Pre-80s movie with an alien monster who looks like a rock

Question

This has been bothering me for quite a while. This is a movie I saw as a kid back in the 80's, but it could easily have been produced in the 70's (I vaguely remember actors with 70's hair). I'll try to list everything I can remember.

• Crew of a spaceship lands on an alien planet and head for a human base there (responding to an SOS maybe?). I think there were two women and three or four guys.
• Everyone in base is found dead.
• The culprit is an alien monster that looks like a rock and can thus disguise its presence.
• It (of course) systematically starts to kill the members of the newly arrived crew.
• A scene I remember distinctly is the survivors climbing out of a trapdoor running away from the monster below. Token black guy is too slow and gets pulled down screaming.
• Only one guy and one girl manage to reach their spaceship and escape.
• Movie closes with a shot of one of the body bags aboard the ship starting to move (implying an Alien-like offspring inside the body)

Answer 1

Ariel Vega's comment is spot on. The "lens" effect is also what I remember from this movie. I saw it on the Danish state television "Danmarks Radio" in the first half of the 80s and they usually showed movies with a touch of quality - correction: IMDb says 3.8 (cough). It was called Farlig Planet, i.e. “Dangerous Planet”.

I have searched for this one several times before, but I think Google has hit triumph once more: I believe it is The Killings at Outpost Zeta (1980).

A team of men and women investigates the mysterious deaths of two previous expeditions to a strategically important but barren world.

I have found a review in Danish with a picture from the movie poster.

What say thee?

Answer 2

The movie is The Killings at Ouspost Zeta, 1980 and directed by Robert Emenegger. IMDb gives all the necessary information:

A team of men and women investigates the mysterious deaths of two previous expeditions to a strategically important but barren world.

Now I could see the uniforms weren´t white as I remembered, they were red and orange!!

I let you the link to a video. Enjoy it as I am doing it after years chasing this movie, finally I got it. Thanks to everyone.

Answer 3

I may be way off but reading your description I did not think of a film but a Star Trek - The Original Series episode: "The Devil in the Dark" (1967).

This features a silicone based life form (resembling a rock) that kills people.

However, this only matches about half the points you have remembered.

Answer 4

Sounds pretty similar to Star Crystal, a 1986 film, although some of the plot elements you mentioned don't exactly match. The Wikipedia article has a good summary of the plot (warning: it contains spoilers).

Set in 2032, as missions from Earth are being sent to explore Mars. After two groups of astronauts are mysteriously killed following the discovery of strange artefacts on the martian surface, the crew of the SC-37 go in to try and find out what happened. They soon learn what became of their predecessors when a bloodthirsty space monster begins lunching on members of the crew. Will any of them make it back to Earth alive?

Answer 5

Here you go - I was looking for it myself today. The Monolith Monsters (1957).

From IMDb:

A strange black meteor crashes near the town of San Angelo and litters the countryside with fragments. When a storm exposes these fragments to water, they grow into skyscraper-sized monoliths which then topple and shatter into thousands of pieces that grow into monoliths themselves and repeat the process. Any humans in the way are crushed or turned into human statues. The citizens of San Angelo desperately try to save themselves and the world from the spreading doom.