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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the Best Sci-Fi 50's "B" Movies !, 7 March 2004
Author: PHeath60 from Clearwater, Florida

Ok you Sci-Fi B Movie Fans! This is an "A" of the "B" movies! It has it all..dialogue with "talk-over" at times that reminds me of "The Thing" and the interplay between characters is terrific. The special effects for this movie are very good, considering the time frame...the plot pretty good, and the actors fair as well.

The Plot is pretty typical of the Sci-Fi Movies of the time..there is a town in the middle of the desert, a child who ends up traumatized by her first encounter with the "entity". The female lead is a fairly independent woman on her own making her living as a teacher..the male lead is a geologist who is in love with the teacher...and they find themselves instant "guardians" of the girl after losing her parents. Then, it's the race to find a way to beat the monoliths before it destroys their town. The only thing missing from this one is the usual Nuclear Radiation theory that was so prevalent in the Sci-Fi movies of this time. It's just a plain old fashioned meteorite that causes the trouble in this one!

Enjoy this great Sci-Fi "B" movie....!!

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14 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Attack Of The Killer Rocks, 11 October 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

This was better than it should have been. It should have been a stupid, horrible Class B movie - killer rocks threatening a town? - but it was quite interesting. It wasn't frightening but it succeeded in keeping my interest, which was no mean feat considering the outrageous storyline.

I guess "pretty good" would be the best description of everything here: the acting, the characters, the special-effects and the story. One thing for sure: this certainly has a different premise. In a nutshell, rocks from a big meteorite that had crashed who-knows-when, suddenly begin growing when water hits them. As long as moisture touches them, they grow, multiple and crush everybody and everything around them. First a scientist loses his life, then a family loses the mother and day, the house, and almost their little girl. The girl is saved as they experiment and find out how to cure her. More experiments occur by the hour as the citizens in this small California desert town try to figure out what and why this is happening. An emergency erupts when a storm arrives and all the rain begins to cause those rocks (monoliths) to rise to huge proportions, fall, break up and then rise again and destroy everything in its path. It's course, of course, is the town and the race is on to stop them before the town is destroyed.

For a 'B' film, it's well-acted with Grant Williams, star of "The Incredible Shrinking Man," in the lead and Lola Albright of Peter Gunn TV fame as his girlfriend. It's always good to see the gorgeous Albright in her younger days: a classic beauty. The supporting actors in here were fine, too. Nobody sounded wooden. The monoliths - the special-effects - were well-done, too, for its day. They were interesting (not scary) and the sound-effects that went with them were effective.

In all, not something you'd watch over and over, but certainly worth one look and it is a worthy additon to the recently-released Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection pack. The DVD transfer is very good, too.

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Another nice little gem from Universal, 13 March 2002

Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

The Monolith Monsters makes a pleasant change from all those giant animal and alien invasion movies. This time, we have giant crystals threatening the world, which multiply when in contact with water and make people turn to stone. Jack Arnold, who made the very enjoyable Tarantula (1955), was responsible for this eerie movie.

This movie stars Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man), Lola Albright as his love interest and Les Tremayne (The War Of the Worlds). Williams plays a good part and is normal size in this!

The special effects are very good and the desert settings make the movie rather eerie.

This movie is a must see for all 1950's sci-fi fans. Great stuff and interesting.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
An intelligent concept, well presented., 2 March 2002
Author: Bruce Cook (brucemcook@windstream.net) from Fayetteville, GA

Famed director Jack Arnold penned the original story on which this stand-out sci-fi film was based, directed with style and competence by John Sherwood from a screenplay by Norman Jolley and Robert M. Fresco.

The concept is quite original. The fragments of a meteorite which falls near a desert town begin to grow into hugh black crystals when they come in contract with water. When people pick up the smaller fragments, the fragments draw the water out of their bodies and turn them to stone. A sudden thunderstorm accelerates the growth of the skyscraper-size crystals, and they threaten to overrun the Earth. Great special effects created under the supervision of Clifford Stine.

Grant Williams (star of `The Incredible Shrinking Man') plays a geologist who struggles to solve the mystery of the strange growing crystals. Lola Albright is his gorgeous fiancé'. Les Tremayne (the general from `War of the Worlds' and the opening narrator of `Forbidden Planet') is good as the local newspaper man. Watch for a funny scene with William Schallert as a meteorologist.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Danger! Falling Rocks!, 23 March 2006

Author: Hitchcoc from United States

I always try to catch this movie when I can. When you run out of lizards and spiders and ants and octopus tentacles, is there another horror that you can unleash on the world. Yes, it's black rock crystals from outer space. At least I think they are black since the movie is in black and white. They grow fast, rise to an enormous height, and then fall over, crushing everything in their path. This sounds so stupid, yet the movie isn't all that bad. There is the obligatory scientist, the police officer, the young woman, and the small town in the path. What can they do? Can they outwit these rocks? As is usually the case, there is something that these things are vulnerable to. Now, can we deliver the goods and stop them. I have so much affection for these B science fiction movies that I just can't help myself. One thing about this one is that it has never been copied. Maybe it's time for Peter Jackson to do the new Monolith Monsters.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Science fiction thriller with a different kind of menace., 11 August 2001
Author: jim riecken (youroldpaljim)

The main thing I found appealing about this science fiction thriller from Universal was the films unique menace: deadly crystals from space that arrive with a meteor. When one one thinks about it, a meteor containing some deadly or destructive element or mineral causing havoc on Earth is more likely than destruction by alien invasion. The menace here are crystals that expand to enormous proportions when they come in contact with water. The crystals are also deadly if touched by someone when they are expanding.

The film has good but obvious special effects. The crystals rising and expanding are done simply by pushing them up through holes in the table top miniature sets. Grant Williams, fresh from THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, gives a good performance despite the fact his role is the standard scientist type found in most films of this nature from this period.

Film historian Bill Warren correctly described THE MONOLITH MONSTERS as Universals last "adult" science fiction of the 1950's. After THE MONOLITH MONSTERS every horror/science fiction film PRODUCED by that studio were lackluster quickies (THE LEECH WOMEN; THE THING THAT WOULDN'T DIE etc.) thrown out to support much better imported (Hammer films like HORROR OF DRACULA) or independent acquisitions (THE 4D MAN.) I would also like to note this was 1957's second "deadly mineral" film, the other being Columbia studio's THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED. I would also like to mention I found the scene where Grant Williams tries to get a weather forecast from weatherman William Schalert pretty funny.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Grows Around Limits, 11 December 2005
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Science fiction has a curse. To work in a movie, it has to be cinematic, which narrows the possibilities. So we usually get monsters, threats, explosions, Movies limit the best ideas just by forcing them into the form.

So it is something to celebrate when a clever science fiction movie appears, one that doesn't depend of radiated monsters, indeed monsters of any sort. Now this one does have some reference to malignity from space, but otherwise the "monsters" here are pretty amazing. Not pods or creatures but rocks.

The story arc is ordinary: small town scientists single handedly find the weakness and battle to save the earth.

Usually in these things, we'll have a movie in a movie in some way. Here it is a newspaperman. No cameras at all.

There's a nice joke. The geologist has been spewing a bunch of scientific jargon all jumbled up with no real sense. If you know even a bit about science, its frustrating as all getout. So the geologist takes a break from his pontificating to call a meteorologist to find out when the rains will stop. The weatherman goes on for a few minutes with an equal verbal mess, disgusting the geologist who demands that he just answer directly.

For the era, the effects are pretty effective. Its a good idea, and pulled off fairly well.

Oddly, there is drama in the end that is not well exploited. The final defense concerns blowing up a dam, having the water flow through some salt piles, reach the desired amount of salinity and then cover precisely the right area to stop the progress of the monoliths. The drama in the movie is our hero's decision to blow up the dam without the governor's permission.

The actual risk is that if the required salinity level wasn't reached, the water would work against humanity and I wouldn't be here to type this. It was a risky call for ad hoc calculations.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Predictable and yet a bit different, 2 July 2000
Author: dinky-4 from Minneapolis

In many ways, this movie follows the classic pattern of so many sci-fi features from the 1950s -- a small, isolated desert town finds itself threatened by a strange series of occurences which seem to defy logical explanation. However, the threat here is not the usual giant insect or alien invader but rather a meteorite which has splintered into a number of small, shiny black rocks. What happens with these rocks is "absorbing" but audiences then (and now) seemed to want villains with emotions and personalities. Rocks with curious properties, (or inanimate machines such as in "Kronos"), don't provide the necessary thrill. Calling this movie "The Monoliths" would have been more apt since it can't deliver the shocks you'd expect from a movie with "Monsters" in the title. Besides, while the town of San Angelo is threatened, the movie never really convinces you that the world itself is also in danger.

Still, this is a brisk and efficient piece of entertainment that has been put together with a degree of care which belies its modest budget.

The story on which "Monolith" is based was co-written by Jack Arnold who also directed its lead actor, Grant Williams, in that sci-fi classic, "The Incredible Shrinking Man."

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Neat Little Film, 30 April 2005

Author: skallisjr from Tampa, FL United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film is a little like a detective story. All the clues to the solution are presented so that a quick-witted viewer can figure it out independently. It is also a legitimate science fiction film in that nothing is presented that was known to be technically contrary to the time is was written.

Possible spoilers: The story proceeds logically, and it has a completely developed presentation that shows the "monsters'" weakness. Admittedly, the area where the "monsters" start to grow was fortuitous to the solution. But given that, the rest of the story had basic integrity.

This is not a great science fiction film like Destination Moon, but it is far better than many others, such as The Beginning of the End or Slithis.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Watch Out for the Rocks, 8 March 2003

Author: jcholguin (jcholguin@lycos.com) from los angeles

I saw this film many years ago expecting from its name a living or something kinda living with a human shape, but was I surprised. Big black rocks growing and moving, no not moving with feet but just by falling down and starting the process of growing and falling. Huge skyscraper rocks reaching for the skies and toppling over. If a human touches it, the human begins to turn into a "rock." Water causes the rocks to grow and Grant Williams alias Dave Miller trying to save his small little town cannot stop a rain storm from causing the rocks to grow faster and heaven forbid, toward a dam, filled with water. Is there a way to stop something you can't touch or even get close too? Fire and bombs cannot stop rocks, so just what can? A rather unusual film but an enjoyable one.

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