THE STORY – A demonic entity stalks moderators who block a horrific video, haunting every screen and feeding on fear until they release it beyond the digital world.
THE CAST – Brittany O’Grady, Taz Skylar, Viveik Karla, Ines Høysæter Asserson, Gunner Willis, Sara Alexander & Camila Bejarano Wahlgren
THE TEAM – Matt Black & Ryan Polly (Directors/Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 88 Minutes
Maybe it’s the fact that directors Ryan Polly and Matthew Black centered a horror film on the temp work that now pays the roof over my head, but man, pretty quickly into their debut “Monitor,” it’s easy to see that these two have conjured something delightful. A horror film catered around all of the internalized fears of the content online that has polluted our minds, whether we’ve sought it out or it’s been inadvertently forced up our timelines one doom scroll session at a time. What’s more unavoidable in today’s time than a screen? Television, cellphones, computer monitors, it’s an inescapable mirror that we find ourselves having to glare at. It’s also the instrument of horror that Polly and Black creatively use to subject our crew of survivors to what is an absolute blast of a freshman feature.
After setting the tone with a few kills and the droning sound of white noise, “Monitor” shifts gears to societal recluse Maggie, played by Brittany O’Grady. Alongside her other misfit coworkers of online moderators at a third-party moderation service, Maggie scours the backlogs of submissions filled with the worst of the worst content that could only be found on the internet. For her, despite seeing the worst in humanity, this is not only an escape but a chance to make something right in the world, especially after the tragic loss of her sister. That is, until Maggie witnesses and rejects a video submission, unearthing something sinister from beyond the blue light that shines on us all. Her attempt to reinvigorate her life is now plagued by the seeds of fear, as an entity that transfers through screens comes for them all, a digitized Freddy Kruger of sorts.
While Polly and Black’s reliance on the traditional structures most horror films follow is apparent, their tinkering with the formula, not only in a concise but also in a gruesome manner, leads to a horror film that successfully achieves the goals most films in the genre fail to. It plays to the crowd so well as audiences eat up gnarly death that plagues this group, navigating a world where de-digitizing is a difficult feat as it completely envelopes them. “Monitor,” which is an extension of Polly and Black’s original short film, doesn’t feel bloated in any manner, as its tightly wound execution prevents it from leading the pair’s direction astray into something not only more generic, but also less of a romp. GoPros to baby monitors, handycams, night vision goggles, and laptop webcams all play into carefully constructed set pieces that display variety to this inventive concept, instead of limiting its potential by making a chamber piece where these characters are stuck behind one screen the entire time.
The editing of “Monitor” allows the tension to build just to the right degree as Polly and Black never extend their hands, even as it plays into jump scares, which, inevitably, for a film of this scale, are implemented sparingly. Guillermo de la Cal’s editing also intersperses between the characters, allowing the film’s few comedic moments to actually land, which is far tougher a task than one gives credit for. It also allows the ensemble to play off each other wonderfully, even if their character types are quite blanketed, as most are merely targets to be mercilessly taken off the board for a satisfying kill. While everyone is good, O”Grady’s performance holds the film together, mainly because her character is the most realized of the bunch, allowing a performer such as O’Grady to ring more out of it. Taz Skylar is also a nice presence in the film, as his character Issac adds a level of unpredictability due to his moralistic opposition to everything Maggie stands for, making him a member of the group willing to go above everyone else on the moderating team in terms of survival.
I think a film like “Monitor” is everything we should be championing in independent horror. Polly and Black thread the needle, catering to longtime horror fans as well as popcorn-guzzling audiences looking for a film that first and foremost entertains them. The pair feel more indicative of a growing trend of horror directing duos such as Radio Silence guys or Zip Lipovsky and Adam Stein. It’s surely not the most original film in the genre, but at this rate, it’s far more rewarding than plenty of horror films released in the past few months alone.
