PLOT: Almost fifty years after the Tomato War, killer tomatoes are still menacing the planet!
REVIEW: In 1978, the creative team of John De Bello, Costa Dillon, and J. Stephen Peace brought the world the “musical comedy horror show” Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, an independent production that did well enough at the box office that it (eventually) launched a franchise. De Bello, Dillon, and Peace expounded on the concept of homicidal tomatoes with Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988), Killer Tomatoes Strike Back (1991), and Killer Tomatoes Eat France (1992) – and in the midst of making those live-action sequels, they also managed to launch an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes animated TV series that lasted for two seasons. If you loved the idea of tomatoes turning into bloodthirsty balls of terror, you were being well-fed back in those glory days.
But then, the franchise went dormant. And the entertainment world has seemed lacking since 1992, hasn’t it? It has felt like there was a void that could never be filled. And that’s because we’ve had a distinct lack of goofy movies about deadly fruit. Or vegetables. Or whatever you prefer to call tomatoes. Now, that age of doldrums is finally over, as Peace and Dillo have joined forces with director David Ferino to finally, after more than thirty years, revive the Killer Tomatoes franchise with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence!
This sequel is just as silly and ridiculous as its predecessors, although its continuity with the other sequels is a bit shaky. Organic Intelligence is primarily linked to the original movie, which it says was a documentary that ended up being released as a comedy as part of an attempt to cover up the facts of the Tomato War. The cartoon and other sequels are brushed off as “pitiful contrivances,” and yet John Astin is still around as Professor Mortimer Gangreen, the mad scientist he played in those “pitiful contrivances.” He’s even still animated! (Although, in the cartoon his character’s name was Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen.)
Whether the events of the other sequels took place or not, the fact remains: tomatoes are evil. They always have been. Tomatoes have been responsible for disasters throughout history, and the threat level is rising once again. Not only is Gangreen still out there, but VegIntel Organics, a company run by adolescent prodigy Dr. Kate Patelle (Samantha Bailey), has just launched the MyTomato, which is basically the new Siri, but this thing has no plug-ins and no batteries, it’s completely organic and even has living brain cells. That can’t be good.
While tomato attacks increase, new heroes Admiral Simon Grant (Daniel Roebuck) of Federal Vegetable Investigations, FVI Special Agent Marina Sifuentes (Myrna Velasco), VegIntel researcher Angela Kharsa (Noor Razooky), and diver Chad Rains (Zachary Roozen) try to get to the bottom of what’s going on – and get tomato experts Irene Savas (Vernee Watson), Greg Colburn (Tom Arnold, briefly), Sam Smith (Paul Bates), and Wilbur Finletter pulled into the situation along the way. Peace had previously played Finletter himself in this franchise, but for this film he passed the role over to Dan Bakkedahl… and, to be honest, I had trouble adjusting to seeing Bakkedahl in the role, even though he turned in a fine comedic performance.
I didn’t find the story of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence to be quite as interesting as some of the previous movies, nor did I find the movie to be as funny as some of the Killer Tomatoes movies that came before (some of which would be very hard to top), but that’s certainly not from a lack of effort on the parts of the cast or filmmakers. The jokes keep flying at a fast and furious pace, and all of the cast members do very well in their roles. We also get some fun appearances from Eric Roberts, Catherine Corcoran, and David Koechner. The movie can’t reach the heights of the franchise’s best moments, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a welcome addition to the franchise.
I had a good time watching Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence, and I’m really glad this series has made a comeback after so many years. It’s heartwarming to see a new addition make its way out into the world. It has been way too long since we had some killer tomato nonsense to enjoy. Fans of dopey comedies in general will probably have some fun with this one – and those who, like me, have had an appreciation for killer tomato stories for decades will have even more fun.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence is currently playing in select theatres and will be receiving a VOD release on October 6th.
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