killer tomatoes | Screaming Soup!

SCREAMING AT PLANS FOR 2023!

30 Mar 2023 2 Comments

by screamingsoup in Uncategorized Tags: animated, cartoon, coloring book, cowboy, Deadwest, facebook, horror, host, killer tomatoes, monster, movie, movie dumpster, review, screaming, Screaming Soup!, skeleton, soup, twitter, youtube

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! It’s been a month since we premiered our long awaited passion project on everything Killer Tomatoes, and we’ve gotten one helluva response! Yes siree, buzz ’bout our Killer Tomatoes Retrospective has been makin’ its way down the horror fan pipeline with its debut on YouTube, Betamax TV, OSI74, and The Vortexx, and folks are ecstatic someone like us finally got the inside scoop behind the makin’ of this outrageous franchise with three hours worth of interviews featurin’ nearly every cast and crew member from the movies to the cartoon series.

The biggest praise we could hope fer, however, happily came from the comic masterminds behind the whole series, Four Square Productions. To quote, writer/Killer Tomatoes creator Costa Dillon, “No one does horror hosting better than Screaming Soup! They created the Citizen Kane of Killer Tomato retrospectives.” Director John DeBello called us the “consummate consommé of horror hosting,” and Steve Peace was so impressed with the retrospective, he says he’s gonna make this required viewin’ fer his grand young’ns. When documentin’ such a huge part of these fellas’ lives, we can’t ask fer better than that!

So, what’s next fer Screaming Soup! ya ask?

Well, fer now, we’re gettin’ back to production on our regular season and pickin’ up where we left off with us helpin’ Count Ted transition from hapless video store clerk to Dracula’s replacement as king of the vampires. Just like we brought Frankenstein in to mentor the befuddled bloodsucker, our next wild weird west adventure will have us huntin’ the Wolfman fer pointers in the Massacre Mountains where some previous nasties of nature we’ve encountered are still roamin’ ’round. Even better, we have a cameo planned with our amigos Joe and Sean from Movie Dumpster, a show where they talk ’bout our favorite kinda flicks while creatin’ their own little fantasy web world of co-existin’ movie properties called the MDU (Movie Dumpster Universe). Y’all should really check ’em out if ya haven’t yet, and get a taste of what yer in fer come time fer episode #53 to drop.

In other news, we’ve been itchin’ to do some quick and dirty art as of late and have been whippin’ up some fun colorin’ book drawin’s of us on adventures with different cohorts in the horror hosting community. Don’t know how long we’ll keep this up, but the response has been great, and we’re regularly addin’ more to our gallery page, so keep an eye out for these as they arrive, and let us see yer colored masterpieces!

Lastly, we’re givin’ a special shoutout to our longtime fan Brandon who’s a longtime supporter of our show. Brandon likes to bring some of horror’s more obscure titles to our attention and even goes so far as providin’ us with YouTube links to watch ’em all! In honor of a Super Scream Freak sharin’ this nostalgic entertainment with us, we wanna share it with y’all as well. Just check out the links below, and enjoy ’em ‘fore some higher power takes ’em down.

Other than that, please show your support for our show with donations through Patreon, Buy Me A Coffee, and Ko-fi, catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films and comics we’re checkin’ out in our blogs, R-Rated Reviews and Sequential Slime, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our video channels, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail comin’. You can also warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV, Sluggo’s The Vortexx, and Mr. Lobo‘s OSI 74 .

SCREAMING AT CHRISTMAS 2022!

24 Dec 2022 Leave a comment

by screamingsoup in Uncategorized Tags: animated, attack, Billy, cartoon, comic, costa, cowboy, Deadwest, debello, documentary, eat france, facebook, four square, horror, host, killer tomatoes, monster, movie, peace, retrospective, return, review, screaming, Screaming Soup!, skeleton, soup, strike back, twitter, youtube

Ho-Ho-Howdy there, Scream Freaks! The season of slasher Santas, rabid reindeer, and yuletide yetis is upon us ‘gain. Yup, it’s Christmas time! Brick up that fireplace, protect yer chestnuts, and don’t shake yer gifts under the tree too hard — they might just bite! This Christmas is sure to be the most frightenin’ one yet, and we owe a lot of that to a particular streamin’ service.

December kicked off beautifully with the theatrical release of Violent Night starrin’ Stranger Things‘ David Harbour as a kick-ass Santa rescuin’ a family of fat cat hostages from home invadin’ mercs in Die Hard fashion. A 5/5 romp full of serious silliness, we wanted to cover it as an R-Rated Review, but it clearly ain’t a horror flick with its top shelf fantasy/action sequences, so we decided ‘gainst it. That didn’t stop our favorite ghost girlfriend Mandy from sharin’ her two cents on what’s now our newest holiday tradition, however, and she was even quoted by Violent Night‘s Twitter account! So proud of her!!

Like every Christmas, while folks are on the hunt fer ’em perfect gifts that prove they’re not as selfish as everyone thinks, we’re huntin’ fer this year’s newest offerin’s of holiday themed terrors. We covered some of the more front and center promoted fright flicks like Weredeer, The Killing Tree, Nutcracker Massacre, and Shudder’s Christmas Bloody Christmas in bite-size reviews on our R-Rated Review blog, but putrid polecats — we just uncovered a whole treasure trove (or dung heap?) of Christmas horror movies on Tubi we never heard of!

Some new, some old, and all of ’em lookin’ like they were shot over weekends on a paperboy’s salary! Titles we discovered include Psycho Santa 1-2, He Knows, There’s Snow Escape, A Christmas Slay, Season’s Greetings 1-2, Slayed, Christmas Craft Fair Massacre, Christmas Blood, Happy Horror Days, Deadly Xmas, Axemas 1-2, Jack Frost (2022), Christmas Tapes, Christmas Vacation, Killer Christmas Elves: The Movie, Krampus: The Return, Krampus vs Big Foot, Vikings vs Krampus, Sister Krampus, Christmas Apparition, Stuffings, Mercy Christmas, Silent Night Zombie Night, I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday, Leech, and Silent Night (2021). Most of these are still available to watch fer free on Tubi as of this post, and we’re tryin’ to get through as many as we can, so keep yer peepers peeled for these R-Rated Reviews!

In bigger updates, the trailer dropped for our upcomin’ Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Retrospective! Set to a rockin’ cover by Piss Ant (Click HERE for their YouTube channel), get a taste for what to expect from this Screaming Soup! special as we dive head first into the untold history behind the Killer Tomatoes franchise, speakin’ with nearly every cast and crew member involved with the makin’ of all four of the movies as well as the cartoon series. You’ll see the creators of the whole shebang John DeBello, Costa Dillon, and Steve Peace, hear from folks behind the scenes like the puppeteers and composers, and even get a peek at John Astin commentin’ on playin’ the series’ angry scientist, Prof. Gangreen. It’s all very excitin’ as we come closer and closer to releasin’ this sucker in the first quarter of 2023.

And even bigger updates yet, we now have Karen Mistal (Tara from Return of the Killer Tomatoes) joinin’ the fun, so this retrospective is really shapin’ up to be the definitive be-all-end-all killer tomato fans like ourselved have been waitin’ our whole afterlives for!

Merry Christmas, Scream Freaks!

SCREAMING AT THANKSGIVING AND RETRO-TOY CON!

30 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by screamingsoup in Uncategorized Tags: 2022, animated, arthur burghardt, barry gordon, best saturdays of our lives, bloody social movie, cam clarke, cartoon, comic, cowboy, Deadwest, facebook, gijoe, greenville, hacksaw jim, horror, host, jem, killer tomatoes, mark mccray, million dollar man, monster, movie, ninja turtles, retro toy con, retrospective, review, rob paulsen, samantha newark, sc, screaming, Screaming Soup!, skeleton, soup, townsend coleman, toy federation, trandformers, twitter, warrington gillete, youtube

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! After weeks full of holiday parties, noisy parades, and belly bustin’ dinners, most folks would double over dead from exhaustion, but not us! We dropped dead forever ago and feel more alive than EVER as Thanksgivin’ returns, encouragin’ us to admit things we’re thankful fer.

Right now, we’re most thankful for bein’ a part of Retro-Toy Con recently, which is this unbelievable toy convention thrown by our compadres over at Toy Federation. These guys know how to party, let us tell ya. Not only did they make sure to pack the dealer room with an unbelievable mix of toys from yesteryear and today rangin’ from obscure Freddy Krueger knockoffs to mainstream mainstays like Star Wars and G.I. Joe, they even booked all kinds of celebrity guests from our favorite Saturday morning cartoons, Friday the 13th Part 2, the WWE hall of fame, and let’s not forget — yer favorite animated horror host Deadwest!

Yessir, as part of the star line-up, we happily spent the weekend meetin’ you Scream Freaks who showed up while as well as tradin’ quips with wrasslers Hacksaw Jim and the Million Dollar Man, doin’ Cobra Commander impressions with Arthur Burghardt (G.I. Joe’s original Destro), sharin’ candy with Jem and the Holograms‘ Samantha Newark, slingin’ back drinks at the bar with Warrington Gillette aka the first Jason Voorhees to kill onscreen, hangin’ ten with the first gang of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actors, Rob Paulsen, Cam Clarke, Townsend Coleman, and Barry Gordon, and catchin’ up with our amigos Mark McCray and Dan Klink from The Best Saturday Mornings of Our Lives podcast. Fanboy overload, right? Even better, we got to be Retro-Toy Con’s MC the whole time, makin’ important ’round the clock announcements while teasin’ the other guests with random messages. “Attention Hacksaw Jim. We checked, and we’re sorry, but you can’t use yer 2×4 when thumb wrasslin’ yer fans.”

Sure to go down as one of the greatest achievements of our afterlives was Rob and Arthur complimentin’ our pipes. Words can’t describe what receivin’ that kinda validation means to us comin’ from such talented voicebox dynamos. Only other moment that comes close to beatin’ it was at the end of the con, when we zipped from one cartoon superstar to the next for closin’ statements with the best one bein’ Samantha sayin’, “Show’s over, Synergy.”

This vendor had a beast of a My Pet Monster collection!

And if that weren’t ‘nough of a treat, we even had the honor of hostin’ all the celebrity panels! We asked Warrington ’bout his journey from Wall Street broker to bein’ celebrated as one of the few actors to play Jason over a little kumbaya campfire, and he pitched fans an offer to own a part of his newest flick, Bloody Social. Arthur Burghardt held our hand in shock as we revealed our interest in him takin’ us down memory lane to when he was a magic hobo in Full Moon’s Killjoy. The panel that was the most fun fer us, however, was forcin’ Hacksaw Jim and Ted “The Million Dollar Man” Dibiase to sit through a slideshow of their greatest hits in plastic as they gave their feedback on all the different toys made in their image over the years. We forgot to record our pow-wow with Arthur like dumbasses, but we’ll be sharin’ the audio from the panels with Warrington, Hacksaw, and Dibiase ‘fore long, so y’all can get a taste of the fun we had.

Speakin’ of yappin’ with talents, we even managed to steal Rob and Cam away from their turtle fans long ‘nough to interview ’em fer their work on the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cartoon series for our Killer Tomato Retrospective we’ve been teasin’. Cam not only played Gangreen’s evil sidekick, Igor; he even voiced one of the killer tomatoes from the second season ‘long with Rob’s mutant veggie, Mummato. We still can’t believe our luck! We’re incredibly thankful fer their participation in our project and can’t wait to add their clips of ’em playin’ with their mutant tomato chew toys with everyone else’s stories of bein’ in such a wonderfully wacky series.

Speakin’ of the Killer Tomatoes Retrospective — UPDATE — We’re comin’ closer and closer to completin’ this bucket list of a dream project. Editin’ is just ’bout done, the animation shouldn’t take too long, and after we drop in the soundtrack –POW! We hope to have this sucker out there for y’all to enjoy ‘fore Valentine’s Day! What could be sweeter than the first ever behind-the-scenes feature of anythin’ and everythin’ Killer Tomatoes with ’bout 20 interviews of nearly everyone involved from the filmmakers to the cast and crew?! We can’t wait!

See ya later, Scream Freaks!

SCREAMING AT KILLER VEGGIE FANDOM!

30 Sep 2022 Leave a comment

by screamingsoup in Uncategorized Tags: animated, cartoon, comic, cowboy, Deadwest, facebook, horror, host, killer tomatoes, monster, movie, review, screaming, Screaming Soup!, skeleton, soup, twitter, youtube

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! Halloween’s just ’round the bend, and we’re burstin’ with excitement at what all this holiday season has in store. From revisitin’ Salem with the Sanderson Sisters to reimagining Hellraiser, we’re pumped to go into this spooky shindig with jack-o-lanterns blazin’, but it won’t all be monster movie marathons and stuffin’ our pie holes with Halloween Oreos (which we swear taste better than regular ol’ Oreos). No, in fact, we’re continuin’ to keep our noses to the grindstone and work diligently to churn out one helluva of a retrospective spotlightin’ one of our favorite franchises of all time . . . Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

Now, we’ve already been teasin’ y’all fer what to expect from this passion project of ours, but as we draw closer to wrappin’ this puppy up, the more freely we’re willin’ to share more ’bout it. As mentioned ‘fore, this ain’t gonna be yer everyday talkin’ head review. No, siree. Inspired by documentaries like Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, Pennywise: The Story of It, and In Search of Darkness, we wanted to go all in on this sucker and dig up as much behind the scenes trivia as possible.

That’s why the first folks we looked up to satisfy our appetite fer factoids were the creators themselves, Four Square Productions. Director John DeBello, Writer Costa Dillon, Actor/Producer Steve Peace, and even the elusive Michael Grant from the Tomatoes’ initial inception durin’ Four Square’s college origins all lend their stories to what made this San Diego born idea into a pop culture phenomenon. These fellas are just as funny today as they were 30 years ago, and have been a blast to talk with. They told us all ’bout the infamous helicopter crash, their invasion on France, their dealin’s with big league studios, and goin’ from cult hit to Saturday Mornin’ fodder.

But we didn’t stop there. Bein’ the sticklers fer information we are, we wanted more than mere milestones in the Tomatoes’ history, and sought out juicy details from every one of the movies’ cast and crew member willin’ to talk to us — which it turns out — was a lot of ’em! From leadin’ comic hero Rick Rockwell and Miss Universe’s Angela Visser to the puppeteers and composers, we managed to chat it up with ’bout every talent behind and in front of the camera and collected ourselves a shoppin’ cart worth of stories worth sharin’. Malfunctionin’ puppets, alternate R-Rated cuts, sleazy fan letters — it hurts not bein’ able to share it all yet! Oh, and did we mention John Astin and Steve Lundquist are in the retrospective too?

We’re coverin’ Killer Tomato topics related to the toys, Elvira, Four Square’s flick Sour Grapes aka Happy Hour — hell, we even do a deep dive into the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cartoon series featurin’ interviews with its head writer, Richard Mueller, and Maurice LaMarche, the voice of Zoltan! How cool is that?!

Anyway, we have to get back to it if yer ever gonna see this thing released. Keep yer eyes peeled!

See ya later, Scream Freaks!

SCREAMING AT KILLER VEGGIES!

31 May 2022 2 Comments

by screamingsoup in Uncategorized Tags: animated, cartoon, cowboy, Deadwest, documentary, eats france, facebook, four square, horror, host, interview, killer, killer tomatoes, monster, movie, retrospective, return, review, screaming, Screaming Soup!, skeleton, soup, strikes back, tomato, twitter, youtube

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! Things have been hustlin’ and bustlin’ ’round here at the Howl-Inn Grub & Spirits since we wrangled Frankenstein to show Count Ted the ropes for bein’ a king of the vampires. Yessir, with a little more free time on our mitts, we decided to throw ourselves into a passion project that’s been a long time comin’, and we’re finally ready to share a little ’bout it!

So, while there’s plenty on our bucket list we wanna accomplish sooner than later, there’s one particular goal of ours that can’t wait any longer. As y’all know, we end every review with the disclaimer, “But what do I know know? I like killer tomato movies!” Well, some of you out there think we’re jokin’, but NO! We are in fact longtime fans of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes franchise. From its sequels to its cartoon series, we’re nuts fer this cult hit phenomenon!

As a horror host show obsessed with these vile veggies, we were always goin’ to do a review on ’em at some point, but then we started thinkin’. What can be said ’bout this series that hasn’t been said already? There’s plenty of information on the first flick from 1978, but very little to no information on the makin’ of the sequels or the cartoon adaptation, leavin’ online reviewers and even print publications nothin’ to work with but their own color commentaries on the flicks ‘long with repeatin’ the same plot print from the back of the video boxes. How can Screaming Soup! celebrate its fandom in a more special way?

Then it hit us.

Instead of a regular ol’ review highlightin’ the sweets and sours of each killer tomatoes flick per usual, why don’t we do a deep dive and bring y’all the filmmakers’ own experience makin’ this series!

That’s no typo ya read. For the past year, we’ve been workin’ closely with the creators of the killer tomatoes themselves, Four Square Productions, and have been bringin’ together the most comprehensive review/retrospective ever attempted on the history of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

Featurin’ nearly 20 interviews with numerous key actors, supportin’ players, and behind-the-scene dynamos, we’re leavin’ no stone unturned as we finally dig up every bit of film buff trivia we ever wanted to know ’bout the makin’ of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Return of the Killer Tomatoes, Killer Tomatoes Strike Back, Killer Tomatoes Eat France, as well as both seasons of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cartoon series. It’s been utter joy-gasms over here fer months talkin’ with all these fine folks responsible fer such a wild and hilarious source of entertainment for us over the years, and we can’t wait to put this out there for everyone.

That said, we still have just a little ways to go ‘fore we can present this to the world. All the interviews are completed and catalogued and currently bein’ edited into a BIG fun-filled Screaming Soup! Special that’ll be part documentary part animated comedy. As the project comes closer to completion, we’ll continue to post regular updates with steady reveals fer who else is involved and when it’s expected to premier.