Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

(r#43)

"Worst movie of all time"? No, actually one of the most insane and hilarious spoofs ever made. Not much of a plot, obviously low budget, non-actors doing the best they can to keep the dialogue deadpan and serious (George Wilson as the bad guy is particularly hilarious), and of course rampaging, evil, flesh-eating tomatoes.

In the tradition of David Zucker's Scary Movies, James De Bello's jokes aim to be as shamelessly stupid, but still funny, as possible. And it worked for me. Some lines literally had me howling with laughter. "Could somebody pass the ketchup?"; "Wienerschnitzel!"; "Technically, tomatoes are fags"; "Well, it was pretty dark, you know... it's lighter today"; "Why not? You're a woman!", just to name a few. And how can you not love a movie that features a catchy John Carradine-esquire theme song, a deliberately badly dubbed Japanese scientist, an insane katana-swinging WWII pilot who seems to drop from out of no where and just sort of follows along, a blind policeman, a president whose main job seems to be writing his signature on papers before crumpling them and throwing them away, a UN-type organization who spends the entire movie debating what should be done about the tomatoes before deciding it's not time to take action yet, a swimming champion who eats an entire bowl of the cereal "STEROIDS", mind-numbing musical numbers, the list goes on.

You'd have to be a pretty dull person not to enjoy this. Utterly insane, shamelessly cheap and silly, but somehow awesome. I'd recommend this movie to anyone with a knowledge of awful movies and a good sense of humour.

"Mlmlmlmlmlm mneed mlmlmlmlmlmmlm..."

This is a wonderful movie if viewed in the light in which it was made. Light hearted, off the wall and delightfully derivative. A must for all "corny movie" buffs. If ever there was a movie to reflect the maker's dream, either good or bad, then this is it. Drawing from all genres, making use of "jingle" music and madcap visuals, this classic movie has long been derided as a world worst movie ever made. This is unfair, as it shows what can be done on a modest budget, with the makers' imagination and a sack-load of tongue-in-cheek gags. There is also the well held belief that this could be the worst vegetable movie ever made. However, there has always been confusion as to whether the tomato is actually a fruit.

I remembered seeing a clip of this movie on an old Saturday morning program called "Kids Are People, Too". Seeing a tomato chase Mason Dixon on a sidewalk before my very eyes was far too unbelievable, and I giggled out in thinking it was the most downright hilarious thing mankind has ever seen! I hadn't even noticed that the film existed at all! That was until almost a decade later when I finally got to see it on local TV, and I began to realize that THIS FILM WAS FOR REAL!!! Possibly NO other motion picture in history has managed to make clever strangeness and ridicule like "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"! A film like this can be so BAD, that it's actually GOOD! However, I felt that this could have been another "audience participation" outing just like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" because it can be seen millions of times over. With some occasional musical numbers and plenty of scenes to be addicted to, this would have had a humongous impact on millions of viewers to keep going to the movie theater over and over to see this fun picture. "Killer Tomatoes" plays like a lengthy national anthem, worthy of my time and money! Now, if only I can try to educate millions on how to enjoy watching low-budget movies without getting totally embarrassed! After all, any unknown movie worth $10,000 can still be worthy!

Attack of the killer tomatoes is low-budget's answer to summer blockbuster Snakes on a Plane. Technically, it's the other way around, since AOTKT came first, but whatever. It's dumb, it has a small cult following, and you understand the plot when you read the title.

Tomatoes, you know, the kind in salads, attack people. This is shown in the movie, mostly as tomatoes being thrown at people with tomatoes on the ground everywhere. This continues for an entire movie, which might sound repetitive, but there's other side-tracks of the story as well, which more often than not are very funny.

The production values are non-existent but the filmmakers do their best to cover them up("I'm sorry, gentlemen, for the size of this room", the general says and then all the scientists climb over each other to get a seat) There are lots of silly plot points and many totally unnecessary, some funny and some not. Whenever it gets draggy, there's usually something really funny just in time. That's not bad.

If you need to have this told to you, then you will not like this movie, but I'll tell you anyway: Do NOT take this movie seriously. Enjoy the musical numbers, the stupid "Jaws"-like tomato attacks, the crazy characters, and all the other details that in then end makes AOTKT a fun experience.

"Tomatoes" has been unfairly maligned as one of the worst movies of all time. This is too bad, because the film is really a satire of cheap, bad sci-fi movies. So what better way to satirize a cheap, bad sci-fi movie than by unintentionally making one?

If you saw this movie as a child or teenager, scenes will be indelibly imprinted upon your mind. The guy taking a shower in a hallway; the dubbed voice of the Japanese scientist; the helicopter crash (which wasn't supposed to happen...the pilot came in at too steep of an angle and crushed the back rotor blade. The pilot lost control and crashed the copter. The producers, not wanting to waste this precious filming of an actual accident, put it in the film and instructed actor Jack Riley to pretend to crawl away from the smoldering wreckage); the tomato chasing a woman in a parking lot, with oh-so-noticeable wheels propelling it forward; ah, the magic of film.

Brought to you in part by future California state Assemblyman and State Senator J. Stephen "Rock" Peace.