With a name like "Return of the Killer Tomatoes," you might expect this to be another Bad Movies Marathon review. I assumed so too when I selected it out of Cult Film section and saw its poster. But within minutes, I was not only convinced that this wasn't a bad movie, but actually a brilliantly made and enthusiastic comedy. Let me elaborate: what's so clever about this movie, is how aware the makers are that it's entirely parodic, resulting not in a cheap, tacky, cheese-fest, but in a genuinely enjoyable, and very well acted spoof.
The comparison that came to my mind while watching was the Scary Movie series. In the same way that the Wayans brothers had a cameraman walk straight into Cindy, here De Bello has a moving shot of a shiny truck on the highway, with reflection of camera crew fully intact. Neither this, nor any other little similar touches in this movie, are careless mistakes, but very deliberately placed in the name of parody. It even pulls you along in its little game. In an early scene, I scoffed that the pizza that Chad (Anthony Starke) just flipped didn't come back down. Little did I know the film makers were way ahead of me!
So, this is the sequel to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, which incidentally is Elvira's favourite film, earning it a showing in her movie Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988). After the last attack, the city has banned tomatoes: they are smuggled like bootlegged liquor. But crazy old Dr Gangreen is still up in his house on the hill- which is usually a real house, but every now and then a painted canvas with a hose to simulate rain- and is planning another diabolical take-down, in which he has transformed tomatoes into people. Local hero Chad Finletter is mesmerised by the crazy professor's 'woman,' and when she runs away with a discarded experiment, he is more than happy to take her in, and unwittingly causes a hell of a lot of trouble for the traumatised town.
As Roger Ebert pointed out with his reviews of the likes of Scary Movie and The Naked Gun, the actual 'story line' doesn't matter too much with parodies like these, it is incidental. I enjoyed this movie hugely, but barely remember the plot. I was just too blown away with the fantastic comedy, and the fantastic actors, including George Clooney in one of his earlier roles. The performers are so absorbed in the essence of the movie, that is, the comedy, fully understanding of the stereotypes they are mocking, that they make a really fine cast. Anthony Starke and George Clooney have such onscreen chemistry as best friends, it feels as if they've hung out together every day of their lives.
One of the film's funniest scenes takes place after the professor's mistress has accidentally transformed into a tomato in the middle of a restaurant. Everyone runs for their lives, and the local news anchor questions a woman, who was eating dinner alone, "You were eating alone?! Where is your husband?"
"He's dead!" the traumatised woman wails.
"Oh was it a suicide, by chance?"
"He died in the Great Tomato War!"
"Ma'am, that's ancient history. You should've found someone by now," and so he continues, in an absolutely legendary slating.
It's funnier than Scary Movie, and full of little touches that make you laugh out loud. I howled when I noticed that on a wall of World Clocks, the Sydney clock was upside down. So full of character and expertise reaching as far as the music (listen out for it), Return of the Killer Tomatoes is a self-professed "turkey," and an absolute rip-roaring comedy, and so I unashamedly give it 4/5.
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