Movie Reviews of the Old, Odd, and Obscure (Part 3)

Advancing minerals about to crush a farm house

Doctor desperately trying to help the young girl before she turns to stone

Meteor crater with traces of the Monolith Monster minerals

Getting dangerously close to town

Growing in the rain

Salt water finally stops the menace

The Monolith Monsters (1957) Universal International Pictures

Near the Southwestern town of San Angelo, a huge meteor crashes in the desert and leaves strange black fragments scattered all around. After a young girl brings a piece of the alien mineral home and throws it in a tub of water, the police later find her house destroyed with large pieces of that black mineral spread everywhere and the little girl standing in the shadows in complete shock - her hand darkened and hardening like stone. The girls parents are then found in the rubble, dead and also hardened like stone. The town geologist (and main character) spends the movie trying to figure out what's causing these minerals to grow and whether it has any connection to the bizarre deaths happening in the small town. Eventually the geologist discovers that water is the catalyst for the rapid growth of the mineral fragments. Meanwhile, the little girl is found to be dying as the hardening of her hand is now spreading up her arm. A specialist discovers that the silicone in her body is somehow being removed and consequently causing the hardening of her body. Finally, the little girl's life is saved with a simple saline solution as the geologist discovers salt water stops the rapid growth of the minerals and renders them inert. Of course, a large rain storm hits the area and these mineral fragments out in the desert begin growing to the height of tall buildings. As they grow, they fall over, break apart, and those pieces continue to grow. This pattern continues as they grow, fall, and break apart while moving downhill toward the town. As the minerals approach the town, the geologist has a nearby dam blown up so that the water flows directly through a nearby salt mine. The mixture of flowing water and salt flows into a ravine just in time as the growing minerals fall into the salt water of the ravine (which just happens to be in between the town and the minerals).

I first saw this movie as a child on the "Horror Incorporated" show on KSTP Channel 5 (which used to broadcast old science fiction movies on weekends). To this day, I remember a couple of scenes in that movie that scared me as a kid. The first scene that freaked me out was when the police first discover the little girl standing in the shadows inside the wreckage of her house. At first the viewer can only see part of her until the camera zooms in to reveal her face in complete shock. The second scene that scared me was the discovery of the girl's dead parents under the rubble - wide eyed and hardened to stone. Because of these memories, I was thrilled to find this movie a couple years ago when Universal Studios released the first of two five packs of their old science fiction movies. The picture quality on the DVD is pristine.

This was another of many low budget science fiction movies made by Universal Studios in the fifties. Although the science used to explain the growth and destruction of the minerals is silly, the movie is very well made. Light and shadow are used very effectively to bring out the best of the limited budget's few sets and desert landscapes. The special effects are downright cool for a movie of this age. The model work used to show the growing, advancing minerals breaking apart and then crashing onto a farm house as well as the dam blowing up, washing through the salt piles and then flowing past the crashing minerals all looked fantastic - even to this jaded viewer. As a modern viewer, it's more than obvious to me when a model is used in an old movie like this, but I can also tell when special attention and care was given. This movie is full of that kind of care. For that reason, this movie deserves a top spot among the best of my science fiction collection.