In more pretentious hands, the movie title “Rock Monster” (8 p.m. Saturday, Sci Fi) could take on so many meanings. But the no-nonsense folks who make no-budget movies for Sci Fi present us with a movie about a monster made of rock. It’s rather beautiful in its gritty simplicity.

Like 90 percent of such films, this one involves a college student (Chad Collins) and three pals who get lost in a spooky woods and enter a hostile town that has been suffering under some kind of ancient curse. And like a lot of Sci Fi movies, it takes place in Eastern Europe, the land of cheap film production and Dracula legends.

Happily, “Rock Monster” never takes itself too seriously. In fact, it often seems like a beer commercial passing for a scary movie. When the American dudes walk into a bar, the grimy peasants turn silent and sullen. But before things get too nasty, a hot babe (Natalie Flemming) arrives and offers them a tray of Pilsner and regales them with local legends.

As you can imagine, it takes a contrived plot to explain a monster made of rock. Let’s just say it all starts with an Excalibur-like sword in a stone and rolls downhill from there. The most surprising aspect of “Rock Monster” is the presence of Jon Polito (“Miller’s Crossing”). The prolific actor shows up as the local colonel still wearing his Soviet-era uniform. His kind may have lost the Cold War, but they know a thing or two about taking on rocky monsters.

l Part three of “John Adams” (8 p.m. Sunday, HBO) leaves the austere atmosphere of colonial America for the adventure of the high seas and the opulent and decadent world of Parisian courtiers.

Abigail Adams (Laura Linney) reacts badly when John (Paul Giamatti) informs her that Congress has asked him to help Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson) conclude a treaty with the French government. Adams departs with a glum determination (what else is new?), and, after a harrowing sea voyage, he arrives in Paris to discover that Franklin has matters (and at least one French woman) very much in hand.

Saturday’s highlights

¢ Back-to-back NCAA tournament basketball games (5:30 p.m. and about 8 p.m., CBS).

¢ More than 50 years after its theatrical release, “The Ten Commandments” (6 p.m., ABC) continues to pull in big audiences every Easter weekend.

¢ The 1965 musical “The Sound of Music” (6 p.m., Family) was the first Hollywood film to eclipse the box-office record of “Gone with the Wind.” And both films contain scenes in which clothes are fashioned out of drapery.

¢ Thora Birch and Kelly Lynch star in the superior 2003 made-for-TV movie “Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story” (8:45 p.m., Lifetime Movie Network).

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): a visit to the “Doomsday” vault storing the earth’s seed supplies; a crypt said to hold the bones of Jesus; David Beckham and the future of American soccer.

¢ Engineers create a home near a golf course out of environmentally friendly materials on “Green Home 2008” (8 p.m., HGTV).

¢ Kate Beckinsale stars in the 1996 made-for-TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” on “Masterpiece Theatre” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings).