Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
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| Attack of the Killer Tomatoes | |
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | John De Bello |
|---|---|
| Produced by | John De Bello |
| Written by | John De Bello Costa Dillon Stephen Peace |
| Starring | David Miller George Wilson Costa Dillon |
| Music by | John De Bello |
| Cinematography | John K. Culley |
| Editing by | John De Bello |
| Distributed by | NAI Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1978 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | USD$90,000 |
| Followed by | Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) |
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a 1978 comedy film directed by John De Bello and starring David Miller. The film is a spoof of B-movies. Made on a budget of less than US$100,000, the story involves tomatoes becoming sentient by unknown means and revolting against humanity. Writing credits were shared by John De Bello, Costa Dillon, and Stephen Peace. The concept of Killer Tomatoes was created by Dillon.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with a scroll dictating that, when Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds (1963) was released, audiences laughed at the notion of birds revolting against humanity, but when an attack perpetrated by birds occurred in 1975, no one laughed. This is followed by a pre-credits sequence of a tomato rising out of a woman's garbage disposal unit. Her puzzlement turns into terror as the tomato draws her into a corner. Following the credits, we see the police investigating her death. One officer discovers that the red substance she is covered with is not blood, but tomato juice.
A series of attacks perpetrated by tomatoes occur (including a man dying by drinking tomato juice made from a killer tomato and a sequence where the tomatoes attack innocent swimmers, in a parody of Jaws). While the President's press secretary Jim Richardson tries to convince the public that there is no credible threat, the president puts together a team of specialists to stop the tomatoes led by a man named Mason Dixon. Dixon's team includes Sam Smith, an African-American disguise expert who is seen at various points dressed as, among other things, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and even Adolf Hitler; Navy diver Greg Colburn; Russian Olympic swimmer Gretta Attenbaum; and parachute-toting Wilbur Finletter.
Smith is sent out to infiltrate the tomatoes, eventually blowing his cover when he asks if anyone could "pass the ketchup." Colburn and Gretta are sent to sectors, and Finletter stays with Mason. Meanwhile, the president sends Richardson to the fictitious ad agency 'Mind Makers', where executive Ted Swan spends huge amounts of money to develop virtually worthless ploys including a bumper sticker with 'STP' for "Stop Tomato Plants' on it. It is revealed that a human is also plotting to stop Dixon when a masked assassin attempts to shoot him, but misses. A senate subcommittee meeting is held where one secret pamphlet is leaked to a newspaper editor who sends Lois Fairchild on the story. While she tails Finletter, he mistakes her to be a spy and trashes a hotel room attempting to kill her. He then chases the assassin as the masked man fails again to kill Dixon, but loses him.
Gretta is killed and further regression has led leaders to bring in tanks and soldiers to the west coast in a battle that leaves the American forces in shambles. Dixon, walking among the rubble, sees a trail of tomato juice and decides to investigate. He ends up being chased by a killer tomato to an apartment where an oblivious child is listening to the radio. The tomato is about to kill Dixon but suddenly flies out the window. Dixon peers out to see if it has died when he spots the assassin hijacking his car. He chases the assassin until he is knocked out when it is revealed that Richardson is behind the tomatoes. He is about to reveal his secret of control when Finletter charges in and runs him through. Dixon, picking up some strewn records, realizes that both times the tomatoes left him the new hit song "Puberty Love" had been on the radio. He orders Finletter to gather all remaining people and bring them to the stadium, which is soon attacked by the tomatoes.
The tomatoes are cornered in a stadium. "Puberty Love" is played over the loudspeaker, causing the tomatoes to shrink and allowing the various people at the stadium to squash them by stomping on them repeatedly. Fairchild, meanwhile, is cornered by a giant tomato wearing earmuffs. Dixon saves her by showing the tomato the sheet music to "Puberty Love." He professes his love to her, in song. The film ends by showing a carrot that rises from the Earth and says "All right, you guys. They're gone."
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| David Miller | Mason Dixon |
| George Wilson | Jim Richardson |
| Sharon Taylor | Lois Fairchild |
| J. Stephen Peace | Wilbur Finletter |
| Ernie Meyers | The President |
| Eric Christmas | Sen. Polk |
| Ron Shapiro | Newspaper editor |
| Al Sklar | Ted Swan |
| Jerry Anderson | Maj. Mills |
| Don Birch | Old man |
| Tom Coleman | Singing soldier |
| Art K. Koustik | Fia director |
| Jack Nolen | Sen. McKinley |
| Byron Teegarden | Dr. Morrison |
| Paul Oya | Dr. Nokitofa |
| Jack Riley | Salesman |
| John Qualls | Captain |
| Ryan Shields | Tomato |
[edit] Sequels
There have been a number of sequels and other spin-off material in various media as a result of this movie. They include three movie sequels
- Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988)
- Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! (1990)
- Killer Tomatoes Eat France! (1991)
The sequel, Return of the Killer Tomatoes 1988 uses stock footage from this film in the opening, with only one real change. The scene from the climax of the original portraying hundreds of people running into the stadium to squash the tomatoes is dubbed over to make it seem like they are evacuating the area.
In the theme song for this film we hear about the death of Herbert Farbage by tomatoes, in the opening song for the sequel we learn that Herbert actually survived the attack and now has an upcoming TV show.
American composer and orchestrator Gordon Goodwin, one of the original composers for the film, later wrote a big band piece inspired by the music for this film, to be played with his jazz ensemble Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. The piece is meant to poke fun at the soundtrack in a musically comic fashion, especially through the song's use of solo Bass Trombone.
[edit] Spin-offs
The film was then reworked in 1990 as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series, a cartoon TV series which ran on Fox Kids, but despite the name, it was based on Return of the Killer Tomatoes. One scene did include live action footage of the Killer Tomatoes film, followed by a comment it is the worst torture a prisoner could endure.
A novel released in 1997, Attack of the Killer Potatoes, pays tribute to the film.
Three different video games were developed; a 1986 video game released for 8-bit computers, which was based on the film, and a 1991 video game released for Nintendo and the Game Boy games consoles, which was based on the animated series.
Viper Comics has released a comic book adaptation of the film in October 2008.[1]
[edit] Remake
A remake of the film is in the works from Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, creators of Ask A Ninja. This will be Nichols' directorial debut. M. Dal Walton III is co-producing along with Emmett/Furla Films.[2]
Doug Sarine has said that he is interested in casting Jim Carrey and Bruce Campbell in the remake.[3] This would mark the second time the actors have been in the same film; their first was 2000's The Majestic.
[edit] Music
The theme song of the movie describes the tomatoes rampages through the world, describing that they've killed a man named Herman Farbage, that they've scared off the National Guard and that they've even eaten the narrator's sister. This theme song is used in different variations over the course of the series, here simply sounding like the score of an old monster movie with lyrics and a more catchy tune.
The song "Puberty Love" was sung by the then-teenage Matt Cameron, former drummer for Soundgarden and current drummer for Pearl Jam.
[edit] Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2008) |
- Within the first five minutes of the film, an actual full sized helicopter is destroyed in a fiery crash. Cause of accident: hit by flying tomato. In reality the crash was a real accident.
- The Japanese scientist working to stop the tomatoes is dubbed, parodying Japanese Kaiju films in which characters are badly dubbed.
- Although it was probably just a result of low budget, the scene where a woman is attacked by a giant tomato in a parking lot does barely anything to conceal that the tomato is being pulled by something.
- The title of the song "Puberty Love" bears resemblance to the song Puppy Love which reached the top of the charts in 1960. The song was revived by Donny Osmond in 1972 and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks.
[edit] Critical reception
The film was poorly received by critics, garnering 27% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes.com.[4]
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Wingrove, David. Science Fiction Film Source Book (Longman Group Limited, 1985)
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes at the Internet Movie Database
- The Killer Tomatoes Persevere
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes at the Internet Movie Database
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes at Allmovie
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