Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

source: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

The only aspect of this film that saves it from being my least favorite piece of celluloid trash is a single line uttered by an agent attempting to infiltrate the man-eating tomatoes by dressing in a tomato costume: "Can somebody please pass the ketchup?" I highly urge anyone with a sleeping disorder to use this film as a sedative; it works better than an overdose of demarol.

Being an overt fan of B-flicks I have to say that I really enjoyed Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. First of all it has one of the most funniest theme songs I've ever heard. Secondly it tries very hard at being a funny slapstick, fails at this miserably and in doing so becomes hilarious. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a brilliantly bad low budget movie and a must see for anyone with a sense of humor. I'll leave you with a part of the theme song: Attack of the killer tomatoes! Attack of the killer tomatoes! They'll beat you, bash you, Squish you, mash you Chew you up for brunch And finish you off for dinner or lunch Lunch, lunch Dinner or lunch, lunch, lunch Dinner or luuuuuunch.

The easiest way to describe this movie is as a satire. The target of the satire is quite vast, from the US Government to corporate America. It is also not a stinging satire, but rather a silly one. Think of this movie as a mix between the Kentucky Fried movie, Airplane and Police Squad series, done with a much smaller budget and not as funny. I can see how this movie is a satire of many sci-fi disaster movies from the 50's and 60's. I see this movie as a big influence on Tim Burton's Mars Attacks. The plot is simple enough. Genetically engineered giant tomatoes go "crazy" and start attacking people and cities. At first there is a cover up and then it blows over into full blown war. The movie runs the gamut of characters and characterizations : Lois "Fairchild" (a Lois Lane clone), a very ambitious Presidential Press Secretary, Clark Kent, Mason Dixon (FIA agent who hasn't worked since the Bay of Pigs), a useless President (who only seems to be able to sign his name and attack New York), an even inept Congress, a sleazy marketing CEO, and Mason's team consisting of an obese East German "female" swimmer, a scuba diver, a crazed WWII paratrooper and an African-American disguise expert (disguised as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Hitler and finally as a tomato). Did I also forget to mention, lots and lots of tomatoes? There are all kinds of tomatoes from small tomatoes, to giant plastic tomatoes, to smashed tomatoes, to tomato juice and finally to people dressed up as tomatoes. On top of all this, you have a couple of musical numbers as well. They aren't that good and seem to be dubbed. The best tune is by far the theme of the movie ("Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"). It is way too catchy and you might end up humming or singing it in public. Be warned. Most of the movie is quite amusing and shows the absurdity of various real life situations as well as various entertainment genres. I don't believe I was induced to laughter, but mostly smiled and scratched my head. I definitely recommend this movie for fans of B and C grade movies, but only as a rental. -Celluloid Rehab

This film was perhaps THE big low-budget/cult/parody flick in its time. While it doesn't create belly laughs from start to finish, it does have some truly hilarious moments. My favorite scene has dozens of tomatoes just floating in a lake, attacking some unsuspecting summer-campers(believe me, you'll positively crack up when you see the underwater footage!). Also, watch for the sequence in which grown men blast with shotguns tomatoes that were obviously rolled at them off-camera.

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.

I knew this film was supposed to be so bad it was funny, so I went into it with that expectation. I just found it to be so bad it was murderously boring. The whiny theme song is funny for about 10 seconds, until you realize there is nothing clever about it except its intentionally irritating quality. Seeing things get splattered with tomatoes gets old in about 30 seconds. There is just nothing clever or funny about the film except for the premise. It could sustain a 3-4 minute comedy sketch maybe, but this is just not a feature film by any stretch of the imagination.

I saw this film on a triple-bill that included ROBOT MONSTER and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Since those two movies were unqualified stinkers, things didn't bode well for KILLER TOMATOES. But, as I began watching this film, something began to happen. I found myself laughing, but not AT the movie, but WITH it! I saw exactly what they were trying to do and actually got some of the jokes: The black master of disguise who tries to pass as an African-American Hitler; the scuba expert who has to find water to dive in to justify his being part of the mission; the Japanese scientist whose words don't match his lips; the Elvis army number (my highlight) and the commercial parodies. I found them all hilarious. Needless to say, the "Puberty Love" song had me in stitches. All I have to say is just ignore the negative reviews leveled at this film and check it out for yourself. It's not a classic, but you should get more than a few laughs out of it. After all, any movie that has the following lyrics in its theme song can't be ALL bad: "I know I'm gonna miss her/A tomato ate my sister"

Now I know that there are some folks out there who simply do not like their vegetables. One viewing of Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes and you will swear off pasta, ketchup and all kinds of tomato products forever and ever. The notion here is that as they would say on Star Trek TNG tomatoes have become sensient beings. Their consciousness of self has brought a killer instinct to the plants as they absorb Blob like all other kinds of life. Can humankind survive the onslaught of the tomatoes? This was supposed to be a spoof of science fiction films. But sad to say it was brought to the screen by as untalented a group of players as have ever gathered. The direction they get ain't so hot either. Supposedly funny scenes are delivered badly as punch lines and situations are flubbed almost regularly. It's just all around bad folks. Unless you are a glutton for punishment skip this one.

One has to re-watch this movie from time to time just to adsorb the stupidity! Yes it's that funny! Tomatoes Still Humor Me. This is one of those it's so bad it's good type of films - that is exactly what it is suppose to be and that IS the comedy of the movie. This type of comedy is hard for a lot of people to "get": It's suppose to be cheesy and in bad taste... it is a deliberately cheesy b-rated movie that IS the humor of it. The movie is basically poking fun at older b-rated sci-fi horror movies that were meant to be scary - yet they came across as funny. I will be the first one to admit that you have to be in the right mood to watch a deliberately bad b-rated comedy film such as this one. But when the mood strikes just right, this movie can tickle-your-fancy! Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a cult classic film - so it will not suit everyone's taste in b-rated comedies but it does suit mine from time to time. 8/10