Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (series) 
“Attaaaaack of the Killer Tomatoes,
Attaaaaack of the Killer Tomatoes,
They’ll beat you, bash you, squish you, mash you, chew you up for brunch,
And finish you off for dinner or lunch.”
Few filmmakers have the guts (or the gall) to actually tryto make a bad film. John De Bello was one of the bold few. This trashcinema auteur (writer/director/producer/actor) brought the world Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!,a 1978 spoof of bad 50’s sci-fi flicks that actually managed to beconsidered worse than the movies it parodied. And in the Bizarro-movieworld of low-budget campiness, that was the highest praise anyone couldhave given.
The title gives away all you need to know about the movie’s plot.Man-eating tomatoes of varying sizes (some bigger than a human being)have been popping up around the country, terrorizing (and eating)innocent Americans. CIA man Mason Dixon is assigned to investigate,rounding up a ragtag team that includes master of disguise Sam Smith,saber-carrying military nut Lt. Finletter, Russian swimmer Greta andSCUBA diver Greg Colburn. Nosy reporter Lois Fairchild tags along onthe mission, trying to get the scoop on the mutated killers.
When it turns out that government experiments are responsible forcreating these psychotic fruits, Mason and company are forced to takeon a corrupt administration as well as the tomatoes themselves. Cannothing be done to stop these sun-ripened slaughterers?
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! was certainly bad, but in the minds of many, that gave it a greatness not seen since the heyday of Ed “Plan 9 From Outer Space”Wood. Kids especially were delighted by the kind of movie that seemedto be made just for them—silly premise, corny jokes, goofy specialeffects and all. The film was by no means a box-office blockbuster, butit did become a cult classic, surfacing on cable and on video for yearsafter its release in theaters.
Ten years later, as the legend of the Killer Tomatoes continued tobuild, John De Bello decided it was time for an equally campy sequel. Return of the Killer Tomatoes!starred John Astin (TV’s Gomez Addams) as Professor Gangreen, a madscientist creating human beings from tomatoes (and vice versa), theirkiller tendencies intact. Solidifying its place as a cult hit, themovie also boasted a cast that included future superstar George Clooneyand 2000’s most talked-about groom, Who Wants To Marry a Multi-Millionaire’s Rick Rockwell.
The tomatoes’ next move was to television, where they starred in asurprisingly successful Saturday morning cartoon series. Astin andRockwell (and De Bello, of course) returned for two more movie sequels,1990’s Killer Tomatoes Strike Back and 1991’s Killer Tomatoes Eat France!, proving that the only thing worse (in a good way) than a bad movie is a bad movie franchise.
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