Killer Tomatoes Eat France! (1992) User Reviews

Killer Tomatoes Eat France!: And so the quadrilogy comes to a close

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 30 September 2017]

John DeBello provides us one final Killer Tomato movie and honestly that's probably a good thing.

Professor Gangreen and his incompetent lacky Igor have one more shot at world domination, this time involving an ancient prophecy and the king of France.

Much like the 3rd film there are laughs to be had but most is purile filler and the charm of the first film is thoroughly gone.

John Astin is great once again but the novelty is beyond being worn thin and as much as I think the franchise accomplished something it's definitely best that this film be it's death rattle.

Essential viewing for fans of the series, but as a standalone film this has very little to offer.

The Good:

Brilliant opening credits jokes

The Bad:

Generally very stale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Singing tomatoes are still better than 90% of the UK top 40

Bra's make great parachutes for fluffy talking tomatoes....wait, what?

The french armies ammunition of choice are baguettes

The Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't 100% certain but he has a hunch

Funny in that Killer Tomato Sort of Way

[siamang7 · 5/10 · 25 October 2012]

To all of you whom are calling this a horrible movie, get a clue. It wasn't made to compete in the Oscar run. It is pure schlock and silly, corny fun. A good laugh and just funny in a ridiculous way. Take it for what it's worth and don't over think it. Lots of fun. This is such a great franchise. I have seen interviews with many of the regular cast members and they don't take it seriously at all. Just good clean fun and silliness. I guess it doesn't take much to turn me on but I find them hysterical. L A U G H!!! If you can't laugh at them you need to relax and not take it so seriously. I love the stereotypes and the allusions to other age old stories. It must have been a lot of fun to work on.

Sacre Bleu, this was fun!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 13 December 2009]

"Killer Tomatoes Eat France", which is the fourth and final installment in John DeBello's vegetable quadrilogy, is only my first acquaintance with the series. I love horror and I love comedy, but I'm usually very skeptical about a combination of both; especially when the storyline revolves on giant murderous tomatoes. But I watched this thing together with some friends and whilst heavily intoxicated and, you know, under these circumstances the silly premise isn't even half that bad. Typically, the French stereotypes and jokes are the funniest aspect in this film and actually often downright hilarious. The French are all peasants that live in really low-built houses and only consider fat women to be attractive. They read "Ze Times" and weave bread. The women are all called Marie and they're ready to have sex for free with every stranger that passes by. The story centers once more on the malignant Professor Mortimer Gangrene (John Astin having a blast again) and his killer tomatoes trying to take over the world. After he escaped from prison with the help of his loyal tomatoes, Gangrene entrenches himself in France in a really big castle (appropriately called Igor's really big castle) and kidnap a famous and furry tomato singer for one of his diabolical plans. It's entirely up to a random American tourist and a sexy French maid to save the world. There's also a sub plot stating that the war against the tomatoes will bring forward the new King of France, which makes this film actually a fairly witty parody on "The Man in the Iron Mask". According to most people who have seen the other three previous installments, unlike myself, this "fourth part in the trilogy" isn't as funny in comparison and the franchise is turning more and more children friendly. I can't really judge the other three films, but I did think this was reasonably funny and entertaining.

I'm ashamed to say I liked it

[horrorbargainbin · 14 November 2002]

The movie is more 80's than 90's. There are two un-P.C. moments that might fly today, but certainly would not have worked in the mid-90's at the height of political correctness. One is Japanese tourists with cameras (think "Gremlins 2") and the other is more mean when two "fruits" (literally watermelons wearing hats) are told to leave the vegetable cafe because it is not that kind of place. I only object to that scene because the movie is aimed at children who are easily influenced.

I suppose picking on the French is not P.C. either.

There is real stupid humor throughout the film, much of it involving the improper use of the French language, stupid accents, and the presence of berets and baguettes. Most of the jokes will make you say "Oh man, that's dumb..", but you will be smiling when you say it. Besides who does not want to see a heavy metal band of tomatoes play a rap/rock song? Fuzzy Tomatoe's stupidity and silly little voice will make you like him as well.

The tomatoes look pretty cool as they bounce and move their eyes and mouths. Not super-sophisticated puppets, but not shoddy either.

A fun movie. Pretty innocent. If you like innocent horror parody comedies see "Saturday the 14th" next.

Silly and not fun

[JoeB131 · 3/10 · 17 June 2009]

What made the original Killer Tomatoes fun was it was made by people with no budget who were just being wacky for a couple of days...

This was something with a budget, but it just wasn't as much fun. John Astin of Adams Family fame is actually making an effort here to be comedic, but he is supported by lame actors, cheap special effects and unfunny gags.

The plot. Dr. Gangrene (Astin) escapes from a French prison and decides he is going to put a pretender on the throne of France... The hero, his French girlfriend and the Gizmo-like "Fuzzy Tomato" decide they are going to stop him...

Forgettable Direct to Video nonsense...

It's finally over!

[ericstevenson · 2/10 · 23 September 2016]

I have now officially seen every single Killer Tomatoes movie and I couldn't be happier to finally be done with this series. I was dreading over the fact that I would have to watch one of these two days in a row. This has more fourth wall jokes than the third one, but at this point, it's obviously getting tired. By simply pointing out that you're in a bad movie over and over might have worked a few times. When you go up to the fourth, it just gets stupid and pointless. It's amazing how they actually have the same characters in a series. We get to see the tomatoes talk and we see a giant tomato.

Those are things that we were hoping for since the first movie. I can see why this was eventually made into a cartoon. The obnoxious thing is how it shows Professor Gangreen escaping at the very end. He says he'll be back, but thank God, this is the last one! This would work infinitely better as a sketch. In fact, these whole movies just seem like a bunch of sketches dragged out to feature length. We don't get that many French stereotype jokes, but the ones we do have are really dumb. I guess sequels to comedies are generally bad. I'm more or less depressed by how all of these keep getting dumber. Thank you for ending them! *

Lame

[onenightofsin2004 · 1/10 · 4 November 2007]

There was nothing of value in the original movie, this one was even lamer. The fact that I even found it to rent was absolutely amazing. Anyone connected to this film has to be high on something! So what was the story line? What was with the girl? Was the viewer supposed to get the story line in the first four minutes of the film. Sadly, I tried several times to watch this. I even borrowed a kid from someone to get some feedback. Kid said it was stupid, and he was four years old. I find that possibly some credit could go to the filming director, as possibly some of the shots made the movie more than a B film. That might be pushing it. I did love the theme song. Good thing it was only a dollar, it was worth it. I suppose you might enjoy the film if you were high as the cast and crew would have to be. Is pot legal in France?

Similar to Its Immediate Predecessor and Equally Dull

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 8 July 2022]

This film begins in France with a so-called "foreign exchange prisoner" by the name of "Professor Mortimer Gangreen" (Bill Astin) being taken from his cell to meet with "Le Warden" (Bill LaFleur). However, once the guards take him to the warden's office, they are shocked to hear him order his immediate release. It's then that they realize that a killer tomato has disguised himself as the warden and that this meeting was only a pretext to allow Professor Gangreen's escape in a hot-air balloon. The scene then shifts to the French countryside with a young American man by the name of "Michael" (Marc Price) wandering along a rural back road on his quest to see Europe. Hearing a noise above him, he looks up only to be knocked unconscious by a bag of sand from a hot air balloon containing three killer tomatoes, a man named "Igor" (Steven Lundquist) and none other than the notorious Professor Gangreen. Not long afterward, he is awoken by a beautiful French maiden named "Marie" (Angela Visser) and is immediately attracted to her. To his delight, she is equally attracted to him. What neither of them realize, however, is that both of them are soon to play a pivotal role combatting a rebellion which could have disastrous consequences for--not just France--but the entire world! Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film turned out to be much like its immediate predecessor in that, for a comedy, it really wasn't that funny. At least, not to me. To be sure, some of the one-liners and cultural stereotypes may have merited a chuckle or two, but that was about it. Likewise, have a gorgeous actress like Angela Visser) certainly didn't hurt either. But it simply wasn't enough for me to rate this rather dull film any higher than I have. Below average.

Part 4 of the Tomato Trilogy, fantastic.

[KDROBERTS3 · 6/10 · 12 January 2005]

The Killer Tomato movies are all great, but this one was the best. The Tomato puppets were fantastic, especially Fangmato. John Astin was once again great as Dr. Gangreen. I hope they make a 5th movie soon, I cant wait to see the Killer Tomatoes again. Also they really should release this movie on DVD along with the cartoon series from the early 90's. I think that too many people look down on these movies without even giving them a chance, or they watch them with the mindset of not liking them to begin with. If you like the first one, the second one, or the third one, then you will like this one. The one thing I think they should have done with this film is make a theme song for it, instead there is just an instrumental. The theme song is hilarious in the first movie, and then even better in Return of the Killer Tomatoes, so why stop making new songs!! Anyway, bottom line, if you are a fan of the other films, or a fan of comedies in general, you should watch this movie.

Okay No!

[thisisanunoriginalemaila · 10/10 · 5 June 2008]

This is not "so bad that it is good," it is purely good! For those who don't understand why, you have the intellect of a four year old (in response to a certain comment...) Anyways, Killer Tomatoes Eat France is a parody of itself, a parody of you, and a parody of me. It is the single most genius text in cinematic history. I have it and the three prequels sitting on my DVD rack next to Herzog and Kurosawa. It embodies the recognition of absurdity and undermines all that you or me call standard. I write scripts and this movie single-handedly opened up a genre of comedy for me, the likes of which we have never seen. It can only be taken in portions... its sort of exploitive... by now I'm just trying to take up the ten line minimum. My comment ended a while ago. Hopefully it works when I submit it now.

Bizarre, silly, illogical yet nice and playful movie

[the_wolf_imdb · 7/10 · 9 November 2011]

I have expected a lot worse because of very low ranking on IMDb. Yes, this movie is definitely not a gem, but it is funny in a playful way. The jokes are mostly mild, I was not laughing aloud but I have definitely smiled for the most of the movie. At least this comedy is not filled with obscene jokes, farting and vomiting as is typical for low ranking comedies these days. So you can watch this movie with your kids as well.

The best part is probably "the war with the tomatoes" sequence. But other scenes are actually very good as well (the stories of the tourists suffering the endless tour in the castle). There is a ton of different books and movies being parodied in the movie, yet it is surprisingly not offensive towards the French too much. There is some baguette-waving and such jokes but fun is made at the expense of American school system as well. The "US school map" of Europe is really hilarious, I would like to buy one!

Not really great but definitely not waste of time either. Just a bit of moderate silly fun.

A fun brain dead romp

[davidemartin · 8/10 · 3 November 2001]

This is a great example of a good, dumb movie. No, it is not high art by any means. Nor is the script anywhere close to a Woody Allen or Mel Brooks. BUT SO WHAT! The Killer Tomatoes series (four movies and a cartoon series) are basically good-natured romps gleefully trampling on the kind of territory the Zuckers ruled before they switched to making serious flicks.

As the title suggests, this fourth installment of the Killer Tomatoes trilogy deals with the Killer Tomatoes plot against France. In this case, Professor Gangrene (John Astin's 3rd time in the role) has a plan to rule France through an ancient prophecy about the return of the rightful King of France. Steve Lundquist returns as Igor, a humanoid tomato who wants to be a sportscaster and who just happens to be a dead ringer for the long-lost true King of France. Obviously he also plays the aforementioned l-l t K of F, happily skewering the French language.

Opposing them is the fearless Fuzzy Tomato (like the others, FT was introduced in the second film and would be a main character in the cartoon) and his human allies. Mark Price, recently unemployed as a result of the conclusion of the FAMILY TIES series, plays a thinly disguised version of himself, passing himself as "Michael J Fox" as a way to win the girl of his dreams. And Angela Visser is a dream as Marie, gleefully bouncing between unabashed virginal sexuality and borderline psychosis. Oh that the former Miss Netherlands had had more of a film career! Another returning member of the Killer Tomatoes stock company is Rick Rockwell (now best known as the hapless title subject of "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?"). Like co-creator John De Bello, Rockwell works both in front of and behind the camera in this series.

What can you say about Jon De Bello? Not much, really, except that he had a singular vision and managed to pull it off and, having done that, has apparently dropped into obscurity. John, if you ever see this, thanks for giving us the Killer Tomatoes.

The script is heavily but not obnoxiously aware that this is just a movie. Like RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, the action occasionally veers off the set and into the middle of the film crew. And Mark Price has a funny forum to complain about his own lack of success compared to his former costar Michael J Fox. This is the biggest budgeted of all the Killer Tomatoes flicks and is a nice send-off to the series. Okay, the show then moved to Fox Kids as a cartoon series (which was also quite clever), but cartoons just aren't the same.

i loved it

[billsmetal · 9/10 · 30 January 2006]

I think you would have to be from the USA to get a lot of the jokes. But if you liked Princess Bride and Forest Gump, You would like this movie. You can't compare the quality of the filming to those of course, but having the cameraman trip was obviously done on purpose. Killer Tomatoes is a hundred times better than Nepolean Dynamite. Just my opinion. I'm sure that people from France would not appreciate the caricatures of the French. So this film isn't for a world audience. And while I am not a trained film critic, I know what I like. I couldn't stop laughing through the whole movie. My sides and my jaws were hurting at the end of the movie.

Skippy Vs. The Tomatoes Of Certain Death...

[azathothpwiggins · 10 March 2022]

Professor Gangreen (the immortal John Astin) has escaped from prison after stealing a prophetic book from the prison library. Now, with the help of his henchman Igor (Steve Lundquist), Gangreen seeks to use the prophesies to fulfill his nefarious dream of world conquest.

This time, Gangreen develops some even stranger tomato mutants, including a two-ton whopper with a mouth big enough to swallow a Volkswagen!

Enter Michael J. Fox (Marc "Skippy" Price), a hapless tourist thrust into the middle of this scenario of ultimate doom.

Assisted by the lovely Marie (Angela Visser), Michael must ascend the dreaded "Tower of 900 Steps" to face off against the putrid professor in his castle lair. That is, if the daily castle tour groups don't get in the way!

KILLER TOMATOES EAT FRANCE! Is every bit as fun as the rest of the films in this silly series. Yes, FT (Fuzzy Tomato) does indeed return...

Very funny

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 9/10 · 18 May 2016]

This is the forth killer tomatoes movie. It is best one. It is very funny. Very very stupid. And very funny. This movie has a very good story line. See this movie. See all killer tomatoes movies. They are all very funny. This is not a 3.4. That is just underrating it. This is a great movie. It is very Marc Price is a great actor. This is one of the best comedy movie of all time. John Astin is a very funny. See this movie. John Astin sprays Paris with ketchup. He sprays it all over the eyeful tower. Great movie great movie great movie. Very funny very very funny. The first three movies were funny but this one was funnier. This movie. It is a must see.

We're really scraping the bottom here...

[Lady-of-Rohan · 27 August 2004]

I'm one of those people who enjoy bad movies. I rent them on a weekend and give in to the insanity of terrible cinema. At this point, I have respect for every single bad movie I have seen in the past because I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! EVERY MOVIE I SEE KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE! I've have done reviews of films like A Crack in the Floor and Campfire Stories but I am 100% confident that they will seem like Tolstoy compared to this.

The plot is jaw dropping. A young man and his girlfriend try to unravel a mystery and a daring rescue of TJ, (or something like that, who cares) a rock star tomato who is kidnapped by an evil professor and his vegetable minions who desire the rise of the new king of France and complete world domination. The plot is clearly crafted by Shakespeare himself!

While some might argue that this film is trying to be intensionally funny, the film makers obviously diddn't care if the film was of any kind of real quality. And by extension, neither was the director when the camera man CLEARLY TRIPS OVER THE STAIRS WHILE FILMING. The plot is clearly a kind of parody from the previous tomato films but the level of absurdity still forced me to take 5 minute breaks every 15 minutes.

I've sacrificed 2 hours of my life that I will never ever get back. I have never seen tomatoes this ugly, a plot this terrible, or jokes this awful. God speed.

Grade: 1/10

One of that movies that are so bad, they're funny

[Akasazh · 8/10 · 1 September 1999]

Killer Tomatoes eat france is so terrible bad... you would die if you even took this movie seriously. It's about a bunch of mutated tomatoes who try to conquor France. If you like movies that try to be funny, completely fail in doing so, and thus becoming laughable, you'll like it

I was unsure of my feelings.

[fortey · 19 June 2004]

I felt this movie, though strongly supported by the uber talented Skippy, who, contrary to the credits, has no real name, he's only Skippy, was just poorly thought out. For instance, how would a tomato put on an eye patch? It's oversights like that that make this movie suffer.

On the other hand, we have John Astin, father of Sean Astin, star of Rudy. Just the name makes me laugh. Rudy. It's about a 20 lb boy who wants to play lacrosse for a community college. Or something very close to that but equally unimportant. However, if memory serves, no tomatoes present themselves, so I couldn't care less.

Back to Skippy. Since I only watched about 10 minutes of this movie and then got distracted by a shiny object on the opposite of the room, there's obviously much that I can say. The plot revolves around a young Skippy who is employed in a desert town as a slave, when Liam Neeson comes to rescue him from Chinese aliens and androids. Oh, it's good times.

In closing, I give Rudy a 5 out of 7 for heart, moxy and stick-to-itivness.

Le Tomats Francais Munch Munch!

[bbshockwave · 8/10 · 17 April 2022]

Well, any movie that starts off by saying it was inspired by the synopsis on the back cover of the Man in the Iron Mask has my undivided attention. :D If Killer Tomatoes Strike Back was more like the animated series, well this movie can almost be called a live action episode of that show. Gangreen escapes from prison with the help of Igor as well as the named tomatoes from the cartoon - Zoltan, Ketchuck and Viper - and puts his latest plan into action, enacting an obscure prophecy of Nostradamus that would make Igor into the king of France! ... Because apparently the french now think the revolution was a bad idea. :D The movie is unabashedly silly and embraces it from the first moment. Our main character is an american tourist whose real name we never learn, as he pretends to be Michael J. Fox so he can pick up chicks. And he does so, as the air-headed french peasant Marie (apparently, ALL french womentare called Marie), a girl who has a terrible self-image, attaches herself to him. The unlikely team has to stop Gangreen from taking over France, joined by FT (Fuzzy Tomato), now an international superstar campaigning for vegetable-human relations, and Loius the XVIIth, the actual true king of France (Steven Lundquist in a dual role).

The movie does not just embrace silly french stereotypes, it revels in them, and likewise makes fun of american cliches (like their terrible geographical knowledge). Loved how the end of the movie disclaimer tells us that no, Guatemala and Hong Kong are not in Europe like that map shows. :D There are also a lot of fourth wall breakings, like when the main character finds out he is about to be killed off, so he simply burns that page of the script.

And luckily, the original intro song returns too!

This is a super fun movie, it is bad, but on purpose and unlike Sharknado, it has enough tongue in cheek comedy to make it work. And Angela Visser is a pretty sight to watch (she was Miss Holland and Miss Universe, after all). John Astin steals the movie though, he knows the role he plays and he hams it up to 200%!

"You're going to like this movie as I have a hunch" Quasimodo

[Bernie4444 · 10/10 · 16 December 2023]

This film is the fourth in the Tomato tetralogy. The original title is "Les Tomats Français Munch Munch", with La musique mucho dinero.

Yep, all our favorite bad guys are back as Professor Gangreen finds a prophecy that will help him rule the world. All he has to do is make Igor (Steve Lundquist) into Louis The XXVII, the king of France.

Of course, standing in his way, is our lovable FT (Fuzzy Tomato who is famous by now), Michael J. Fox ... oops Marc Price our unlikely hero, and to new tomato on the block, Marie "the French girl" (Angela Visser). Marie reminds us that this film is rated PG.

While we are waiting for the tug of war, of power, and the war from Guatemala over the French McEnroe Line, one has to wonder if the Professor's diabolical scheme will bear fruit, especially tomatoes.

Be prepared for every French cliché. And just who is the man in the mask?

Just when you think it is over be sure to read the credits closely.