Traveling through Eastern Europe, a group of friends manage to remove a sword stuck in a rock, which soon unleashes a deadly monster made of rock upon the town and forces them to uncover his heritage to stop it.This here wasn't that bad of a creature feature. One of the main factors is the rather nice story for the film being a rather nice change of pace to have it take place elsewhere than the US, and the Eastern Europe setting here is rather nice and feels welcome. It also allows for their traditions and standards, as well as fears and legends that are incorporated here to come across as really neat, from the complicated back-story, itself another highlight as well as the really detailed explanation sequence that contains a nice battle and contributes to the strong story. Another factor is the reasonably well-done and exciting action scene in here, which are more plentiful than expected. The confrontations with the creature are really nice, especially the initial encounter in the woods which amounts to a rather fun car chase as the creature comes at them through the woods, ending in a brutal car crash, and their later forest attack does have some good stuff to come from it as the gunfire and scattering troops is quite fun along with the final resolution that knocks the monster out. An attack on the village later on is really great, as the fun monster movie rampage comes complete with throwing people around into the surroundings and some unique counters to the creature, mainly flamethrowers and a tank brought into play. The last really good part to it is the conclusion, which is pretty creative bringing in the fantasy and sorcery battles against the creature that leads to a bigger action scene than imagined. These here are the film's good points that hold up over the few negatives. The main issue here is the actual creature itself, as there's nothing about it other than the size to be imposing as the overall design is inherently ludicrous and never comes close to be readily believable. The thing's so top heavy that it's nearly impossible to believe it can move around, nonetheless walk around and sneak up on victims, since it has several surprise attacks that don't have any reason to believe could've happened with something of that design. As well, it's once again being conceived through the usually atrocious CGI that comes with all the big trappings there. This just makes the film look all the cheaper, especially with the fact that more than just the creature this time around was done with CGI. The battle in the streets of the town, with the battle carrying on even though a hanger-on is flopping around like no human could, and the conclusion out in the rocky hills is even worse with all the fantasy elements brought to bear in the scene. The last flaw here is the rather confusing ending to the first battle in the forest. It ends way too quickly and easily for them to take it seriously, and it just doesn't seem believable that they could make it to the later portion without feeling something was off. These here are the film's few flaws.Rated R: Violence and Language.

There's really only one reason to watch this awful movie, so let's get it out of the way as fast as possible: Jon Polito's bit part is awesome. I don't think Polito knew "Rock Monster" wasn't a parody, but it all worked out fine. Most semi-established actors that take jobs in low-budget garbage totally phone it in, but Polito does the exact opposite and chews the scenery like there's no tomorrow. Damn it, why isn't he the lead? Unfortunately the Polito-free bits are much harder to sit through, mainly because everything just moves at a snail's pace. Take for instance the whole sequence after they "kill" the monster for a first time: you know the movie's only halfway done, you know it's not really dead yet. Why do they show the villagers celebrating for what feels like eight hours? Get to the damn point. Furthermore, why do they put so much effort into killing the indestructible supercreature when they know for a fact that it's controlled by a mortal guy who can barely take a punch? Damn it, just kill that guy! I guess these Russian villagers just really enjoy challenges, that's probably why they speak English with one another as well. Overall there's just nothing about "Rock Monster" that kept my attention. Everything about it is terrible, but at the same time not terrible enough to really laugh at. So basically, it's one of the most frustrating B-movies you can encounter. Steer clear.

The Plot: While going about ordinary outdoor/sports-related activities, a young man/the lead character encounters a monster that kills people, and he must defeat it to survive. To achieve this task, he convinces the local town's people to help him. A young woman also helps him and they develop a sweet little romance in the course of vanquishing the monster.This plot description for ROCK MONSTER also applies to several other Sci-Fi 'original' movies such as OGRE, BEYOND LOCH NESS, and ICE SPIDERS. In other words, none of these movies produced for the Sci-Fi channel are that original; they're formulaic.These are G or at most PG type movies. There is not much if any blood/gore, a very innocent romance (no skin/not even kissing), and a monster that looks like some cheap plastic creature you'd find in a happy meal from a fast food restaurant.Although there isn't much substance to these movies, they also aren't the worst movies out there --- that's not an endorsement, just a statement of fact. Here, the visual and audio departments are competent; you can both see and hear these movies. And, for the most part the acting is fair enough. Finally, the movie does have a story line even though it goes in a predictable linear direction.Some Sci-Fi 'original' movies like KAW or BATS: HUMAN HARVEST are slightly better (4 on a scale of 10) because the monster/threat is more believable. But, again, the plots tend to be borrowed, predictable and the hero always seems to defeat the monster, albeit with that final gimmick that leaves the question: is it really over?

That's a very good question...Basically, this movie is about a group of American (and one British) college kids hiking in an Eastern European forest. They find an old sword embedded in a boulder, the hero (Jason) pulls it out. Upon arriving at a local village, the villagers are immediately frightened and angry at the kid who was the sword. Then we learn the sword unleashed the spirit of an evil wizard from the Middle Ages who comes back in the form of a walking pile of rocks. Then there's this really creepy guy with a stereotypical Eastern European name (Dimetri or something) who's incredible nice to the kids and then he turns out to be a madman who wants the evil wizard's powers! Oh and did I mention that the American kid who pulled out the sword is the descendant of the knight in shining armor who killed the wizard in the Middle Ages? Now the kids together with a militia of the village people must join forces to save the village from the Rock Monster! AH! It was beyond predictable and I can't even call it low budget because of the heavy use of special effects (which is by far the only thing that allows me to give this movie 3 stars). The lines are cheesy, the back story is also very vague and the flashback to it: incredibly bad. The actors were okay (except for the modern-day bad guy who honestly over acted) but the movie itself was poorly written. The ending, which I will not give away was also pretty lame and believe it or not it does leave room for a sequel (which I don't know why anyone would want to do).All in all, it is a Sci-Fi movie (but you'd think they' make some entertaining ones). Watch if you want (attempt to at least). It's better than Hybrid but not that good.