Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) NAI Entertainment/Comedy RT: 87 minutes Rated PG (some language, cartoonish violence) Director: John De Bello Screenplay: John De Bello, C.J. Dillon, Steve Peace and Rick Rockwell Music: Gordon Goodwin, Paul Sundfor and John DeBello Cinematography: John K. Culley Release date: October 20, 1978 (US) Cast: David Miller, George Wilson, Sharon Taylor, Rock Peace, Ernie Meyers, Gary Smith, Benita Barton, Steve Cates, Stephen Peace, Eric Christmas, Jack Riley, Ron Shapiro, Al Sklar, Don Birch. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Wanna see a movie about a bunch of really bad actors being chased and eaten by giant, papier-mâché tomatoes? No? You’re not alone. Most people wouldn’t even want to bother with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It sounds like a stupid movie, but that’s only because it is. The good thing is that it’s one of those stupid-funny movies you can’t help but laugh and giggle at for all the wrong reasons. There are a lot of reasons to laugh- the bad acting, terrible special effects, dopey plot… you name it. It’s a spoof of those really bad, low-budget horror and sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s. It was made for less than $100,000 and looks it. I think that’s the general idea.
The basic plot of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is in the title. It seems that all the tomatoes in the US have come to life. They’re growing to large proportions and attacking humans. I guess it’s some kind of revolt after many years of being used for salads and sandwiches. It starts when a housewife is attacked in her kitchen. Police are dumbfounded to discover she’s covered in tomato juice not blood. More acts of tomato-perpetrated violence occur. A man dies while drinking tomato juice. A child is eaten right in front of his complacent parents. There’s even a sequence where a group of swimmers is attacked in the ocean by the red meanies.
The government, realizing the vegetables or fruits (depending on how you look at it) must be stopped, brings in a retired specialist named Mason Dixon (Miller) to stop the killer tomatoes. They assign him a team that includes a master of disguise (Smith), a Russian Olympic swimmer (Barton), an underwater specialist who always wears his scuba suit (Cates) and a soldier who always wears his parachute (Peace).
Meanwhile, the President’s press secretary Jim Richardson (Wilson) tries to convince the public the tomatoes are not a threat. He hires public relations expert Ted Swan (Sklar) to put together a campaign attesting to this. Intrepid reporter Lois Maxwell (Taylor) gets her hands on a top secret document and tries to investigate the matter. She pesters Dixon for information, but he’s not talking so she takes to following him around as he deals with the situation. On top of all else, Dixon also has to dodge a masked assassin trying to kill him.
While all this is going on, people from cities all over the country are being attacked by the giant, vicious vegetables/fruits. Nobody knows what to do because nothing they do has any effect on them. Even a full-on military assault does nothing to slow down their rampage. Finally, Dixon stumbles across a simple solution to defeat the killer tomatoes, but he’s going to need the help of every screwball in San Diego to do it. It involves playing a truly annoying pop song entitled “Puberty Love” whose off-key singer sounds like a mix of Slim Whitman, Tiny Tim and Peter Brady when his voice started changing. It’ll make you long for the dulcet tones of Edith Bunker.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is dumb, silly, stupid, goofy and corny as hell, but it’s smart about it. The man responsible for this madness, multiple hat wearer John DeBello (director, producer, co-writer, editor and lyric writer), understands the genre he targets in his spoof even if he doesn’t hit the mark each time. Some of it is quite funny. The disguise expert dons a cheap-looking tomato costume in order to infiltrate the enemy vegetables/fruits. He blows his cover when he asks for ketchup during meal time. The swimmer, who never once goes near the water, eats a breakfast cereal called Steroids. One of the consulting scientists is Japanese. Naturally, his voice is badly dubbed into English a la the old Godzilla movies. He gets off a good one when correcting one of the military leaders: “Technically sir, tomatoes are fags.” Another scientist quickly explains that he means fruits.
In addition, it would appear Team ZAZ did not create the idea of crazy credits in Airplane. DeBello throws in a few jokes in the opening credits like “Based on the Best-Selling Novel ‘The Tomatoes of Wrath’” and “This Space Available” followed by a fake phone number. Rolling ads for a furniture store show up periodically as well.
You have to love a film like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes that intentionally features bad acting and terrible dialogue to go along with the bargain-basement special effects. Even the music is cheesy. The score sounds like it was lifted from any of a dozen TV cop shows of the 70s. In addition to “Puberty Love”, DeBello wrote the lyrics for the same-titled theme song. They include memorably silly lyrics like “I know I’m going to miss her, a tomato ate my sister.” I remember it was frequently played on Dr. Demento’s late night radio show in the late 70s/early 80s.
Overall, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a fun movie even if it spins its wheels more than it should. It loses momentum and stalls about midway through. It doesn’t exactly wear out its welcome, but it feels like a short film stretched out to feature length. In other words, the idea is better than the execution. Okay, so it’s not perfect. It is, however, entertaining in a mindless kind of way. The makers knew what kind of film they were making and just went with the flow. In kind, viewers should know exactly what they’re getting into with a title like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and just go with it.
