"The Monolith Monsters" was another of the low budget little Sci-Fi/Horror films turned out by Universal in the 1950s.This one is about a meteor crashing in the desert leaving a number of fragments scattered about. Geologist Ben Gilbert (Phil Harvey) stops among the fragments to add water to his car's radiator and takes along a meteor fragment for analysis.Back at the office, the fragment becomes wet with water and begins a reaction. The next day Gilbert's boss Dave Miller (Grant Williams) finds Gilbert essentially turned to stone with the fluids drained from his body. An autopsy by local doctor Reynolds (Richard H. Cutting) finds nothing. Newspaper man Martin Cochrane (Les Tremayne) wants to report the incident but is cautioned not to.Meanwhile on a school excursion on the desert, a little girl Ginnie Simpson (Linda Scheley), picks up a fragment to take home. Ginnie's teacher Cathy Barrett (Lola Albright) becomes alarmed when she learns of Gilbert's fate. Dave and Police Chief Dan Corey (William Flaherty) learn of this, they go immediately to the little girl's home. They find the girl's parents petrified and their farm in shambles with several more meteor fragments in evidence. Ginnie has survived but is in shock.Dr. Reynolds refers Dave, Cathy and Ginnie to Dr. Steve Hendricks (Harry Jackson) who discovers that Ginnie has begun to turn to stone. He feverishly tries to save her. In the meantime, Dave consults with his old professor, Flanders (Trevor Bardette) to try to find the cause of the trouble. They discover that the meteor and it's fragments grow to an astronomical size when exposed to water.Just then, as luck would have it, a thunder storm breaks out and.................................Most of the "horror" scenes are in the final quarter of the film. The first three quarters is spent trying to find out what is going on. I didn't find the monolith monsters all that scary although the premise of them rolling over the town suggests more horror than it shows.Grant Williams in his follow up to "The Incredible Shrinking Man" the previous year is nothing more than a card board hero this time around. Lola Albright would find fame as Peter Gunn's girl Friday in the TV series of the same name. Les Tremayne was a noted radio actor and voice over narrator. And watch for youthful Paul Peterson (as a paper boy), Troy Donahue and William Schallert in small unbilled parts.

John Sherwood directs this sometimes forgotten classic. It was the mid 50's and things were mostly blamed on radiation or...something from outer space. Grant Williams plays scientist Dave Miller, who is prominent in the investigation and research of what follows after a meteor crashes into the desert. The meteor breaks into pieces and the many fragments start growing extremely large when they are exposed to water. Soon these "Monolith Monsters" begin sucking the moisture out of humans, thus in turn human life becomes petrified versions of itself. Can this phenomenal situation be reversed?Other players: Lola Albright, Trevor Bardette, Les Tremayne, William Flaherty, Phil Harvey and William Schallert.

Nifty little sci-fi from Universal's skilled production crew that includes ace craftsman and connoisseur of the desert, Jack Arnold, as one of the writers. So, how do you turn rocks into monsters since about everything else gets the monster treatment in the 1950's. Well, you start with the familiar visitor from outer space, in this case a meteorite with strange properties that crashes near a remote desert town. Then you have the rock chunks growing like weeds when in contact with water. In fact, they grow so tall, they topple over crushing everything beneath. Worse, each new chunk is like a seed from which new monoliths grow, spreading like a rocky army. So pray it doesn't rain. And, oh yeah, better not touch them or you turn to stone. Yikes! The little town is in big trouble.Williams again shows why he is more than just another pretty face as he tries to figure a way to stop the rocky onslaught. Ditto, leading lady Albright. In fact, it's a stellar lineup of familiar B-actors, making the whole tall tale halfway believable. Tension stays pretty much on high throughout as the battle intensifies. Shrewdly, the screenplay makes the struggle more personal by including the little girl's plight. Her struggle against turning to stone really involves us in a personal way.The 70-minutes may not be front-rank 50's sci-fi, but it's much better than you might expect, well-done in all departments, especially special effects. So, tune in, despite the comic book title. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I like 1950s sci-fi/horror films--both the well-made and intelligent ones (like "The Day the Earth Stood Still") and the cheesy ones ("Invasion of the Saucer Men"). And, if you like these films, you'll probably enjoy "The Monolith Monsters"--and it's about average for the genre. However, if you don't like these films, then I seriously doubt if this one will change your mind.The film begins with some strange meteorite falling in the desert. Little do people know that these odd rocks can both multiply AND grow to enormous proportions! But, what makes this even worse is that they can also turn people into stone-like dead folks! So, it's either us or the stones! In the end, fortunately, the people of the town apparently watched "Frankentein Meets the Wolfman" as they use this strategy to beat these evil alien rocks! While this all sounds pretty dumb, believe it or not, they handle it in a literate and reasonably credible manner. Brilliant? No. But it is watchable and fun.