Horrorfest 2017: The Monolith Monsters

Halfway through THE MONOLITH MONSTERS I began to think I had seen the movie before. I figured it was probably on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but no. The only thing I can think is I caught 10 minutes of it on Svengoolie or something. In any case, it's one of Edgar Wright's favorites, but it's pretty boring.

The premise itself seems boring, but you never know going in whether a movie will overcome a boring premise or succumb to it. This is the usual 1950s Hollywood sci-fi b-movie stuff, set in the desert, as usual, but this time the monsters are giant crystals that grow out of the ground. They're stimulated by water, so if there's a rainstorm – WATCH OUT. They don't chase you or anything. They just grow.

By contrast, I saw TARANTULA the other day (definitely on Svengoolie) from the same studio (Universal) and it shares the same look, pace and production values as THE MONOLITH MONSTERS but is way more entertaining. First off, the monster can chase you and eat you. Secondly, there's a subplot about mutated humans who can also chase you and eat you.

Anyway, this 1957 flick was directed by John Sherwood and stars Grant Williams as the geologist hero and Lola Albright as his girlfriend. There is a little bit of a race against time involved, as a little girl becomes infected by the monolith monsters and slowly turns to stone, but overall it's a long 77 minutes.