Considerate cops, compassionate medics and community minded citizens band together to stop alien rocks from outer space turning their town into a petrified forest in this inventive 1950s sci-fi directed by Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon).
When splinters from a meteorite crashed in the Arizona desert begin to grow and multiple, geologist Dave Miller (Grant Williams, aka the Incredible Shrinking Man) has until the next rain fall to unlock their secrets and find a way to halt their encroachment on a salt-mining town in Southern California. It’s also race against time for his teacher girlfriend Cathy (Lola Albright), when one of her pupils starts turning to stone after handling one of the alien crystals. Can a vaccine be found in time to save the girl, save the town, and save the world?
The visual effects, made up of matte paintings, miniatures and model-work, are surprisingly effective; while the thunderous sound effects brings a real sense of size and foreboding to the skycraper-high rocks from from outer space. The Screenbound Pictures presentation, which features a new transfer of the film, showcases all of these elements making this DVD a must-have. Well it is a Universal Picture after all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLGfUmznaE0
