Beast of Yucca Flats

Starring: Tor Johnson Director: Coleman Francis

A Russian scientist caught in an nuclear blast is transformed into a hideous monster.

This classic contains some of Tor Johnson's greatest work. Although Dr. Javorsky isn't quite as memorable as Inspector Clay in "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or Lobo in a couple of other Ed Wood epics, he still projects an animal intensity not often captured on the silver screen. The narration is top notch, and I am truly amazed that those Francis kids did not become A-list actors as adults. This rules.

When talking about "bad" directors people usually think of Edward D. Wood, Larry Buchanan or even Bill Rebane. Forgotten among bad directors is Coleman Francis, who helmed the movie I am about to discuss. 57 year old Tor Johnson, former pro-wrestler and sometime actor, plays Prof. Joseph Javorsky a Soviet scientist who has defected to the West to answer the question of how a flag has mysteriously been planted on the Moon. He is pursued by 2 KGB agents with orders to silence him, as in . . .forever! They chase Tor into the A-Bomb test site at Yucca Flats.
Now here is where the movie really gets graet in a "so bad it's good" way. These 2 young men run and run and run but they cannot catch Tor! They also shoot at his 400 lb body from all of 30 feet away and miss! The atomic explosion vaporises the agents but Tor survives, well sort of. Radiation has turned him into the title character. a mutated beast with a half melted face and only animal instincts. For the rest of the picture he scares little boys, kidnaps a woman
and growls a lot. Meanwhile desert cops out to catch the mad killer shoot the wrong person and prove totally incapable of saving anyone!
Despite its ineptitude, or maybe because of it, the film has a charm that is impossible to deny. This was Tor's last feature film. At the insistance of his wife he soon retired. His final film appearance was in the TV series "Bonanza" in an episode called "San Francisco Holiday".