Customer Reviews

Beast of Yucca Flats [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Cool title, neat cover, Tor, looks like a winner, right? Don't be fooled. I love Robot Monster, Kronos, Colossal Man (BTW, why is this not on DVD?), etc., and truly believe that Ed Wood Jr. is a far superior filmmaker to Lucas, Speilberg, et al., but even for a fan of this kind of thing, this one is excruciating. By all means buy it for the cover so friends will think you're outre hip or whatever, but do not actually watch it or you will hate yourself. I'm writing this to help people. Ignore at your own risk!

Tor Johnson, sometime wrestler and Ed Wood feature player, appears in this zero-budget epic as a brute killer deformed in an atomic blast. Low budget movies can be fun in a loony way, obviously. Be warned. This flick is cheesy without the chuckle-headed laughs that make many movies fodder for reverse-entertainment ridicule. The acting (to use the term loosely) is wooden. Dialogue is sparse, and mostly done by a dreary narrator. This guy pontificates on the irony of life and lack of justice in the world. The camera teases the viewer in a couple places by lingering shots of skimpily clad women. Bath towels that barely stay in place and baby-doll pajamas look pretty good even in low budget-Ville. Don't get too engrossed. This aspect of the little scenario goes nowhere. More time is spent on the geeky 50s era family on vacation. They are caught in Lobo's, er, Johnson's wave of terror. The Mom with the big frackles and the even bigger cat's-eye glasses is the stand out. I mean she stands out by the side of the road while looking worried and bored at the same time. This is while the kids are lost and the Dad rushes around looking for Art and Randy. Yes, I said, "Art and Randy." Where are Wally and the Beaver when you need them? The movie earns a few paltry points (very few) for brevity and the "is he really dead?" ending. The DVD edition includes a clear video transfer and acceptable audio. Taste in entertainment is subjective. Tread carefully into this dark place. ;-)

The theatrical trailer proclaims that this 1961 schlock-fest was "filmed ENTIRELY on location in Yucca Flats!" How's that for an endorsement? Actually, the trailer is far superior to this dreary attempt at Z-grade science-fiction, with no synchronized dialogue but more voiceover narration than any movie in history. "The Beast of Yucca Flats" does not belong in the "so bad it's funny" category - it's just plain bad. Recommended only to fans of Tor Johnson.

This movie is hilarious it's so bad! If you have trouble finding mistakes in Ed Wood movies-then this movie is a great primer. The movie begins with brief nudity and either a murder, a molestation or a rape-maybe even necrophilia--who can tell-but it has nothing at all to do with the rest of the movie. The dialogue is pratically non-existent-except for an over-the-top narration. Tor Johnson brandishes a giant club, while our hero cops take a girls pulse while carrying her--headed for a cliff that looks to be about ten feet high-where they are worried about falling hundreds of feet to their death. Watch this with friends for a great laugh-everyone can join in and miss nothing. Actually-picture yourself about ten or eleven years old and think--this is the movie you probably would have made!! The highlight is when one of our hero cops in an airplane shoots a father looking for his missing children with the motto-"Shoot first ask questions later" The nuclear test zone is a treat too-not a tree or bush is even slightly damaged-even though the blast has turned Tor into the "Beast"--too many mistakes to mention-but they're all unbelievably bad. This would be a great movie to show to your arty farty acquaintances who love movies like "Claire's Knee"

Yawn. I love 'bad' monster movies, but this one is very dull. The DVD packaging suggests a color film. The actual film is black & white - so what, just fine with me. (I'm not picky with my Z-flicks...) What I am picky about is fun. As stupid & inept as this film is, I was too bored to laugh or even chuckle after the first 10 minutes. Boring images of a monster and his chasers running around in a drab hilly desert. With only scraps of narration and ho-hum music. Sounds dull? It really is, capturing none of the inspirational desert horror of 'Eegah!'. (Oh my 'Eegah!', still my vote for the 'Lawrence of Arabia' of awful monster/desert movies...)

I never dreamed I would write this, but Tor Johnson's work in this film is sub-par in comparison with his loftier garbage-bag films for registered trash icon Ed Wood. Tor's Monster has no flimsy tombstones to knock over, no drugged Bela Lugosi to attack, no dialogue to destroy. Without Ed Wood's brave inept hand, Tor seems lost.

'The Beast of Yucca Flats' is boring. A dull film with almost no sound is about as worthwhile as a kid's home movie. You wouldn't watch that, and you shouldn't buy this.

I am unsure of why I gave this movie two stars instead of one. I think it might have been Tor Johnson's riveting performance. Well, maybe it was the scene where the sheriff shoots a guy running down the road because, (1) the guy was running down the road and (2) he could. Something about this movie just begs for a remake. Maybe they could use Tor Johnson again. Just because Johnson has been dead for more than 35 years would hardly be noticeable if the remake was anything like this movie.

The really bad thing about this movie is that the opening scene is the best scene in the entire movie. The movie goes down hill from there. Tor Johnson is supposedly a scientist defecting to the U.S. I suppose the people chasing after Johnson are supposed to be KGB or spies. Regardless, the protection he got from his bodyguards was pitiful, but did give Johnson an excuse to wander off into the nearby desert, which also happens to be where nuclear testing regularly occurred.

Now, you might wonder why this particular nuclear testing site was open to tourists. I am going to have to let you speculate on that one, because I have no good answers. The really unfortunate thing for Tor Johnson is that he missed the souvenir stand at the entrance to the site. You know, the one with the two-headed lizards and the replica giant Gila monsters known to have been created by nuclear radiation. I digress.

The radiation turns Tor/the Soviet scientist into a mindless killing machine. Tor then stumbles about the desert silently. As it turns out, director Francis Coleman made the movie very silently because he filmed none of the movie with a soundtrack. Everything you hear, Coleman had dubbed later, which is why the little boys lost in the desert sound like they are talking from the bottom of a coffee can. Of course, the lack of sound meant that Tor Johnson could stumble about the desert without making a sound, sneaking up on people to attack them. Yeah, I know. But that statement makes about as much sense as the movie.

The local sheriff decides that shooting anyone running about the desert is a sure-fire method of eliminating the killer, no matter how many innocent fathers he has to kill in the process. Of course, if you kill enough innocent people, eventually you have to get the killer through process of elimination. If you ever wondered why the desert is so empty...

Anyway, by the time this movie is over I was scratching my head. I was wondering why I subject myself to these movies. I was wondering who gave Francis Coleman money to make this thing. I was wondering why Tor Johnson agreed to appear in this movie, which killed his career (it was the last movie Johnson ever made). On the other hand, you would have thought that "Plan 9 from Outer Space" would have killed Johnson's film career. You just never know, I guess.

On the other hand, if you get all worked up about the sound and picture quality, I can tell you that both seem to replicate the inanity of the original film with too much accuracy.

If you have to watch every awful science fiction movie ever made, you absolutely have to get this movie. Is it worse than "Plan 9 from Outer Space"? That is a hard call. However, this movie sure gives that movie a challenge as far as being the worst movie ever made. Just remember, there are some things that were not meant to be seen by the eyes of man, and this movie may be one of them.

Good luck!

According to film lore, THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS was filmed without sound and dialogue was dubbed in postproduction. In order to accomodate this effect, the camera usually photographs characters in long shot; cuts off their heads; shows a character listening in a reaction shot; or has the so-called actors cover their mouths at strategic moments. The effect is very obvious and even so there are quite a few moments where characters are clearly speaking but no sound is coming out.

This is actually the most interesting thing about the film. The story, such as it is: a Russian scientist (Tor Johnson) has defected to the United States. Chased by Russian agents, he escapes into an atomic test area, where radiation converts him into a mindless killer. He kills a vacationing couple and local police officers pursue him. One of the police officers takes to the air, where he mistakes an innocent man for the Beast, and spends quite a lot of time shooting at him. And so on.

YUCCA FLATS has the reputation of being among the worst films ever made. The reputation is deserved. The film looks like it cost about twenty six cents to make; the cast is uninspired, to say the least; and the script (which consists largely of meaningless narration) is stupid in a very unamusing way. Some bad films are amusing to watch. YUCCA FLATS is not among them.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The first time I saw BYF was when it was given treatment by the gang on MST3K. It was such a hoot and I enjoyed it so much I thought about buying the movie alone.

I recently picked it up as part of the 50 Horror Classics Collection, which I highly recommend, and watched the movie all by itself. I'm so glad I never plopped down the twenty or so bucks to buy this stinker!! Without the comic relief provided by Joel and the Bots, this movie is virtually unwatchable. I love cheesy B movies, but this thing is off the Richter scale! Where do I begin? From no soundtrack to a plot that moves along slower than molasses going uphill in February! Plus I've never seen such a collection of homely, unattractive people in a single movie in my life. From the mother of the "Lost Boys" to the cop that jumps from the airplane to the "Cutie-pie" in the baby doll, you'd think that Coleman Francis must have picked them up standing in line at the DMV. I think you could force confessions out of hardened crimnals by forcing them to watch this thing over and over again!

Finally, I just have a question to ponder. After Tor killed that guy fixing his VW by the side of the road, how did he manage to get into the backseat to strangle his wife without her knowing it? Tor couldn't even fit into backseat of a Volkswagen! Well, that just goes to show what a joke BYF is? Watch at your own risk!!

This movie is so terrible it has a certain kind of charm. The entire soundtrack was either lost or never recorded so the whole thing is either narrated or voices are dubbed onto characters when their backs are to the camera (most shots of characters speaking appear to have been excised to hide the lost soundtrack so the editing is often choppy). Tor Johnson gives his most incompetent ever performance as "the beast" (an atomic blast has turned him into a lumbering killer). Several of his takes are obviously messed up - he has great difficulty getting out of an aeroplane for example - but the filmmmakers couldn't afford any re-takes. He lumbers through the desert at about 1mph waving a stick at everyone. A wrestling match he has with the police must be seen to be disbelieved. Amazing. Appears to have been cobbled together from half-of-a-finished-film.

It seems a lot of people feel that this is a bad film. Perhaps it is, but I prefer to think of it as a "different" film. It's certainly different from most American films of its time in that director Coleman Francis took a European approach, making what is essentially a silent film and adding minimal dialog with ADR. The film cheerfully throws logic and plot away from the very first scene and instead, serves up one of the most surreal and curious experiences in cinematic history. As lost "city boys feed sodapop to thirsty pigs" and a gunman randomly shoots down an innocent man from an airplane, Tor Johnson as Joseph Javorsky (noted scientist) is turned into a beast with terrible skin problems by a nuclear bomb explosion. There is a coyote, a cute bunny rabbit, some cowboy cops, KGB agents and a surly gas station attendant. There is a flag on the moon (where did it come from?) and there is a young married couple (unaware of scientific progress). And don't forget the NUDE (yes a fully nude in 1961) strangulation scene that starts the picture. What it all might add up to I couldn't venture to guess but I'm certain that it is a weirdly entertaining hour of bizzare images and rather gorgeous black and white cinematography. This edition from the incredible folks at Alpha video is the definitive DVD release. Unlike some of the previous releases, this one is unedited and contains the full nude scene. Alpha has also included the original theatrical trailer for the film as well as an extensive catalog art gallery. The cover art for this release is the best of any of the editions I've seen. The print has some minor damage but in most scenes it is near prestine. Certainly this film won't appeal to many people but it is a great example of leftover 50's paranoia, showcasing some of the fears from that generation that often made them seem so exceptionally stupid. If you are into genuinely odd films, this one is a prime example.