Return of the Killer Tomatoes / Return to Horror High
You're not going to believe this, butReturn of the Killer Tomatoesis a genuinely funny movie. Ten years after John DeBello made the frowzy, low-budgetAttack of the Killer Tomatoes, he brought the fleshy fruit back for a murderous encore. Like the first film, it works as a parody of horror-movie conventions (and it repeatedly makes fun of itself, Mad-magazine style), but this time the budget is higher. There's a great, ongoing send-up of product placement, plus a juicy role for the oft-underutilized John Astin, as the evil genius this kind of movie needs. Just to keep everything moving, another exploitation film keeps cutting in:Big-Breasted Girls Go to the Beach and Take Their Tops Off. It ain't high art, but this movie knows its audience. A young George Clooney plays one of the heroes.Return to Horror Highis a convoluted cheesefest that tries to be spoof and horror movie at the same time, feebly prefiguringScream. A movie crew is filming a slasher picture at a high school where a series of murders actually occurred; the killings begin again--or are they simply staged for the production? The answer to this question is distinctly uninvolving, but it involves a lot of fake blood. Familiar faces include Vince Edwards andBrady Bunchstar Maureen McCormick (a uniformed cop), plus--until he becomes the first victim--George Clooney.--Robert Horton