I had a poor copy of Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes that I had taped off of cable. So when someone recently gave me a DVD I was quite pleased. I watched it the other day and today I finished up all the extras. The movie came out in 1978 and made good bank. I know I saw it in the theater sometime in 1979 or 1980. It was just after I had moved to the area.
Director John De Bello wrote the screenplay with Costa Dillon and J Stephen Peace. Peace plays the parachute guy in the film, he was also a California State Senator.
Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes is a goofy comedy, the title coined before the film was made, and it made me laugh. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't always laughing at the jokes. It's a parody of the genre movies I like, monster movies, creature features, alien invasion, that sort of thing. This time the monster is a tomato. People decry the villain. Ludicrous they say, but I believe it. Biting into the hideous flesh of the tomato is the most unholy of hell's. I've always hated the tomato. The only good tomato is ketchup.
Tomatoes attack and the government tries to hush it up. They send a squad of goofballs to try to keep the problem in check. They don't do so well but eventually they stomp some round red ass.
I listened to the audio commentary with John De Bello, Steve Peace and Costa Dillon and enjoyed it. There are some featurettes that were of mixed quality. Nice to see Jack Riley and John Astin talking about the film. There's a couple of 8mm shorts that De Bello and company made several years before the feature film. They're amateurish, the film makers were in high school, but I managed to get through them. There's a production design photo gallery, a trailer and some radio spots. I know I'll get to this again someday. I plan to pick up the sequels. A couple are on order already.
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