Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Eric S Brown
Insanity. That’s perhaps the best word to describe the cult classic film, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, which from its opening scene with a tomato crawling out of a sink, attacking a woman in her kitchen, to its whacked out theme song, the movie sets its standard of craziness right from the start. Shot on a small budget of around $100,000, the film earned over five times that at the box office, spawning three sequel/spin off movies.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes pretends to be a serious film at times with radio news broadcasts reporting the end of the world in a very Night of the Living Dead style but to any viewer truly paying attention, the humor never, ever stops. The movie is certainly campy in the extreme but that only adds to its appeal and enjoyment. Almost all of its characters are laughable from paratrooper, sword wielding government agents, to an elderly couple watching a child beating eaten by a tomato as if it were perfectly normal while making no move to try and save him, and even a messed up, cheapo version of the Six Million Dollar Man that can only run in circles. The film is full of jabs at other movies and pop culture including a scene much like the famous one in Jaws where the great white rises to attack its prey, a reporter named Lois (complete with a cameo by Clark), a hit though annoying love song called Puberty Love being the weakness of the hungry tomatoes.
If you’re in the right mood to watch it or enjoy cheap laughs (so cheap they almost make the viewer groan) then Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is the movie for you. There are wonderfully fun moments in it. However, if you looking for any semblance of seriousness or a true end of the world feel, you’d be much better off with other horror comedies like Night of the Creeps. The Dead Don’t Die, or Black Sheep.
