Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I don't know what it is about cheesy and goofy movies, but I simply cannot resist them. Doesn't seem to matter how bad they are or how outlandish they turn out to be, I find myself sitting through so many of them.  Part of me does it simply because as a writer, I find them educational. There is plenty to learn from the worst of the worst, because terrible films are a great way to learn what not to do when telling a story.    

Yet at the same time, it goes beyond a learning experience, sometimes they flat out fascinate me. Sometimes the movie is so awful that I am literally in awe of how bad the finished product turned out to be and I sit through it until the end, out of a weird form of morbid respect. Sometimes I do it simply because I paid good money to watch it and I am damn well going to get the most out of my dollar before I eject it out of my DVD player and head back to the Redbox kiosk or shell out this month's subscription to Netflix.   

Yet once in a great while, they're so bad they simply win me over. It ended up being so awful and so much fun at the same time that it finds a place in my heart and I go out and buy the little fella, as was the case with the cult classic...Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Now this is usually the moment where I provide you all with a quick summary of the plot and I'm really not sure that's necessary today. Because, let's be honest, I think the title tells us everything we need to know. But just to make sure we cover our bases...tomatoes grow sentient and they attack people. So. There you go.  

Yet as over the top and ridiculous as that sounds, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes actually works in its own magical way for several reasons. For starters, it never takes itself too seriously, and that's a good thing. This film acknowledges that it is as silly as they come and embraces the goofy, and because of that it leads to something unexpected, the fact that there are some genuinely side splitting funny moments in this film, and that alone makes it worth a view. Yet despite the ridiculous premise, the film keeps your attention by moving at a brisk pace, never once wasting a scene because the filmmakers clearly understood that a movie about Killer Tomatoes better make every scene count. 

But outside of that, don't expect much else. No quality acting performances are to be found here, nor will you walk away discovering something about yourself or about film that you never knew before. Nope, it's just tomatoes, killing people and oddly enough, I'm okay with that.  

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