Film

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

A 1978 creature-feature comedy that treats carnivorous tomatoes with absolute deadpan sincerity. It's deliberately silly—low-budget, cheesy special effects, absurdist humour—but never winks at the camera. Audiences split: some find it charmingly stupid, others just stupid. For fans of campy sci-fi and intentional trash cinema.

TMDb rating2.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you find deliberately cheesy spoofs of old monster movies funny, and enjoy a straight-faced cast playing silly premises with total commitment.

Skip it if you need the jokes to land on schedule, since the gags are hit-or-miss and the low budget shows in every frame.

What it asks of you: It runs under an hour and a half and asks you to meet its wobbly effects and broad mugging halfway, with little patience for slow build-up.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Little Shop of Horrors1986

A man-eating plant comedy that balances genuine musical charm, horror atmosphere, and deliberate camp. Same DNA as Killer Tomatoes but with better songs, production values, and a darker edge that deepens rather than distracts.

But The musical numbers slow the pacing considerably. If you want relentless silliness, the theatrical production values might feel overproduced.

Little Shop of Horrors poster

Eight Legged Freaks2002

Giant spiders terrorise a small town with the same deadpan earnestness Killer Tomatoes brought to produce. More competent filmmaking, better action, but the same commitment to treating a ridiculous premise as survivable reality.

But It's playing the premise completely straight, which some find boring. The creature design, though practical, is occasionally unconvincing in ways that break the immersion.

Eight Legged Freaks poster

Tremors1990

Underground worm creatures attack an isolated community. Shares that sweet spot between creature horror and comedy, with a script sharp enough that every joke lands, and genuine suspense underneath the fun.

But It's genuinely well-made, which might feel like a betrayal if you're hunting pure trash. Also surprisingly long at two hours.

Tremors poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Food of the Gods1976

Both treat mutation and disaster as problems ordinary people must survive. Same era, same willingness to make the ridiculous grotesque. Different emotional register entirely.

Creatures on a remote island grow enormous after eating a special grain. Bert I. Gordon directed this with the same creature-attack-on-humanity structure as Killer Tomatoes, but trades comedy for genuine sleaze and Body Horror. It's trashy but absolutely committed to discomfort.

But Sexualised violence. The film uses its female characters as victims more explicitly than Killer Tomatoes does. Slow build with long stretches of nothing before things escalate.

The Food of the Gods poster
More like this (7)

Arachnoquake2012

An earthquake releases venomous spiders in Louisiana bayou swamps. Embraces its Syfy origins with genuine affection for ridiculous premises, practical effects, and characters who treat the insanity as normal.

But The cinematography is muddy and flat. Many scenes feel like TV filler stretched to feature length. The script knows it's dumb but doesn't always make that funny.

Arachnoquake poster

Q1982

A giant Aztec god-creature nests atop the Chrysler Building and terrorises New York. More serious and atmospheric than Killer Tomatoes, but shares that B-movie commitment to treating monsters as actual urban problems.

But Tonal whiplash: it can't decide between creature horror and social commentary. Long stretches of mundane investigation. The creature only appears in brief, sometimes unconvincing shots.

Q poster

Stanley1972

A drifter uses rattlesnakes as weapons. Bizarre, genuinely transgressive, committed to its weird premise in ways that make Killer Tomatoes look conventional. Cult favourite with real intelligence underneath the exploitation.

But It's nasty in ways that go beyond comedic trashy. Actual snakes are used in kill shots. Pacing is intentionally obscure and slow.

Stanley poster

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?1964

Hypnotic carnival horror that moves through incomprehensible plot with such confidence and weirdness that you stop asking questions. Early proof that sincerity in the ridiculous creates accidental power.

But Barely coherent. The narrative logic is nonexistent. Colours are garish, sound design is chaotic, and the whole thing plays at glacial pace.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? poster

Planet of the Apes1968

Astronaut lands on a world ruled by intelligent apes. Genre film that treats its high-concept seriously enough that the absurdity becomes profound. The kind of thing Killer Tomatoes aspires to parody.

But It's sincere and philosophical, not comedic. If you want pure fun and camp, the social allegory will feel heavy-handed. Also nearly two hours.

Planet of the Apes poster

The Kentucky Fried Movie1977

Same comedic DNA, same refusal to apologise for being dumb on purpose. Killer Tomatoes is basically one long sketch stretched to feature length; Kentucky Fried Movie is the format that spawned it.

Sketch comedy that hits Killer Tomatoes' era and energy—absurdist, sloppy, committed to stupidity as an art form. Made the year before Killer Tomatoes by people (including Jim Abrahams) who would go on to refine this into Airplane! It's the rawer, messier version.

But Sketch format means no through-line. Hit-or-miss comedy; many sketches fall flat. Juvenile humour includes dated gender politics. The film is basically incoherent by design.

The Kentucky Fried Movie poster

House1977

Both films abandon conventional storytelling to commit fully to their central premise, trusting the audience to accept the world on its own terms. Same era, opposite emotional register.

A Japanese haunted house film that abandons plot logic in favour of pure visual surrealism. Like Killer Tomatoes, it refuses to explain itself—but instead of dumb-funny, it's hypnotic and genuinely unsettling. Proves that incoherence can be an artistic choice, not a limitation.

But Completely incomprehensible. No narrative structure, no dialogue that explains anything, minimal soundtrack. Requires a very specific tolerance for strangeness. Subtitles demand attention.

House poster

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Recommended by

Unnatural Selection, It Came from Hollywood, The Little Shop of Horrors, Return of the One-Armed Swordsman