''Killer Tomatoes Eat France!'' is a 1992 American film that was released as the fourth and most recent sequel to ''

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ''Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'' is a 1978 American parody film produced by J. Stephen Peace and John DeBello, and directed by John DeBello based upon an original idea by Costa Dillon. The screenplay was written by Dillon, Peace, and DeBello ...

''. Like its predecessor, ''

Killer Tomatoes Strike Back ''Killer Tomatoes Strike Back!'' is a 1991 American comedy film. It is the third in the ''Killer Tomatoes'' film series, following ''Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'' (1978) and '' Return of the Killer Tomatoes'' (1988), and followed by ''Killer To ...

'', it was a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

release. The film had been intended as the third in the series according to '' Return of the Killer Tomatoes'' but was replaced as the third film by ''Killer Tomatoes Strike Back''. It is the final film made by

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...

before their sale to

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

in 1997. Because the film was co-produced with the corporate successor

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, (1997 merger), this is the only New World film whose rights are solely owned by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

Dr. Mortimer Gangreen (

John Astin John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in ''The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising th ...

) escapes from prison and has set up a base at his assistant Igor's 'Really Big Castle' located outside

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and he is still bent on global domination. Using his Killer Tomatoes, Gangreen plans to stage a second French revolution according to an old prophecy written by

Nicodemus Nicodemus (; grc-gre, Νικόδημος, Nikódēmos) was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John: * He first visits Jesus one night to discuss Jesus' teachings (). * The second time Nicodem ...

, in which the king of

(

Louis XVII Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

) will return to claim the throne. The only image of

shows that he bears a close resemblance to Igor (

Steve Lundquist Stephen K. Lundquist (born February 20, 1961) is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and former world record-holder. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke ...

), and Gangreen plans to use this to his advantage to have Igor impersonate Louis XVII to claim the throne. The heroes of the film are a has-been TV actor named Michael (

Marc Price Marc Price is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Irwin "Skippy" Handelman on the television series ''Family Ties''. Life and career Price is the son of Borscht Belt comedian Al Bernie, and singer Joy Mann. In addition to pla ...

) and Marie, the French girl he meets and falls in love with (

Angela Visser Angela Visser (born 18 October 1966) is a Dutch actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1989. She was the first Dutch woman to win the title of the Miss Universe in 1989. Visser, who had previously worked as a model and bea ...

). As the Killer Tomatoes begin their attack on

and they have a giant, fire-breathing tomato that gobbles a tour guide and sliced right after surprisingly not showing the tour guide again. Hoping to reach the outskirts of

, the true King returns and faces a showdown with Igor as to who shall rightly become king. With the help of Michael and Marie, Louis triumphs, and Gangreen escapes in a tomato-shaped hot-air balloon, planning revenge and swearing to return in the next movie.

Cast

as Michael *

as Marie *

as Igor and Louis XVII (dual role) *

as Professor Mortimer Gangreen * Rick Rockwell as Ze Captain *Kevin West as the Concert Emcee *Eileen Bowman as the Tour Guide

Production

The film hams up French

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

s (including references to eating

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

s), however, it appears to condone the actions of French Monarchist groups like '' Nouvelle Action Royaliste''. Several people are shown attempting to prove themselves as the true Queen of France, and the female lead is heard saying: ''"The

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

was a big mistake."'' The characters of Zoltan, Kethuck and Viper are borrowed from '' Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series'' but are given completely different appearances. Zoltan was redesigned with an eyepatch and various stitching over his body, Ketchuck was refined as a

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

character and was no longer drooling and obese like his cartoon counterpart, and Viper was based on a similar character, Fang, another snake-based tomato.

Differences from previous ''Killer Tomatoes'' films

Several points in this movie were different from those made in the first three ''Killer Tomatoes'' films. Most notable is the fact that the tomatoes speak fluent English, whereas in all other movies it was proven they had their own language. Additionally, vegetables and fruits were shown to be

sentient Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '' sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it from the ability to ...

without Gangreen's help, whereas it was only via Gangreen's experiments that they were shown to become sentient.

References

External links

* * {{Killer Tomatoes 1992 films New World Pictures films 20th Century Fox films 1990s parody films Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 1992 direct-to-video films Films about food and drink Films set in castles Films set in France Films set in Paris 1992 comedy films Cultural depictions of Louis XVII Parodies of horror 1990s English-language films