There are currently (as of 6/11/21) over 350 reviews for THE MONOLITH MONSTERS. The majority of them are positive, as mine will be. It is one of those rare 1950s sci-fi offerings that is intelligent without being too serious and enjoyable without being campy. It boasts a unique premise in that the title “monsters” (who aren’t monsters at all) are devoid of intelligence and wreak their havoc by means of a natural chemical reaction.
A meteor crashes in the desert outside a small California community and shatters into hundreds of pieces. A local geologist takes a sample home and accidentally exposes it to water. As a result he becomes literally petrified and the one rock is now several. A rainstorm occurs and the rocks begin to grow enormous then rapidly start to multiply destroying farms and turning people into stone. Can they be stopped? Of course they can. It’s the 1950s!
Grant Williams (THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN) heads up a no-name but first rate cast including Lola Albright (who would eventually wind up on TV’s PETER GUNN) and TV and B movie veteran Les Tremayne who was everywhere in the 1950s and 60s. John Sherwood, a former film editor directing his first movie, would only do two more before dying unexpectedly at the age of 56.
The special effects regarding the creation of the rocks remains a trade secret while the black & white cinematography is effective without being flashy. The music, unlike most 1950s sci-fi, is never overbearing. Some find the movie boring while others want to have real monsters but for me, MONOLITH was engaging and entertaining which is all that I ask of a B movie.
The Capsule Critic 