TheMonolithMonsters

The Monolith Monsters (1957)

The 50s were a good time for monster movies. Everything from giant bugs to aliens stalked across the screen in all of their rubbery goodness. But next to maybe From Hell it Came (tree monster) The Monolith Monsters boasts one of the strangest creatures to date. The story here is that an asteroid hits near a small California town. The rock that it is made of will grow to a great height when exposed to water, fall over and grow some more. Now since it is the desert that isn’t a big deal, until the big rainstorm starts. Before you know it the town is in danger of being overrun by the giant piles of rocks that destroy everything in their path. If that weren’t’ enough any creature that touches the rocks is inexplicably turned to stone themselves! As if getting squished weren’t bad enough?

I had very little expectations when I sat down to watch this movie. I mean seriously it is about alien rocks invading the Earth, how good could it possibly be? The strange thing is that while it isn’t new or inventive the movie actually works as a creature feature and ends up being better than it probably should be. It is entertaining, well paced, and delivers the goods, at least as far as can be expected for a cheesy monster movie. Sure we don’t have a man in a rubber suit prowling about, but the story is developed in such a way that the rocks are a real threat. Again the movie is cheesy as hell, but then that is to be expected and I would be disappointed if it weren’t. The key for me is that the story keeps the action moving and never lets the audience get bored or think about how silly the whole idea really is. All the normal characters are here including the hero, his love interest, the sheriff, the scientist, and of course the child to be put in harms way.

Technically I was impressed with how well this movie was made. There is quite a bit of miniature work done with the large rock towers smashing into models of houses and barns. I mean they are clearly just models, but for the time the effects are really cool looking, and personally I’d take this sort of artistry over crappy CGI any day. Also the “stoned” people are just wearing some simple white and grey makeup, but with this being a black and white movie it works. Sometimes simple is the best way to go.

To sum things up if you are a fan of 50s sci-fi horror movies then you are going to want to check The Monolith Monsters out. While it may not be one of the better movies from the 50s it is one of the little oddities that is always fun to have your hands on. Now on the other hand if you aren’t a fan of these kinds of movies you are going to probably not going to have any fun with it.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer