The Beast of Yucca Flats

Tor Johnson is probably best remembered for his starring in the so-called "worst movie ever made" Plan 9 from Outer Space! Well, the people who voted this obviously never saw The Beast of Yucca Flats! Ed Wood's Plan 9 is an authentic masterpiece compared to Coleman Francis' unendurable work of art. As most of my fellow-reviewers already pointed out: everything that can go possibly wrong in a movie features here…times ten! Even though the story only lasts 54 minutes, it's one of the most tedious experiences I ever had to sit through! Johnson plays a devoted scientist (oh yeah, he really looks like one) chased by cops (why? You tell me…) into a radiation test-area. There, he transforms into some sort of Hulky monster that goes on a lame prowl in the desert. What follows is a hilarious attempt by Francis to create tension and confusion, as he shows cops hunting down the wrong person (for 10 minutes!) and Johnson chasing two young boys that got lost in the wastelands. There's as good as no dialogue in the film, only Francis' own voice-over. And I guarantee you'll be wishing him dead after approximately 15 minutes. He talks the biggest nonsense (example: "Touch a button. Things happen. A scientist becomes a beast") and personally introduces you to even the most meaningless side-character! Argh, the humanity!! The spontaneously improvised ending (featuring Johnson kissing a baby rabbit) just stresses how ingeniously awful this production actually is. Oh well, at least it's bad in a fun way. Most of the time, you can't figure out whether to pity or worship everyone involved in this film. Johnson wisely decided to quit his acting career after this but Coleman Francis ambitiously persisted chasing his dreams and delivered the – even worse – film "Night Train to Munde Fino" in 1966. His cinema career regretfully ended with guest appearances where he got credited as "Fat drunk" or "1st man"… What a damn shame! Believe the public opinion on this one, folks! It really is awful

Coleman Francis. Gadzooks! When people talk about bad directors they always mention Ed Wood or Andy Milligan, some get as far as H.G. Lewis and real devotees of bad movies will mention Bill Rebane but no one, I mean NO ONE talks about Coleman Francis. Even among bad film afficionados he is a forgotten man. Could his movies be THAT bad? Well actually . . .YES! THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS is a movie people remember to-day because it was Tor Johnson's last theatrical film. This movie is the sort of thing drive-in owners lived for. Swedish Tor Johnson, former wrestling superheavyweight champion (in 1935) plays a Russian rocket scientist named Joseph Javorsky. He has defected to America to answer the question of how a flag has been mysteriously planted on the moon. Of course we never find out; in fact that potentially world shaking bit of information is forgotten about 10 minutes into the movie. Tor is chased by a couple of KGB agents into the desert. Notice how these 2 young, healthy guys run and run and run but cannot catch up to the 400lb ex-wrestler. Also notice how they shoot at him from all of 10 meters away and miss! They are all on a nuclear test site but nobody seems to care about that, until the bomb goes off of course. The atom bomb vaporises the 2 bad guys but Tor survives . . .sort of, and mutates into the mad "beast" whom 2 cops spend the rest of the movie tracking down. This picture is also memorable because it is silent. Yes, silent! The soundtrack was either lost or accidentally erased depending on who you talk to (I have heard the same story about THE CREEPING TERROR, 1965) and a narrator tells us what the characters are saying and in some cases even what they are thinking! Is this a classic? Gadzooks no. Is it fun? You bet! It is on video from several sources. Back in 1960 you could have seen this at the drive-in on a double bill with the ultra rare Japanese science fiction thriller SECRET OF THE TELEGIAN. Hmmmm. If I had been around back then that would deffinitely been worth 35cents of my money. Okay now let's talk about that other forgotten director, Joe Mascelli who did THE ATOMIC BRAIN (1965).

I had no idea when I started watching this movie what it was about but I was very well surprised by the extremely low quality of the movie.

It consists of no on screen dialog, a speaker-voice reads an pretensious load of crap as Tor Johnson staggers around as a confused Russian scientist harmed by a nuclear-test. Even if someone for some bizarre reason would WANT to make such an insane movie they would not have been able to come up with something like this.

Only a truly deranged mind could make such a movie. A genius in its own world of badness, competing with brilliant filmmakers like Ed Wood and others but Coleman Francis outnumbers them all!!

Tor Johnson the famed Swedish Angel wrestler and member in good standing of the Ed Wood stock company stars as The Beast Of Yucca Flats. Tor wasn't always a beast, in fact he was a respected defecting Russian nuclear scientist whom the KGB tracked down to the Yucca Flats testing site. The Russians and the FBI shoot it out over possession of Tor, but a nuclear blast settles the issue.

It leaves the FBI and the Russians quite dead, but all Tor has is a nasty skin rash and a nastier disposition. He's now The Beast of Yucca Flats and the rest of the film involves law enforcement tracking him down after he commits a few murders. There's also a couple of stray kids lost on the desert and a suspenseful race to get them before The Beast Of Yucca Flats does.

I just saw another terrible science fiction flick in which the same voice-over technique was used masking the performances of the cast who I'm sure were giving Oscar quality performances. Probably just as well we didn't hear too much banal dialog, but the voice-over wasn't any better.

As for the cinematography most amateur film makers have done better with an old Belle&Howell.

I just finished reading a biography of Bela Lugosi in which Tor Johnson is described as a big, lovable, pussycat of a man. I feel kind of bad for him. His best work might well be in Mighty Joe Young where he was one of the wrestlers challenging the large simian in that tug of war. As for The Beast Of Yucca Flats, no Ed Wood product has anything on this film.

The towering presence of "Swedish Angel" Tor Johnson and laughable narration that sounds at times like some kind of oriental poetry fail to make this film more than barely watchable. There is no real dialogue (presumably the producers couldn't afford a travelling microphone) -- all the dialogue is postdubbed with the actors conveniently turning their heads away when the speak! -- or story, and the only effects are a guy parachuting off a helicopter and Johnson in pancake makeup. Still, a somehow amusing low-budget film filled with friends and associates of the late great Ed Wood.