This is a true first: I watched The Beast of Yucca Flats by itself, then watched the MST3K episode riffing it. It brought on a whole new appreciation for what these men (MST3K) did, and therefore enhanced my enjoyment of the episode even more.
First of all, Beast has only an hour-long runtime, so we are given not one, but two shorts. The first is the silhouette of Ben Franklin giving budgeting advice to a teen in the 1950s. The second short is all about the awesomeness that is Puerto Rico in the 1970s. Both are very good and entertaining, but not the best.
So the feature film is about a Russian scientist who defects to Yucca Flats and is chased by Russian government agents to steal the secrets in his briefcase. During the chase an atomic bomb is dropped in the testing zone turning the scientist into the Beast who kills travelers randomly. As two local cops are after the Beast, a vacationing family get caught up in the chase as their two sons wander off into the desert and the father is confused for the Beast as he searches for his sons.
If you've heard the most recent episode of The Lair of the Unwanted, you probably already know all about the greatness of this film/episode, like how we never see anyone's mouth moving during dialogue since it was all recorded and added in post production, which also led to minimal dialogue except the narration by director Coleman Francis. And his narration was brilliant. Some of the most random statements, particularly the repeated "caught in the wheels of progress", are spouted over the action (term used very loosely) of the film.
Everything from the cop mistakenly shooting at the father ("Shoot first, ask questions later.") to the Beast's ridiculous death scene with a bunny rabbit is hilarious. However, some of the drawn out moments without dialogue or action, and there are many, made the film feel a little longer and more tedious than it was. Other than that, this is great Mike episode to check out.
If you've heard the most recent episode of The Lair of the Unwanted, you probably already know all about the greatness of this film/episode, like how we never see anyone's mouth moving during dialogue since it was all recorded and added in post production, which also led to minimal dialogue except the narration by director Coleman Francis. And his narration was brilliant. Some of the most random statements, particularly the repeated "caught in the wheels of progress", are spouted over the action (term used very loosely) of the film.
Everything from the cop mistakenly shooting at the father ("Shoot first, ask questions later.") to the Beast's ridiculous death scene with a bunny rabbit is hilarious. However, some of the drawn out moments without dialogue or action, and there are many, made the film feel a little longer and more tedious than it was. Other than that, this is great Mike episode to check out.
Rating:
2 pieces of fan mail:
It's always fun to watch the original version before the MST3K version, since they inevitably point out every ridiculous thing you noticed yourself but then go on to make it even funnier.
I usually stick with just the MST3K version, though, simply because I don't have the time to be watching the same movies twice these days. I haven't watched The Beast of Yucca Flats yet but it sounds hilarious. I always love the hokeyness of the monster costumes in these movies, and I expect I won't be disappointed with this one.
I don't have the time watch both the film and episode all the time either, but just this once was fun. I hate to break it to you, but they don't really dress up the beast in a costume: he's just a man blasted with loads of radiation, so it looks like his skin is burned and peeling. Not very creative.
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