Return of the Killer Tomatoes!

1988 "They were out for blood, and rotten to the core. Now they're back ..."
5.2| 1h38m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 22 April 1988 Released
Producted By: Four Square Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Crazy old Professor Gangreen has developed a way to make tomatoes look human for a second invasion.

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Director

John De Bello

Production Companies

Four Square Productions

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Return of the Killer Tomatoes! Audience Reviews

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
GazerRise Fantastic!
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
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.
atinder I found it's take a while for anything to really happen, I was not laughing at this movie as much as I though I would.This did have a bigger budget and the acting is better in this.The down side to this was there was no tomatoes,that actually killed people.Was that why the first was so much more fun? , I didn't mind the plot, tomatoes turning into people sounded OK.The other thing that really annoyed me was that, when the same person keeps falling down, it's funny the first few times it happens, But every times the person on screen, it just milked it dry.4 out of 10 for this movie, first was fun, this one I found some- what boring, as there was not much tomatoes action.
Michael_Elliott Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988) * 1/2 (out of 4) It's been years since The Great Tomato War and the government has put a ban on all tomatoes. This doesn't stop the crazy Professor Gangreen (John Astin) who is creating tomatoes that look, act and smell like humans. Pizza shop owners and best friends Chad (Anthony Starke) and Matt (George Clooney) end up with one of these creatures, the beautiful Tara (Karen M. Waldron), who seems like the perfect woman if it just wasn't for her DNA. With a fear about humans of another war, Tara tries to prove that it's not the tomatoes that are bad. Look, you're either going to get this series and enjoy it or not get it and wonder what on Earth people see in it. I'm in the group that really doesn't get the charm but I think I can understand why some might enjoy it. With that said, since I don't "get" it, obviously I had a pretty hard time working my way through the incredibly long 98-minute running time. Even as someone who likes bad movies, this thing here was just so long and boring to me that it was actually quite painful to sit through. The entire "joke" just seemed so forced to me that I really couldn't laugh and the jokes were just so stupid that they came to me as more annoying than anything else. Again, I realize that this silly charm is what fans enjoy but it just doesn't work for me. There are some good things about the film including the performances. I thought both Starke and Waldron made for a fun couple and of course it's always fun seeing these early roles of Clooney. Astin easily steals the film playing the nutty scientist. He's so over-the-top and goofy that you can't help but get your only laughs from him. I'll at least give the film credit for going all out in regards to its attempts at getting jokes. They just didn't work for me.
mad_howlie This is an excellent movie on so many levels. The 80s nostalgia was all over it, the hair and clothing styles, the music. George Clooney was in top form, his scenes were excellent, he had me laughing on the floor. Tara is the hottest tomato that I've ever seen. The Finletter/Kadafi/cowboys/ninjas/bikers fight was incredibly funny, and the product placement scenes blew the later used scenes in Wayne's World away-though they were funny too. If you wanna watch a fun movie, when your not in the mood to strain your brain on a complex plot line, feel like reliving some of those 80s trends, or you just feel like laughing your ass off, give Return of the Killer Tomatoes a try. Also except for a flashback scene, you don't have to listen to the song Puberty Love in this one!!!