THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS

Tor Johnson as the Beast

THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS (1961). Written and directed by Coleman Francis. Colorized version.

Brilliant scientist Joseph Javorsky (Tor Johnson) is caught in an A-bomb blast in Yucca Flats where he's trying to escape from spies, and is turned into a crazed, incoherent murderer. Cop Jim Archer (Bing Stafford), a former paratrooper, and his partner Joe Dobson (Larry Aten), find the body of one of Javorsky's victims in a cave. When Art Radcliffe's (Alan Francis) two young sons wander into the missile range, he goes looking for them and is mistaken for the deranged killer by Jim, who nearly kills the man. Will Jim and Joe stop the maddened, hulking "beast" before he can kill the missing kids or anyone else?

A rabbit befriends Tor -- sort of 

Less than an hour long, The Beast of Yucca Flats deserves it's reputation as one of the world's worst movies. In a way this is a shame as the film has a workable premise and is not badly shot. (The colorizing process of this version makes the movie look much better than it deserves.) Apparently the sound track was either lost or screwed up (possibly it was filmed silent) as the film is overdubbed, there is little dialogue and way too much pretentious narration. It's hard to judge the acting but the cast seems to consist of amateurs. Tor Johnson of Plan Nine from Outer Space infamy doesn't so much act as lurch around as if he were looking for the nearest bathroom -- or lunch counter. The pre-credit sequence features an odd ticking noise on the soundtrack and suggests that the female victim is raped after being strangled to death. The ending has poor Tor bonding with a rabbit before expiring. The music, culled from stock libraries, is almost always overdone and inappropriate. Johnson managed to amass 52 credits! Writer-director Coleman Francis appeared as an actor in T-Bird Gang. 

Verdict: Even the rabbit can't save it! *1/2.