A filmmaker with such appalling taste that he allowed John Carradine to sing the theme song to one of his movies, Coleman Francis achieved a dubious honour each of the 3 films he directed was parodied on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Franciss debut feature, The Beast Of Yucca Flats, revolves around a noted scientist (played by Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson) who transforms into the eponymous monster after stumbling onto a nuclear testing ground. Which mightve made for an entertaining B-movie if only Francis hadnt decided to shoot the film MOS (Mit Out Sound) and dub it in post-production. Instead of hiring actors to dub in lines, Francis narrates the picture in deadpan style, and the results are at best mystifying. As the police close in on Johnson, Francis says, Find the beast and kill him. Kill or be killed! Mans inhumanity to man! When characters are shown puzzling over the beasts disappearance, Francis says, Flag on the Moon. How did it get there? You can only scratch your head in wonder.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
