Monolith Monsters
by John Sherwood (II)
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Grant Williams, Les Tremayne, Lola Albright, Phil Harvey, Trevor BardetteDirector: John Sherwood (II)
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 78 minutes
Release Date: 1996-10-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios
VHS Movie Reviews of Monolith Monsters
Movie Review: Big Rocks Smash Town -- (or, "It's SALT WATER, Dummy!")
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Jack Arnold Creature From the Black Lagoon again joins forces with Grant Williams The Incredible Shrinking Man in an above-average sci-fi story about a meteor that not only grows at incredible rates when splashed with water, but also sucks the silicate out of a human body, causing people to turn to stone. Holy Medusa!
Lots of supporting actors you may spot. Lola Albright, the smiling yet scared co-star, is known for her appearances in Peter Gunn TV series Peter Gunn, Set 1 and another appearance by weatherman William Schallert (also in another Arnold flick, Incredible Shrinking Man, Gidget). (By the way, Lola is still alive and at 83.)
The "monsters" are really big rocks that grow to the size and shape of the Chrysler Building and come crashing down under their own weight. It's not clear how they suck the silicate (favorite phrase, sorry) out of people -- a little girl gets the black disease, her parents are killed; can we save her in time (violins)??
Damn bursts, growing rocks and the incredibly shrinking probabilities of science mark this above average scifi flick, not as good as Incredible Shrinking Man, but a fun rental on a Saturday afternoon.
By the way, there are many compilations of Monolith with other fun fifties sci-fi films, so don't worry if you don't have a VHS player. I watched this film in the DVD The Classic Sci Fi Ultimate Collection; click on this link to get better quality:
Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection 1 & 2 (Tarantula/Mole People/Incredible Shrinking Man/Monolith Monsters/Monster on the Campus/Dr. Cyclops/Cult of the Cobra/Land Unknown/Deadly Mantis/Leech Woman). The set has no features except a trailer, however it is in glorious black & white!
Other Arnold flicks for your library include:
This Island Earth (he co-directed): This Island Earth (Forrest J Ackerman Presents)
Incredible Shrinking Man: The Incredible Shrinking Man
Creature from the Black Lagoon: Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
Summary of Monolith Monsters
First off, be advised that the Monolith Monsters are not really monsters in the conventional sense (meaning a guy in a hideous rubber suit wreaking havoc). That having been said, this is still a very effective, standout Fifties sci-fi film. A meteor crashes near a desert town, and the fragments of the meteor crystallize very quickly when exposed to water. They also suck the moisture from humans, turning them stiff as boards. The rocks (black and shiny, like obsidian) grow to great heights and fall over from their own weight, with each shard of the rock starting the process over again. Of course, a thunderstorm accelerates everything. It's up to the townspeople to stop the advance of the menace before it overruns everything. Based on a story by Jack Arnold (director of Creature from the Black Lagoon), Monolith's production values are very good for the time, with the huge, menacing black rocks sometimes resembling the Chrysler Building. There are plenty of recognizable character actors to be seen, and a sense of pacing and tension that's above average for the genre. With its inventive premise, The Monolith Monsters is quite a bit better than the usual cheapo drive-in sci-fi from the mid-Fifties. --Jerry RenshawHorror VHS Video
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