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Proving that so-bad-it's-good stature isn't necessarily something to strive for when making a movie, filmmaker John DeBello and his team of twisted minds venture into uncharted bad-movie territory with "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." This most silly premise rests on the notion that tomatoes have become sick and tired of being turned into the world's favorite condiment, and are now revolting against the human race in a series of off-screen murders and after-the-fact discoveries where the victims can be found covered in either ketchup or tomato juice. In response to this attack, the United States government puts together a task force that includes a scuba diver, a master of disguise (dressed as a black Hitler, no doubt), and an Olympic gold medalist who eats Steroids cereal for breakfast. ***

What else can I say about the film's plot? Can it even be referred to as such? It's clear from the very start that DeBello cares nothing for filmmaking in general; he has set out to make crap, and crap he did make. Only this happens to be much worse than any human or animal excretion; in fact, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" is so bad that it slips right past camp and cult into just plain awful. The self-aware nature of the jokes and gags are apparent in almost every scene, making for a feeling of complete lack of inspiration or ingenuity; it's almost as if De Bello's tongue went clean through his cheek and hit the floor. The budget is extremely low, with tomato effects ranging from giant inflated tomatoes to several real veggies being rolled into view, all with grunting, gurgling sound effects. But then again, how much can you expect from a movie with a line like "Hey, can somebody please pass the ketchup?"

Presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" hasn't aged all that well. For one thing, the source print is a mess in many places, with film grain overload and a good deal of speckle and scratches throughout the transfer. Clarity is generally decent, with sharp edges that suffer from minimal halos, while contrast and shadow detail come through less well, giving way to a pixelized look in wall textures. Color saturation is mildly pleasing, although fleshtones are either too saturated or not enough, and there is some signs of smearing. Not that I expected this to be a reference-quality transfer; in fact, given the age and relative obscurity of the movie, this is probably as good a transfer as one could expect. ***

The Dolby 2.0 Surround audio track, however, is a rather poor rendering of the movie's soundtrack, which features everything from dopey musical numbers to cheesy 70's scoring and lots of ridiculous sound effects. Everything sounds very confined here, with much emphasis on the center channel and the scraps left to the front speakers; surround channels are barely even present at all. Dialogue is unnatural and thin, and you can forget about any .1 LFE enhancement.

In addition to watching the movie with the commentary, there is the "Tomato Mode" option, in which an icon will pop up on the screen every now and then that takes us to things like a corresponding scene in the Super-8 short film (also included here), and a needless interview with actor John Astin, who tells us he was in the sequels. Blah, blah, blah; where are the tomatoes when you need them? ***

From here we move on to a large number of featurettes, all of which are in the same vein as the movie itself. "Legacy of a Legend" is pretty much about the movie's cult status, and how it has become viewed over the years since its initial release; in "Crash and Burn," we learn that the helicoptor crash seen early in the movie wasn't staged, but actually happened. "Famous Foul" features an idiot dressed in a chicken suit rejoicing about his role as an extra in the final tomato-stomping scene, while "Killer Tomatomania" tries to make the movie look like some popular, huge success. "Where Are They Now" is meant to parody where the various actors ended up after the movie's "success", and the remaining two featurettes... oh, why go on? ***

The rest of the material is hardly worth the sarcasm it would take to describe it: two Super-8 short movies that provided this inspiration for this rotten bottle of ketchup; some trivia about the movie; photo galleries devoted to props and the production design (you've got to be kidding me!); a theatrical trailer and radio spots, and some deleted scenes! And let's not forget the sing-along feature, which is the cheese atop the ham here. Lovers of lowest-common-denominator cinema will find this indispensible; all others, stay away.