Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

happycarrot68 I just find this film so incredibly funny with every watch. as a fan of B movies and trashy horror films, this film hits the spot with it's tremendous humour and just daft situations.I love the fact that film even spoofs it's own budget half way through and so many scenes stand out, the mime artist, the restaurant scene( the interview with the woman is hilarious) the list goes on.The jokes are daft but work, Karen Mistral is stunning and the whole thing works so well. One of those films I still stick on play when little worth watching and it never tires. I truly RELISH this film ( sorry).

rooee Part Two of the infamous comedy horror series is the best one insofar as it's the least bad. It was made in 1988, ten years after the ultra-low budget original. Anthony Starke is very game in the role of Chad Finletter, nephew of Wilbur (Steve Peace), hero of the Great Tomato War of '78. Chad works in his uncle's pizzeria – where tomato coverings are now outlawed because they're evil – along with his buddy Matt (a magnificently mulleted George Clooney). Meanwhile, gene-splicing Professor Gangreen (John Astin) is creating an army of tomato people, hoping to conquer the world. One day one of his creations, Tara (Karen Mistal), escapes and seeks sanctuary in the arms of Chad. Gangreen sends his henchman Igor (Steve Lundquist) to retrieve her. Chad and Tara fall hopelessly in love, but Gangreen will stop at nothing to retrieve his test tube babe. Chad, Tara, and Matt must band together, along with Chad's uncle and his troop of weirdos, to defeat Gangreen and save the world from the "red menace". You might as well skip the dreadful first movie because we get a full recap here. Return is far more watchable thanks to a vaguely coherent script and less of a chaotic sketch show structure. Most of the best stuff happens early on, where there's a ton of fun in Tara's fish-out-of-water flailing bumping up against Chad's bumbling charm. And there's great bro-chemistry between Starke and Clooney. The film is pure spoof, falling somewhere between the Mel Brooks and Zucker brothers camps: the fourth wall-breaking elements of the former and the cringeworthy puns of the latter. (At one point a character opens a China closet… and finds the Great Wall of China inside.) It's not upper Zucker by any means, but somewhere around the Top Secret range in terms of gag hit rate. There are also countless references to horror film contemporaries. We get a bit of Weird Science; the mad lab of Reanimator; the gene-mashing horror of The Fly; and the dead-eyed hottie-on-the-loose of Frankenhooker. It's all powered by some fantastic synth-rock music which doubles down on the echo-snare. Plus a Bacharach-styled ballad as the lovers prance on the beach whilst being bothered by a creepy mime. Eminently good natured and low on gore, Return emphasises the comedy over the horror, making it more accessible than its title suggests. There really isn't much killing at all. The problem is that, beyond the first act, it's not consistently funny either, so as far as cultdom goes it is niche. Set expectations to moderate though and it's a fun, screwy ride.

Woodyanders Mad scientist Professor Gangreen (a gloriously hammy John Astin) plans on conquering the world with his army of tomato men soldiers. It's up to nice guy pizza maker Chad Finletter (affable Anthony Starke) and his easygoing smoothie best friend Matt Stevens (an engaging performance by George Clooney in an early pre-stardom gig) to stop Gangreen before it's too late. Moreover, Chad falls in love with sweet'n'sexy, yet seriously kooky tomato lady Tara Boumdeay (an adorable portrayal by sultry brunette fox Karen Mistal). Director/co-writer John De Bello crams this flick with plenty of blithely silly and often sidesplitting jokes about such things as product placement, cheesy TV game shows, equally tacky late-night trashy movie marathon television programs, and lousy special effects (Gangreen's house is an obvious crummy matte painting), plus tosses in a corny romantic montage set to a hideously sappy song (watch out for the irritating mime!), a scene-stealing hairball mutant tomato named FT, a snake that growls like a dog, a nonsensical gratuitous fight scene complete with ninjas, and loads of priceless dippy dialogue (favorite line: "The girl of my dreams is a vegetable"). The cast have a field day with the screwball material: Starke and Clooney make for likable protagonists, Astin deliciously overacts with eye-rolling aplomb, Steve Lundquist pours on the smarm as Gangreen's slimy yuppie assistant Igor, J. Stephen Peace is a riot as Chad's gung-ho uncle Wilbur, and De Bello contributes a pleasingly smug turn as supremely obnoxious TV reporter Charles White. The plain cinematography by Stephen Kent Welch and Victor Lou gives this picture a properly chintzy look. The bouncy score by Rick Patterson and Neal Fox and the witty theme song both hit the groovy spot as well. Sure, this flick is incredibly dumb and ridiculous immaterial fluff, but the film's endearingly giddy'n'goofy sense of off-the-wall humor is impossible to either resist or dislike. An absolute gut-buster.

gavin6942 Years after the original batch of evil tomatoes was destroyed by the song "Puberty Love", a new batch has been created -- a batch that can be transformed into a humanoid appearance, to blend in with the human population. Wilbur Finletter, the original hero, returns as his nephew unknowingly falls in love with Tara, a tomato and the girlfriend of the evil Dr. Gangreen.While there's something to be said about sequels not being able to surpass the originals, I find this to be an exception. The humor is campier, and the jokes are lamer. But for some reason, I really appreciate it. The visual gags are stepped up to the level of "Airplane!" or some Mel Brooks movie and I do not think this one should be neglected. Even in the beginning when clips are shown from the first movie, the clips are well chosen to really bring out the funniest and most important parts, adding something to the new saga.The original film was actually a student film at UC-Davis, and was redone in 1977 as what we know today. That could have been the end of the series, but by early 1980s home video came around and gave the original a new lease on life and a sequel was inevitable... this time even produced by New World (who had no input). The bar was set higher (or lower) and they succeeded.George Clooney appears. Actually, he more than appears -- he is on screen more than just about anyone. This is before he was big, and he has a long-haired look as though he was auditioning for the part of Jesse on "Full House" (but I guess he lost to John Stamos). Clooney is very lovable in this film, pulling a Charlie Sheen act of women-chasing that suits him well. There is something funny in retrospect about him running a "Meet Rob Lowe" contest to meet women, when now (2016) the women would much rather meet Clooney than Rob Lowe (though Lowe has come back in the last few years).Some of the jokes are more subtle, at least as subtle as a film like "Killer Tomatoes" can be. Take, for example, the Oliver North Federal Prison. At the time, this was probably pretty funny. Today, the audience who "gets it" will be much smaller (they'll say "Isn't he a commentator for Fox News?"). And there are plenty of sex jokes, but despite their prominence I never felt the film crossed into the childish realm of "gross-out" humor. Even the nudity was more or less tastefully done (I expected much more).For me, the scene (or scenes) with the product placement running joke are among the funniest. We get the characters to break the fourth wall, we get some slight jabs at low budget film and consumerism... and just in general the whole concept is funny. Some have pointed out that the gag was stolen by "Wayne's World"... how much this film (or "Wayne's World") were actually paid by the companies they use in the joke remains unclear.If you liked the first film, I cannot see why you would not love this. And if you grew up with the cartoon, you will want to see this film since this is the one the series was based off of. I have yet to see "Killer Tomatoes Eat France", but I think it is safe to say that "Return" is the high point in the movie series.As always, the best way to see this film is on the blu-ray released from Arrow Video. Besides the priceless audio commentary with creator-writer-director John DeBello, there are also TV spots and other promotional items. Anthony Starke provides a nice interview concerning how he got involved and the use of product placement. Clooney, unfortunately, is not interviewed, but that is not really a surprise. Stephen Peace, a series regular, is also not interviewed, most likely because he went on to be a notable California politician of all things.