This movie is worse than Plan 9. Worse than Suicide Squad or BvS...it's like having a nightmare. The strange narration, the dubbing, the acting...horrible. I like scary movies, but I don't want them to be this scary!Avoid.

This low-budget movie was released in 1961 and featured no actors you've ever heard of. Well maybe one - Tor Johnson, who was a regular in Ed Wood's cheapie sci-fi flicks. He was the "guest star," which also tells you how bad this was. Most of the dialog is in the form of narration and it is so corny it makes you wince. The "score" is ultra dramatic throughout the film and gets to be laughable after awhile.Some IMDb reviewers called it the longest hour of film ever. Many said it was "the worst film ever made." Ha ha. I don't know about that, but it was terrible - some of the worst production values ever. The actors must have been so bad that they - get this - they never showed them speaking. Their backs were always turned. This dawned on me about 45 minutes in, so I doubt the voices were even those of the actors. Since it was filmed outdoors, they probably didn't have the money to have it miked outdoors.The "beast" is just a huge fat guy (Johnson) with some goo pasted to his face. He throws some rocks and waves a stick and tries to chase some kids but can't movie very well. That's about it. Oh.....I forgot: he strangles people, too. The strangulations are the funniest (and worst acting) parts of the film. You actually will scoff and laugh!However, despite a gazillion holes in this story start-to-finish, I found it so bad it was somewhat entertaining.... so it has some (very little) value!

Yes, the acting is hokey. The budget is so low, a snake couldn't crawl underneath. It taught us that bullets do not kill even if you do finally hit your target. I won't even discuss the direction, cinematography, editing. Somehow though, it came together to make an enjoyable movie. The two little boys were adorable. The monster inspired pity. The narration and the parts with the law enforcement officers reminded me of the cop shows from the black and white era. I don't know if it was meant to be tongue in cheek but I took it that way. I really liked it for what it was; Low budget, Cold War paranoia. There were better examples of the genre. There were also worse. A lot worse.

Many years ago I read a review from colleague of mine which exclaimed that the Beast of Yucca Flats was a bad film with no defenders. No one, he said, would ever come to this film's defense and proclaim it to have some special message no one understood, no accidental genius, or no grand ineptness as with films Plan 9 From Outer Space. For years – I agreed. Yucca Flats, after all, was a film with no focus, hardly any dialogue, and a narration that made no sense. I would have gone as far to have said, I hated this movie. It wasn't fun to watch with friends, it didn't make you laugh at its stupidity and it didn't leave you feeling that any real effort was poured into the film. Recently, however, I decided that I must come to Coleman Francis' defense and give a legitimate review, and honest praise for this movie. This review is a defense of the anti-film, the bad as bad gets. And a story about how I stopped hating and learned to love this cinematic bomb. Before I divulge into why I feel that this film is a masterpiece, I think I should discuss what the storyline in the film is about: A Russian Scientist, Joseph Javorsky (Tor Johnson) has escaped from behind the iron curtain, deflected to the United States and now wants to help the US defeat the communists by giving data on certain Soviet activities, including, but not limited to, a moon landing and information about the atomic bomb. Before any of this can happen Jovorsky is chased down by two KGB agents, he manages to escape but quickly wanders off into a nuclear bomb testing area right when a test bomb explodes. The resulting fallout turns him into a monster, hungry for blood. My first realization of this films greatness was in its rewatch factor. I was not content with watching this film once, and while I never felt entertained by it, I never got bored of it either. The bleak desert atmosphere and creepy off handed narration took me into a time warp. This fifty minute film slowed time; in many cases it felt as though hours passed while I watched it. Yet, even now, after having seen it several more times than any sane person ever should admit, I still remain entranced by it. It literally feels like hypnosis. The second aspect of its greatness lays in Coleman Francis' narration. I never understood what I liked about it so much, but recently on an IMDb forum I think two users helped me come across an answer. The explanations were this: First nearly all of Francis' statements are stated as though they are haikus, i.e. "Flag on the moon – how did it get there?" Secondly, most of these questions posed by Francis could only be answered by the now insane Joseph Jovorsky. The fact that many of Yucca Flat's plot points go nowhere is directly tied to the fact that the one person who holds the answers to the narrator's cannot answer it – he himself is a victim of the Cold War—a genius whose whole entire life was destroyed by the by the American's atomic bomb and the Soviet's spies. It's interesting to note that Coleman's go to phrase is, "caught in the wheels of progress." He exclaims that nearly everyone in the film is a victim of the atomic age. It's kind of funny, because it seems to be true. Joe Dobbson was wounded parachuting in the Korean War and now works seven days a week with his partner to help protect his community. Because of this, his wife is frustrated, and his town is near a nuclear testing site. Jovorsky is also a victim, his family has been killed, his genius has been used only for the Cold War effort, and he his ultimately killed by the wars biggest symbol – the atom bomb. The film ends with Jovorsky being gunned down by the two patrolmen. Right before he dies a wild bunny rabbit visits the dying scientist, almost looking concerned for the dying man, the dying man looks at the rabbit, touches is as if finally remembering that he was once a caring man and dies. Leaving us to wonder: perhaps we are all the victims of progress, living in a world much faster, and much more dangerous than ever before.