The Beast of Yucca Flats

Rating:
Summary: T-T-T-Tor!
Review: Tor Johnson's man-boobs star in this (adjective) movie. It opens with a naked lady puting on a towel, then being unconvincingly choked. I think the funniest part of this movie is when Tor Johnson arrives by plane, then tries to get out of said plane...cut to different scene...then Tor's out of the plane. I like that. Throughout the movie, I had one strong hope: As long as he never appears naked, I'll be fine...

He doesn't. AND, the movie's terrible, and I also like that. Anyone with a shred of heart will enjoy this. It's lovely.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous DVD of poverty-stricken stinker
Review: Where does one begin in describing this movie? I must second all the other reviewer's comments on this one. Even fans of Ed Wood films will find their mouths dropping open in astonishment at the ineptness of this movie. Count how many ways they (hilariously) try to hide the fact that there's no synchronized sound; decide for yourself if Tor or the heroine is more hideous; thrill to the leaden pacing (even at 54 minutes, you'll be checking your watch); listen in horror as the narrator urges "our hero" to hunt down and kill an innocent man; imagine why the producers chose to open what is essentially a "kiddie matinee"-type movie with a rape/murder (??) featuring frontal nudity; and cringe at the same annoying stock music cues heard in numerous no-budget productions (Atomic Brain and Astounding She Monster leap to mind), recycled here once again. Cataloging this movie's deficiencies would take, well, about 54 minutes. But is it entertaining? Even though I tried to warn her off, my wife (whose tolerance for this sort of thing is not as highly developed as my own) sat in with me on this one, laughed hysterically throughout, and at one point, when I tactfully suggested she make her escape, declared,"No, I'm really enjoying this one." An unsolicited (and completely unexpected) testimonial. If you're a bad film fan you really owe it to yourself to see this one before you die.
The DVD presentation, spare though it is (no trailers, chapter stops only), still amounts to overkill in this case. The print used is pristine (as claimed on the DVD box). If you watch closely you will find some very light speckling and scratching here and there but otherwise the print's sharp and clean, with good tonal values and detail. Kind of compares to hanging some old stinky sneakers in the Louvre. A commentary would have been welcome (somebody has some 'splainin to do), not to mention a trailer or two, but just the fact that this rarely-seen movie (and I use the word loosely) has been preserved for future generations is reason enough to thank Image for showing the love. Four stars for the DVD, 1 or 5 for the movie, depending on your viewpoint.