"From infinity they come…meteors"
Monsters come in all sizes and shapes. They also come in all types. From man made to nature made a monster is a monster. In “The Monolith Monsters” the monster is something that, normally on earth, would be innocuous. However, when it comes from outer space there are no guarantees.
A rock that looks harmless, and in the desert is harmless, suddenly becomes a killer when something as normal as water is added to it. In that instance it changes from this innocent little rock to a towering pillar that sucks the trace mineral silica from everything it touches. The stone that turns people to stone. As far fetched as the premise sounds it proves that nightmares are only limited by your imagination.
This creature from the stars lands in a desert and stays there inert until it rains. At that moment it morphs into this expanding horror that invades the valley where the town of San Angelo resides and destroys everything it touches. When the pillars rise to a height where they can’t support themselves they crash down on to the ground where each splintered piece rises again. Geologist Dave Miller (Grant Williams) and Professor Arthur Flanders (Trevor Bardette) are battling against time find a way to stop this creature from taking over the earth.
The music score for a lot of the universal science fiction movies of this time were done by Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, and Herman Stein and as such were recycled from movie to movie. You will find that “Monolith Monsters” sounds a lot like “Giant Mantis”, “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and even “Tarantula” as bits and pieces of music were incorporated in each movie. Why not. It keeps the cost down and spooky music is still spooky music.
The meteor crash is the same spaceship crash footage from "It Came from Outer Space" (1953). It is the only movie monster to be a purely chemical process.
As with pretty much most of the Science Fiction/Horror movies done by Universal at that time, I loved it. It’s different from the regular fare. It’s a little quirky. But it does have a monster. Granted it doesn’t look like a monster but it can do everything that every other monster does, kill and destroy. If you’re looking for a different kind of monster and you haven’t seen it yet. Give this one a try.