Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)

 

 

Believe it or not up until now I had never seen Attack of the Killer Tomatoes from beginning to end.  I’ve seen parts of it in the past on several occasions but never all together.  Oh boy, am I glad I’ve finally seen this in it’s entirety.  While seeming to be a horror comedy it’s truly meant to be a horror parody.  Made on a shoestring budget the film cost somewhere around $100K and even though that was a lot more in ’78 than it is now the film still looks like it’s a low budget affair.  The film comes to us mostly from John DeBello (no relation) as he is writer, director, editor, composer, and producer.  Here’s the story: tomatoes become sentient and begin to kill humans.  Tomatoes are eating children, tomato juice is killing people, there’s even tomatoes killing people who are swimming in the ocean like some scenes in Jaws.

 

 

Let’s talk about some of the characters for a bit.  Starring as Mason Dixon is David Miller (Gunpowder), Dixon is assigned by the president to investigate the claims of tomatoes killing people.  Dixon forms a group of experts to help him with his investigation.  There’s Sam Smith played by Gary Smith (Doctor Who: The Dominators and Mr. Horatio Knibbles) who is a disguise expert.  Jack Riley (The Bob Newhart Show and To Be or Not to Be) is Von Schauer who is also trying to stop the tomatoes.  Eric Christmas (Harold & Maude and The Changeling) stars as Senator Polk.  It is also the first film appearance of Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks and Waxwork) who here appears as a young boy on a boat.  Filled with scenes that made me laugh out loud, not to mention the noise the tomatoes make all throughout the film this is more than just a horror parody.  While there isn’t anything graphic as far as the violence goes I found it entertaining.  Oddly enough there are more films in the franchise that get a better score than the original does.  I’ll give this a strong two and a half Puberty Loves out of five.  Lots of people hate this so be forewarned YMMV.