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The film begins with a voice over describing the coming of a comet that on it's last appearance, wiped out the dinosaurs. We then pick up with Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) an usher girl working in an old cinema showing cult b-movies. Whilst everyone else is gearing up to watch the comet however, Regina is busy doing the hokey-kokey with her boyfriend in the projection room. Meanwhile back at home her 'valley girl' sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) is busy having a cat fight with her step mom and as a result doesn't go out to see the comet either. Yup you got it, the comet reduces everyone that sees it to either red dust, or flesh eating zombies (one of whom dispatches Regina's boyfriend with a monkey wrench). Left alone the plucky sisters roam L.A. looking for other survivors and soon encounter an easy going young truck driver called Hector (Robert Beltran) at the local radio station. Observing all this from their top secret bunker are a group of think tank scientists headed by Carter (Geoffrey Lewis) and Audrey (Mary Woronov). Far from being saviors however, the scientists merely want to fatally harvest our heroes blood in order to develop a vaccine for the zombifying effects of the comet...
Night of the Comet is a lot of fun for the first twenty minutes, the film is laced with snappy one liners, 80's pop culture references, and savvy nods to genre classics that really hit the spot. Both Stewart and Maroney are likable (if not exactly outstanding) leads, and the idea of dropping materialistic boy obsessed girls into the plot from Boris Segal's 1971 classic The Omega Man (not to mention a whole host of similarly grim post apocalyptic films) is a hoot. Eberhardt gives us some effective shots of a deserted L.A. complete with red filters and minimal electronic score, helping to create a believable (all be it humorous) impression of desolation. Sadly however, what starts out as smart satire quickly runs out of ideas becoming sluggish and uneventful during the second act. The girls do little more than hang around the radio station aimlessly, argue over the affections of Hector, and play mostly bad (with the exception of Girls Just Want to Have Fun) 80's pop music. Plus After Regina's initial encounter with one of the zombies the creatures are rarely seen (we get about six in the entire movie) and as a result the film feels like it's constantly stuck in second gear. Things finally pick up during a cool mall shootout with undead store clerks who look like they've walked straight out of a Depeche Mode video. The inclusion of b-movie regular Woronov and Geofrey Lewis cast against type is also welcome, but after such a promising start it's all too little too late.
With a bit more comic book action to complement the sometimes witty dialogue Night of the Comet could have been a genre classic. Instead it's merely passable fare, worth a look for 80's b-movie fanatics like myself, but strict zombie fans needn't bother.
Night of the Comet (Thom Eberhardt 1984) Trash rating
Tom Eberhardt made a name for himself making 'social-issue' documentaries for public TV, before moving into feature films in 1983 with the slow but suspenseful horror Sole Survivor. He's since made just a handful of films most notably the amusing Sherlock Holmes parody Without A Clue (1988), and the fun, but hardly classic Captain Ron (1992). Night of the Comet was his second directorial effort (he also wrote the screenplay), a satirical sci-fi/horror with nods to old 1950's and 1970's dystopian sci-fi films all be it with a more lighthearted tone. Over the years the film has acquired an army of loyal fans who swear it's a forgotten 80's gem, so does Night of the Comet live up to expectations?
Tom Eberhardt made a name for himself making 'social-issue' documentaries for public TV, before moving into feature films in 1983 with the slow but suspenseful horror Sole Survivor. He's since made just a handful of films most notably the amusing Sherlock Holmes parody Without A Clue (1988), and the fun, but hardly classic Captain Ron (1992). Night of the Comet was his second directorial effort (he also wrote the screenplay), a satirical sci-fi/horror with nods to old 1950's and 1970's dystopian sci-fi films all be it with a more lighthearted tone. Over the years the film has acquired an army of loyal fans who swear it's a forgotten 80's gem, so does Night of the Comet live up to expectations?
The film begins with a voice over describing the coming of a comet that on it's last appearance, wiped out the dinosaurs. We then pick up with Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) an usher girl working in an old cinema showing cult b-movies. Whilst everyone else is gearing up to watch the comet however, Regina is busy doing the hokey-kokey with her boyfriend in the projection room. Meanwhile back at home her 'valley girl' sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) is busy having a cat fight with her step mom and as a result doesn't go out to see the comet either. Yup you got it, the comet reduces everyone that sees it to either red dust, or flesh eating zombies (one of whom dispatches Regina's boyfriend with a monkey wrench). Left alone the plucky sisters roam L.A. looking for other survivors and soon encounter an easy going young truck driver called Hector (Robert Beltran) at the local radio station. Observing all this from their top secret bunker are a group of think tank scientists headed by Carter (Geoffrey Lewis) and Audrey (Mary Woronov). Far from being saviors however, the scientists merely want to fatally harvest our heroes blood in order to develop a vaccine for the zombifying effects of the comet...
With a bit more comic book action to complement the sometimes witty dialogue Night of the Comet could have been a genre classic. Instead it's merely passable fare, worth a look for 80's b-movie fanatics like myself, but strict zombie fans needn't bother.