Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (Relaunch)

[Just Jeans]

I... wouldn't call it a "menace"... :o

Killer Tomatoes gets relaunched. (http://fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6169)

Fango caught up with Douglas Sarine and Kent Nichols (pictured), the masterminds behind the on-line series ASK A NINJA, who will script the “relaunching” of ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES and whatever sequels may follow. According to Sarine (who will make his directorial debut on the new film) and Nichols, fans should expect a hysterical thriller that will remain loyal to the original’s premise, but will not be a shot-for-shot remake.

As we last reported here (http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6114), Sarine and Nichols hooked up with Emmett/Furla films to bring the project to the big screen, and the former feels that people need to be reminded of 1978 cult favorite’s impact. “When you mention [ATTACK] now, everyone’s like ‘Oh, what was that? Oh yeah…’ ” he tells Fango. “They remember the name but they don’t remember anything about the movie, and that is a crime. So [we thought], ‘Let’s relaunch it and just have as much fun as possible with it.’ Just the name gets people enjoying themselves right away. It is, pun intended, ripe to be remade.”

Though elements from the sequels may or may not turn up in the redux, the duo do mention the idea of contacting George Clooney, who appeared in 1988’s RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES. It’s hard to tell if he’s joking, but one can hope that they’ll at least try. “We’re definitely going to see if Clooney will make an appearance,” says Sarine, and Nichols adds, “Yeah, that’s our wet dream, I would say.” Even though the follow-up films introduced wild ideas such as tomatoes becoming humans, etc., fans of the original faceless produce stalking the streets will be happy to know that the villains are still just tomatoes—no talking, no facial expressions, no morphing. “It’s more funny to have these giant faceless red orbs,” Nichols says. “And horrific,” Sarine chimes in. “It’s what made THE FOG so horrifying. It’s like, you can’t escape the fog, it’s everywhere, but how do you fight it? You can’t stab fog.”

As the remake’s tomatoes attack, modern government incompetence and frenzied media mobs will get jabs throughout the flick, which the pair assures will be “within the PG-13-to-R-rating spectrum.” Speaking of R ratings, when Fango inquires whether the duo would be interested in attempting serious horror sometime, the answers are surprising. Of course, a joke has to be made first by Sarine: “We wanna make meta-horror movies in which we kill off horror-movie directors who have sold out to Hollywood. We’ll do, like, THE DEATH OF PETER JACKSON…” The two admit to not enjoying the recent torture showcases, but do have a fondness for Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD flicks and similar cinematic outrages. Sarine brings up Dario Argento as an example of the kind of filmmaker he would strive to be, should the right project come along. “If I could make someone feel as creeped out as I felt watching SUSPIRIA, I would seize that opportunity. That was one of the creepiest feelings I’ve ever had in my body.”

A theatrical remake of Killer Tomatoes? Fuck, why not. The last two DTV films were rot awful, and I'd like the chance to see one of these films in the theater.

[El Rooto]

I approve. Bring those tomatoes back to the big screen.

Now that damn song is stuck in my head, though.

[WesReviews]

Yeah. I think this is a remake I can get behind.

[101ant101]

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes REMAKE. awsome. anyone know the rating PG-13? R?

[French Friday]

I never saw these movies, never had this chance, but I always was in love with the title and concept so I'm all for that relaunch, especially with our modern SFX which should be able to create great tomatoes action (I don't know how was the tomatoes action in the original movies, but I'm unsure of the results without CGI, I mean, we're talking about red balls, not Critters or Gremlins where animatronics is the only way to do them right)

Nice to hear they won't be talking. A silent tomato is scarier than a talking one (what a silly sentence I just wrote... :p )

[Just Jeans]

The tomatoes in the original film rolled around menacingly. That's it. Part of the charm was how alarmingly naff it was. :D

ojNoN83CpPQ

Listening to these guys discuss the relaunch, I've got the feeling it'll be just as purposefully naff this time around. Which is a good thing.

Does anyone else remember the story about how the helicopter crash that's in the original film wasn't meant to happen? They were filming and the damn thing actually crashed. :eek: The pilot was okay, and they captured the whole thing on film, so decided to use it in the film. They went and wrote a bit of dialog about a tomato launching itself at the helicopter, which is something you never see on screen.

Nice to hear they won't be talking. A silent tomato is scarier than a talking one...

Oh, they weren't silent by any means. They just didn't talk. The noises they make (especially the small ones) is one of my favorite things in the film.

[Jason's Storm]

Anyone else remember the cartoon of it. It had a pretty good jingle to it.

~JS

[Just Jeans]

I never watched the cartoon, but I know about it. It was based on the second film, but with the characters massively rejigged. The second film was pretty good, too.

[El Rooto]

Oh, they weren't silent by any means. They just didn't talk. The noises they make (especially the small ones) is one of my favorite things in the film.

I love that too.

Remember, when you see something that looks like blood, taste it. It could be tomato juice.

[French Friday]

The tomatoes in the original film rolled around menacingly. That's it. Part of the charm was how alarmingly naff it was. :D

I can imagine that.

What were the SFX ? Real tomatoes launched from offscreen and rolling thanks to speed and gravity ? Stop-Motion animation ?

I think about the great help of modern CGI for the wide shots where thousands of tomatoes would attack at the same time. Ala Jurassic Park. Wide shots = CGI. Close shots = animatronics.

I also was always disappointed by the lack of wide shots in the final attacks of the flying piranhas in Piranhas 2 and just think that CGI exists in movies for that kind of shots.


Oh, they weren't silent by any means. They just didn't talk. The noises they make (especially the small ones) is one of my favorite things in the film.

That's what I was saying. Noises are like breathing and that's great. Myers, Jason, were silent killers too, but they were making noises as well.

I hope that remake will help a release of the original movies on DVD.

[El Rooto]

It was really uber-cheap. Tomatoes were thrown from off-screen.

[Just Jeans]

What were the SFX ? Real tomatoes launched from offscreen and rolling thanks to speed and gravity ? Stop-Motion animation ?

The small tomatoes were rarely ever seen moving, with the exception of floating around in the water. From time to time, film played in reverse was used to make them move. Most of the attacks happened off-screen (like the attack on the helicopter, which as I mentioned above was only added into the film because the helicopter actually crashed). There was also one or two stop motion scenes.

When the tomatoes started getting huge, someone off camera would just push them down hill and let them roll uncontrolled, or they'd put them on trolleys and drag them (with the trolley obscured by something). In one scene, a guy is choked to death by the tomato juice he drinks.

Generally speaking, the tomatoes were just big rubber balls shaped like tomatoes, some being as big as a human being. The film probably had less of a budget than the first Evil Dead.


That's what I was saying. Noises are like breathing and that's great. Myers, Jason, were silent killers too, but they were making noises as well.

I should point out that the gibberish coming from the tomatoes is actually speaking -- the tomatoes talk to each other in that gibberish sound, and there's subtitles for those of us who don't speak tomato.

I hope that remake will help a release of the original movies on DVD.

They're all out on DVD in region 1. I own the original DVD of the first, my best friend owns all of them. Here are some screen shots to give you some idea what it was like:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x124/f13thtribute/KILLER_TOMATO-12.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x124/f13thtribute/KILLER_TOMATO-13.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x124/f13thtribute/KILLER_TOMATO-16.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x124/f13thtribute/KILLER_TOMATO-18.jpg

This movie is basically an early version of Airplane!.

[Cody]

I love the Tomatoes movies, I'm totally up for a new one.

I do hope they involve John De Bello (writer/director of the quadrilogy) in some capacity, and make room for cameos by Steve "Rock" Peace and John Astin. George Clooney is the big dream cameo, but Peace and Astin were both in all but one of the previous movies (Peace missed France, Astin missed the original), so I'd like to see them show up.

[Just Jeans]

I thought Astin passed away last year. :shifty: I'm not sure how I came to think that, but I'm glad I was wrong.

I'd definitely like to see Peace and Astin involved somehow. Finletter for the win!

[Cody]

The Return of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/11706)

... But really WHY remake THAT movie? Really…why? ”Just the name “Killer Tomatoes” puts a smile on peoples faces,” Sarine tells Bloody-Disgusting. “I love the late ‘70s and early ‘80s horror films where they started to add a lot more comedy to the genre. The idea was RIPE for a remake and if you watch the original you kind of see that they were going for, this certain charm of a bad “B” movie. We want to recapture that charm and the fact that these tomatoes are killing people for some unknown reason. The original is kind of like a broken down rusted out Cadillac, you know that underneath it is this beautiful classic!”

The two men who created a comedy show online may seem to some like a perfect match for this film, and when we spoke about horror, they revealed that they are also deeply rooted to the genre putting them in prime position for AOTK. ”I love action and horror… if I had to site some favorites I would say that I was most heavily affected by the early works of Dario Argento,” Sarine explains. “I don’t think I have ever been as creeped out as when I first watched SUSPIRIA, especially the last 15 minutes! In humor, I personally I am more in line with Sam Raimi or John Carpenter.”

On casting AOTKT, Sarine adds that “It’s a bit early to talk casting, but we REALLY want George Clooney to be in it and we have a role in mind for Bruce Campbell as well!”

... “We have already written some of the big sequences, where it is essentially a massive massacre,” Nichols continues, “[There will be] waves of blood and smashed tomatoes, but in the context you don’t know which is which, and we plan on pushing the envelope to do this. But we're not going to hack off a guys limbs, but hey… you never know?” Sarine added, “I love the idea of the crime scene and the detective tasting the red goo to decipher if its tomato of blood, just to get to the point where you cant tell the difference between the two.”

With the huge success of the Aksaninja series, I had to know, are they funding AOTKT with the earnings from that? Sarine explains, “Actually no, this is our first attempt in Hollywood to do something that isn’t just the two of us in an apartment. We will continue to film the ninja stuff on a weekly basis (even through filming) as we have been doing for the last two years. It’s a really fun time for us right now. We are still just a two people and to see this grow and watch it compete with major media situations is amazing and funny. Our audience is largely between 13 and 30 years old, and I doubt many have seen the original.”

Sarine concludes by talking about the power of the internet, “We love that we have somehow become a catalyst for people to make their marks in Hollywood. I firmly believe that people can prove themselves using online video, it’s the way to get some notice and ideally make some money as well. Right now the web video world is a wide-open place where there are no rules, like back in the ‘80s with home video. So the entrepreneurs can really make their mark, without anyone between you and the viewer... no studios, no marketing teams!”

[French Friday]

The small tomatoes were rarely ever seen moving, with the exception of floating around in the water. From time to time, film played in reverse was used to make them move. Most of the attacks happened off-screen (like the attack on the helicopter, which as I mentioned above was only added into the film because the helicopter actually crashed). There was also one or two stop motion scenes.

When the tomatoes started getting huge, someone off camera would just push them down hill and let them roll uncontrolled, or they'd put them on trolleys and drag them (with the trolley obscured by something). In one scene, a guy is choked to death by the tomato juice he drinks.

Generally speaking, the tomatoes were just big rubber balls shaped like tomatoes, some being as big as a human being. The film probably had less of a budget than the first Evil Dead.

Thanks ! With that and the pictures, I can see many rooms for improvement with modern SFX, CGI or not. Off screen attacks are really a bad idea for movies like that. Too much disappointing.

That remake is needful. (as much as the one I want for "Piranhas 2 : The Spawning")



I should point out that the gibberish coming from the tomatoes is actually speaking -- the tomatoes talk to each other in that gibberish sound, and there's subtitles for those of us who don't speak tomato.

Great ! I just don't want to hear a tomato talking like a human being. It's like Critters or Gremlins in fact (well, the smart Gremlins in 2 was great, but that was only one talker, not everyone). And it's exactly the idea I had for the first version of a short movie I wrote 5 years ago, which was called...

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOILET PAPER FROM OUTER SPACE !!!

I've chosen toilet paper because of its shape : like tomatoes, it can roll ! And rolling helps the monster to move ! And I wanted to use gravity and reverse shots to make them move, climb stairs and jump to their victims. In the first version, they were a commando with a mission, so they were talking to each other and I planned weird noises and subtitles too. I also used the paper itself like tentacles for the attacks.

The new version from last year is shorter, only one person attacked, because I want to test the idea before going further and wider. I always want to shoot it.


They're all out on DVD in region 1. I own the original DVD of the first, my best friend owns all of them.

They're not in Region 2. So I cross fingers.

[Just Jeans]

Carrey and Campbell in Killer Tomatoes? (http://www.jimcarreyonline.com/recent/news.php?id=1179)

Hollywood actor Jim Carrey may be seen in a remake of "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes".

Early reports are coming in, that the producer of the film Doug Sarine wants Jim for the lead role in the 2009 remake of the cult movie.

"It's a bit early to talk casting, but we really want Jim Carrey to be in it and we have a role in mind for Bruce Campbell as well."

Jim Carrey and Bruce Campbell in AOTKT? I'm there.

[Jack Bauer]

Holy shit, that might be one of the greatest films ever!

JK, but it will rock if those two were sharing a scene.

[Scarecrow]

This just got interesting!


- Scarecrow

[God of Thunder]

You gotta be shitting me.

[Scarecrow]

Just found out there were FOUR of these bloody films. No way. "Killer Tomatoes Eat France" has to be one of the best movie titles ever!


- Scarecrow

[Kat]

I am so fucking there :D