A “killer” movie franchise that got its start in San Diego is back.
Thursday, the production crew for "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence" filmed scenes on and around Third Avenue in Chula Vista.
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WATCH HEREOrganic Intelligence is the fifth movie in the horror-comedy series. The original came out in 1978 and was the product of Bonita Vista High School alums Costa Dillon, Steve Peace and John DeBello.
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SIGN UP “This started out as a silly idea when we were in high school and it just kept snowballing from there,” said Dillon, who is the writer and co-executive producer of Organic Intelligence. “Who would’ve thought?”
Peace, who acted in several of the films and went on to serve in both the California Senate and Assembly, is also back as an executive producer.
“It’s a generational handoff from the old crew of Killer Tomatoes fighters to a whole new generation,” he said.
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East County native and Valhalla High School grad Noor Razooky is part of the new generation. She lives in Los Angeles and said getting to work on a movie in San Diego is “a full-circle moment.”
“It’s kind of my young actor dream come true. We always wanted more productions in San Diego,” she said.
Razooky stars as “Angela,” a marine biologist with “Veg Intel” who is growing tomatoes in the ocean.
Like her character, she, too, has some experience with tomato plants and the devastation that can go along with them.
“I actually had a tragic story where I grew a tomato in my backyard and the gardener accidentally chopped it down and I almost had a panic attack,” she said. “My babies.”
Dillon and Peace told NBC 7 that no tomatoes were harmed in the making of Organic Intelligence. In fact, they’re the ones you have to watch out for.
“It’s like artificial intelligence, only scarier, because now it’s alive intelligence,” Dillon said. “We have no message other than beware of your vegetables.”
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence will also feature Mission Bay, the USS Midway Museum and parts of the far East County.
The movie is set to hit theaters for a limited run around Halloween.
