. He feels compelled to rescue her, but she seems indifferent. This weird dynamic quickly unravels as days, weeks, and months pass.

The visuals are great, even when they kind of belabor the film's already belabored ideas (e.g. the sperm visual of the title card, the "microcosm" birds-eye view shots, the film rotting in various moon phases) spoken in words.

True Detective: Night Country ★★★★½

2024, dir. Issa Lopez

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The wave of catharsis I felt — me, a Filipino, belonging to a group of people no stranger to the notion of banding together and saying no to systemic injustice — with how the season finale unfolded. What a rush. Issa Lopez, Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, and everyone involved outdid themselves and have (finally) crafted a season of crime TV that refuses to exploit its subjects. My favorite season of television so far this year.

Possum ★★★½☆

2018, dir. Matthew Holness

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Kind of tough to sit through, even if the filmmaking is obviously competent. The film teeters in misery porn for most of it, though one could argue that's entirely the point — to sink you deep into the darkest reaches of childhood trauma. It has some truly scary moments, too, thanks to the gorgeous expressionist visuals, Sean Harris' great performance as an awkward socially disgraced puppeteer, and the instantly iconic arachnid puppet-head.

The Zone Of Interest ★★★★★

2023, dir. Jonathan Glazer

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People are right to call this film a masterpiece, albeit a grueling one, and one which I don't see myself ever watching again. The 'non-story' about the idyllic life of a Nazi family situated right next to a concentration camp in Auschwitz is a sort of mirage, a cruel haze that director Glazer (Under the Skin) uses to rip our eyes wide open and our ears perceiving of the horrors that transpired during the occupation. The truth of the violence unfolds only when you really look and really listen to the events on-screen — the routine delivery of provisions, the constant chugging of the trains, the faint screams of terror. It is you who builds the dreadful image you will carry well after the credits roll. The night vision scenes and the fourth-wall-breaking bit at the end were fascinating, too.

Double Blind ★★½✩✩

2024, dir. Ian Hunt-Duffy

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Little trouble at Big Pharma. This Irish thriller about a dubious double-blind human trial for an unknown drug is as derivative as it gets but makes up for its arresting visuals and technical flair. The acting is a bit wooden (apart from the lead) with thinly realized characters to match. No groundbreaking ideas nor any nuanced criticisms about the sickening (uh...literally) machinery of pharmaceutical corporations that other, more competent horrors before it hadn't yet made.

Deliver Us ★★½✩✩

2023, dir. Cru Ennis, Lee Roy Kunz

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Proficient occult flick that feels like a spiritual prequel to Donner's The Omen, about a nun conceiving both the messiah and the antichrist. All the tension built by the film's amazing first twenty minutes atrophies into an unsure mess, though. It honestly feels like a big hunk of narrative appended — filled with unnecessary subplots and side quests — to an otherwise very strong twenty-minute short film. But the filmmakers exhibit great promise and have a great eye for creepy visuals. The crucifix-shaped ice hole is pretty iconic.

Field Notes From Hell is Deep Cuts’ weekly email digest. Dispatches go out every weekend, with handpicked capsule reviews and horror recommendations.