Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (film)

***Attack of the Killer Tomatoes*** is a 1978 comedy/horror film by Four Square Productions. It was written by John DeBello, Costa Dillon, Stephen Peace and produced by John DeBello and Stephen Peace.

## Plot

The film opens with a text saying that in 1963 Alfred Hitchcock made a film titled *The Birds*, and people laughed at it, but when a real bird attack occurred in 1975, no one laughed. The next scene is a tomato coming out of a woman's garbage disposal, and it then killed the woman. The police then come to investigate her death. The woman was covered in so-called blood, as one of the officers tastes the so-called blood which turned out to be tomato juice.

The killer tomatoes later attack a group of swimmers, a tomato kills a motorcyclist, and a man dies by drinking juice made out of a killer tomato. The President's press secretary Jim Richardson tries to convince the public that there's no threat. The president makes a team to stop the tomatoes, led by Mason Dixon. The team includes Sam Smith, a disguise expert, Greg Colburn, a scuba diver, Gretta Attenbaum, an Olympic swimmer and Wilbur Finletter, a parachute-toting soldier.

Sam Smith was sent to spy on the tomatoes, with him disguised as a tomato. Sam blew his cover while eating a hamburger and asking the tomatoes for ketchup. Finletter stays with Mason, while Colburn and Gretta are sent to different sectors.

**TBA**

## Staff

* Directed by John DeBello
* Produced by John DeBello, Stephen Peace
* Music by Gordon Goodwin, Paul Sundfor, John DeBello
* Sounds by Paul Wear
* Special effects by Greg Aurer
* Sound effects edited by Bob Freeman
* Second unit directing by Stephen Peace

## Cast

* David Miller as Mason Dixon
* George Wilson as Jim Richardson
* Sharon Taylor as Lois Fairchild
* Stephen Peace as Wilbur Finletter
* Ernie Meyers as The President
* Eric Christmas as Senator Polk
* Ron Shapiro as Newspaper editor
* Al Sklar as Ted Swan
* Jerry Anderson as Major Mills
* Jack Riley as Von Schauer
* Gary Smith as *Sam Smith*
* John Qualls as Captain
* Geoff Ramsey as The Stapler
* Ryan Shields as Tomato
* Benita Barton as Gretta Attenbaum
* Don Birch as the Old Man
* Tom Coleman as the Singing Soldier
* Art K. Koustik as The FIA Director
* Jack Nolen as Senator McKinley
* Paul Oya as Dr. Nokitofa
* Robert Judd as the Stuntman
* Byron Teegarden as Dr. Morrison
* Michael Seewald as 'cameraman'
* Steve Cates as Greg Colburn, 'the diver'
* Dean Grell as 'Miss Potato Famine 1922'

## Soundtracks

* *Puberty Love*
* *Attack of the Killer Tomatoes*

## Trivia

* The helicopter crash scene was made using a real helicopter, but that scene wasn't meant to be made. The helicopter was supposed to land on the tomato patch, but during the landing, the tail of the helicopter struck the ground and the helicopter ended up rotating and crashing. The pilot survived the crash, and after the crash, the pilot said that the helicopter was attacked by a "kamikaze" tomato, sarcastically. The scene was later reworked into the finished film.

## External Links

* *Attack of the Killer Tomatoes* on IMDb

## References

1. ↑ "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: An Oral History of the 1978 Film"