Movies like “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” are virtually bullet proof from criticism. You either go in the movie prepared for the silly, or you can’t quite match the film’s frequency. “Attack of the Killer tomatoes” is one of the earliest known satires of “The Birds” where it’s about the inexplicable sentience and attack of deadly fruit on a small town rather than pecking deadly birds from the sky. And that’s about where it ends there. You figure with the preamble about “The Birds” and how this movie is basically the same thing but with tomatoes, we’d have a full fledged spoof of the Hitchcock movie.
But John DeBello’s horror comedy surprisingly dodges that attempt. It instead throws whatever seems funny at the wall and sees what can stick. The sequels would further practice that idea of just doing something because, well: “It seems funny. It could be funny. Let’s try it!” So we have tomatoes stalking swimmers in an ocean like Jaws, and a man choking death on killer tomato juice, and an army fighting a horde of tomatoes while a helicopter spirals out of control in the background for whatever reason. There are also many scenes that are funny despite having nothing to do with anything in the entire movie. During a big meeting between scientists and military officials, they all meet in a very small cramped room with a giant conference table prompting them all to climb over the table and squeeze in to their seats.
I don’t know why, but that’s funny. One scene features two characters walking down a military base hall discussing plans to fight the tomatoes and a naked soldier is taking a shower out in the open. That’s funny…? Literally everything about “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!” is just a random, nonsensical farce (there’s a “Your Ad Here” joke during the opening credits) that it’ll either bring you to tears laughing, or inspire you to storm off angrily. I’m not sure why it becomes a musical mid-way, I’m not sure why the only Asian character’s dialogue is dubbed in bad English, but hey, it’s weird, funny, fun, off the wall cult comedy that only get more and more nonsensical with every passing sequel. I can’t guarantee you’ll laugh, but you can at least yourself on the back for having sat through the entire movie.
The features for the new MVD Rewind Special Edition include “Legacy of a Legend,” a fourteen minute retrospective with great interviews with the cast and crew along with Bruce Vilanch, who is a fan. “Crash and Burn” is a document of the terrible helicopter crash, and of course there are some Super 8 Prequels. There’s “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” the seventeen minute rough draft short with optional commentary, “Gone with the Babusuland,” a thirty two minute unrelated short that garners a commentary track. “Famous Fowl” is a two minute interview with the San Diego Chicken.
There are six minutes of deleted scenes, and “Killer Tomatomania,” a four minute segment featuring a Killer Tomato invading Hollywood. “Where Are They Now?” is a two minute tongue in cheek follow up with various cast members. “We Told You So” is about an unusual terrifying conspiracy, and there are a slew of sing alongs including0 “Sidewalk Sing Along,” the “Main Theme,” “The Mindmaker Song,” “Tomato Stomp,” “Puberty Love,” and the “Love Theme.” “Slated for Success” is about the talents b0ehind the slate clappers, there’s the original trailer for “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” and the radio spots for the film. Finally there’s an audio commentary with John DeBello, Costa Dillon and Steve Peace. For collectors, as always, MVD Rewind includes a folded keepsake poster in the case.