The Monolith Monsters

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Monolith Monsters' released in June, 2019 by The Shout! Factory.I'm giving this release 4 stars for having a nice picture and two audio commentaries.This movie has been previously released in a collection of Universal horror movies from the 50's. This review is for the Blu-Ray version of this solo release.For those who are only interested in the picture and extra's, just look right below under 'BLU-RAY' and 'EXTRA'S'.BLU-RAY: The movie is shown in two different aspect ratio's. You can see the movie in 1.85:1 or 2.00:1 aspect ratio's. The picture is very good, much the way it is with all of these Universal, 50's horror/sci-fi movies are. The original elements were probably in good shape. You can see some minor imperfections if you are looking for them but other than that, the picture is quite nice. You should be happy with the picture quality.EXTRA'S: There is a nice assortment of extra's. They are as follows:-There is art on the inside cover of the sleeve. The art depicts several posters for the movie.-Audio Commentary by film historian/author Tom Weaver: In addition to Weaver's commentary, he almost always includes a 15-20 minute commentary in the middle of the movie by Film and Music historian, David Schecter. Weaver also employs actors to do the commentary of some of the figures he has interviewed in the past. This is always a nice touch. Weaver isn't as enthusiastic about this movie as he has been for some of his other commentaries. He is often sarcastic but usually entertaining. As usual, he provides as much information as he has on the movie's shooting schedule, sets, actors and others involved with the making of the movie. He makes it very clear that he does not like the leading lady, Lola Albright.-Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Author Mark Jancovich. Jancovich is not one of my favorite commentators. The best I can say about his commentary is that it is at least different than other commentators. He wrote a book called 'Rational Fears: American Horror in the 1950's'. His comments are mainly from a psychological stand point. He comments about what the characters are thinking during their various scenes and what affects their actions. He takes the movie very seriously as opposed to Tom Weaver, who can be quite cynical at times.-Theatrical Trailer-Still Galleries-Subtitles*****WARNING - THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****PLOT/SUMMARY: A meteor crashes in the desert and sprinkles black rocks around the area in which it lands. A scientist studies one of the rocks in his laboratory but ends up turning into stone. Dave Miller (Grant Williams), another scientist, discovers the body. A little girl out on a school field trip with her teacher, Cathy Barrett (Dave's girlfriend), takes one of the black rocks home. She puts the rock in water and her house is destroyed by the rocks and her parents are killed. The little girl has also become infected and is turning into stone. Dave, along with Professor Flanders go to work in trying to figure out the mystery of the black rocks. Eventually they figure out that the rocks are absorbing silicon. Once the rocks become wet, they grow. It starts to rain and all of the black rocks in the desert grow to gigantic sizes. They are slowly moving toward town. If a way isn't found to stop them, they can theoretically destroy the Earth.PRODUCTION: This movie was made in 1957 and released by Universal Studio's.-The movie ultimately cost $496,000 to make.-In the original script, the Salton Sea was supposed to be used to stop the Monolith Monsters. They were going to use all the fire trucks in the area to pump the water. I suppose they could have tried diverting the sea also.-The dam used was Morris Dam near Los Angeles.-The opening scenes, with the meteor coming to Earth, probably used footage from the filming of 'It Came From Outer Space'.-Grant Williams, who plays Dave Miller, was coming off of his terrific role as the lead in 'The Incredible Shrinking Man'.JACK ARNOLD, WRITER OR LIAR?: Jack Arnold was a great science fiction director and deserves all the credit he gets. However, he was not always a stand up guy. The idea for this movie supposedly comes from a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco. Of course, I am reminded of what historian Tom Weaver has said about Jack Arnold. Arnold often took credit for things he didn't do. For instance, he is credited jointly for the script of 'Tarantula' and he had nothing to do with the script. He just sort of bullied his way to the credit. So who knows how much, if any, of the story is his doing. Tom Weaver has said that he deliberately never interviewed Arnold because he knew that he was a liar and his stories couldn't be trusted.COMMENTS: UHM, ABOUT THOSE ROCKS... : You'd think that maybe they'd be a bit more careful about handling those rocks that turn you to stone! Everyone seems to act as if they are no big deal. They just pick them up, play with them, toss them around, etc. as if nothing bad can happen. Weren't those the very same rocks that were turning everyone, who came into contact with them, into stone? In my opinion, this is very poor script writing. AM I SCARED YET? I hate being so critical of a 50's Sci-Fi/Horror film but this movie just doesn't generate any sense of fear in the second half of the movie. The first half had some scenes of genuine horror when the petrified bodies are discovered and the little girl is found. Once the rocks started moving around the desert, it was really hard to generate any kind of excitement. It was kind of like waiting for a killer snail to come and get you. WHERE IS THE MILITARY WHEN YOU NEED THEM? Not for nothing, but where was the military? You'd figure that they could at least come along and start picking up the rocks and transporting them to some sort of 'dry' facility where the rocks could be quarantined. For something as serious as the situation going on in town, you 'd figure maybe they might pay a little more attention. Perhaps the media might be interested? THEY NEED TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL: Hey, I know it's just a movie, but... Those scientists really need to hit the books. I'm not sure why it took so long for them to figure out that water was causing the rocks to grow. It's not like it could have been that many things. The logical assumption would be that a liquid was causing the rocks to grow. There isn't much else. To be fair, I know the writer was kind of boxed into a corner and was forced to come up with a script for "rocks that grow". I guess they never saw those old advertisements for 'Magic Rocks'. OTHER COMMENTS:-I liked that the movie uses 'hard' science if you want to call it that. I wouldn't call it accurate but at least they tried something intelligent.-Seeing the terrified girl reminded me of a similar scene in 'Them'.-As usual, the press is told "Don't tell anyone". I'll never figure this out. How much of a panic can they possibly cause in a small town?-On the positive side of things, I think the movie has some genuinely horrific moments early on, sort of the way that 'Them' had those moments. These weren't as good, of course, but it started out well enough.-At one point, we are told "The desert looks lifeless!". Really?CONCLUSIONS: 'The Monolith Monsters' is probably my least favorite of the Universal 50's Sci-Fi/Horror movies. I find this movie to be quite boring. I guess if it didn't have 'monsters' in the title then I might view things differently. In reality, this is purely a science fiction movie. The movie tries to generate a sense of dread but it just doesn't work. It's not as if the townspeople were ever in any real danger. They had plenty of time to gather their stuff and take off. The idea behind this movie isn't much different than say... a killer snail! You wouldn't exactly be quivering in your shoes! THE END?!?: It's not as if they got rid of all of the rocks at the end of the movie. Who knows where else those rocks might turn up. Who knows indeed. We might get a sequel one of these days!RATINGS:Picture: 8/10Plot: 5/10 - It's original, I'll give it that, but it isn't very exciting.SFX: 7/10 - The sets look like toys but the rocks themselves look convincing enough.Extra's: 7/10 - Two commentaries are always a good thing.Overall: 7/10 or 3 1/2 stars which I'm rounding up to 4 stars.

Heard about this one a while back, but have never seen it. When I got a couple of 50's sci-fi movies from Shout! Factory recently, I decided to take a chance on this one.As stated earlier, the premise is weird. Like most old sci-fi movies, it begins with a meteor crashing to earth. In this case, the Menace is the meteorite itself. A geologist takes a fragment to his lab, experiments on it, and next morning the lab is full of these black meteorites and the man is petrified & dead. A small girl on a school field trip also takes one of the rocks home. Her mother makes her wash it in a tub on the porch and we then see the house in shambles, large rocks everywhere and... What we eventually find out is that these rocks grow when exposed to water. Unfortunately, by the time this is discovered, there is a rainstorm and the rocks begin growing at an exponential rate and folks have to figure out how to stop them before their town is overrun.The title is a little misleading in that these rocks aren't actually "Monsters". They're not alive and they don't chase or attack people. They grow purely by chemical process and they only "multiply" because they grow so big until they topple under their own weight after which they shatter and the fragments in turn grow and the process continues. However, it's apparent that the producers wanted a sensational title to pull in viewers.In actuality, the movie is not bad. I think the acting is solid and the effects aren't bad given the era in which the film was made. Granted, this is a film about growing rocks, so there's not much of a sense of Menace, but it's still enjoyable.Blu-ray package is good. Shout! Factory does their usual good job with film restoration and sound. Not much in the way of features. They just have a trailer, and alternate aspect ratio option and a couple of commentary tracks. One is by Tom Weaver who is well known for commentary tracks on these old 50's movies. He has a lot to talk about, but I think he was unnecessarily harsh on actress Lola Albright and the child actor, a girl that he nicknames "Harpo" in a rather mean fashion.Aside from that, the movie itself is surprisingly enjoyable. Not the greatest of 50's sci-fi, but I would still recommend for fans of the genre.

I enjoy classic sci fi movies so this a great addition to my video library!!!

Somehow, as a young boy I missed this movie when it came out in 1957. I have always been a Sci-fi fan, both in movies and reading. Yesterday I received this blu ray movie and saw it for the first time.The 1950s were the genesis of Sci-fi movies. Most of the story lines used in later films were first shown in these old, mostly black and white movies. The special effects back then were all silly looking compared to what is done today, but the important thing was the story, and how it was presented.If one analyzes the CGI effects in modern movies, they also are sometimes silly in their own way. CGI in no guarantee of success.Monolith Monsters presents an interesting Sci-fi story, with plenty of tension. I spent the entire movie wondering what would happen, and how the problem would be solved. Needless to say, as an old movie, there was no swearing, nudity, sex scenes, or any other needless crap that modern movies seem to need in order to sell a product.Monolith Monsters is a welcome addition to my collection of older Sci-fi movies.

This is a different kind of Science Fiction story, where a meteorite crashes to earth carrying a deadly threat. Not "The Blob" or an invading Martian fleet but alien geology.When I bought this film I was thinking that it would be in the "So bad it's good" category. However, despite the age of the film and the obviously tiny budget, it actually turned out to be an enjoyable film. At the very least, it's one of the very few American Science Fiction films of this era that wasn't a thinly-veiled Soviet invasion fantasy, being more of a "creature feature" ,although here the "creatures" were vast and advancing towers of alien crystals. I was pleasantly surprised at the acting ability and the intelligent nature of the script and while it will never be "Forbidden Planet" there are probably hundreds of contemporary films that are much worse.

Pleasantly surprised by how good this was, considering it was late 50s or so. Some sci-fi film makers from that era always used to blame radiation or present factually incorrect theories in their films just because they really didn't know any better about science at the time, but this manages to avoid all the expected ignorance and I actually thought it was better then the recent Jake Gyllenhall/Ryan Reynolds sci-fi film I saw called 'Life'. I have never heard of 'Monolith Monsters' but was familiar with other classics like 'The Forbidden Planet', the original bw version of 'The Thing', 'When Worlds Collide', 'This Island Earth', and such like. It's not entirely unpredictable but it impressed me having seen it for the first time in 2018. It now gets added to my favourite sci-fi classics like the ones mentioned above.

A 1950s US science fiction film with a twist, no monster. Instead, an absorbing story of small town California (where else?) dealing with the after effects of a meteorite landing nearby which dispenses strange growing rocks. Effects reasonably good, story plausible for the time although the ending is a little bit contrived, but what ending wasn't in these films? Recommended.

This was my husband's choice, and we both enjoyed it. It is very much of its time, as a response to the perceived threat posed by the USSR during the 'Cold War'. Although it's really a load of nonsense, the special effects are very good, and the film is good fun.

Apart from outrageously silly comments like the above, this is a good fifties sci-fi effort. Certainly one of the better ones. :)