La nuit de la comète

If you've seen any film such as The Day After, The Stand, Armageddon, Independence Day, or even the recent extravaganza The Day After Tomorrow, the end of the world would seem to be pretty serious business for us to have to deal with sometime down the road. Film directors one and all want us to believe it's all doom and gloom what with asteroids zooming around haphazardly in space, aliens needing to ravage us and the planet, global warming screwing up the weather or some deadly virus escaping some government lab infecting mankind with a super flu. Thom Eberhardt doesn't quite find it such a dreary proposition, and in fact finds quite a bit of humor in the situation by way of telling the story of two of the survivors, teenagers Reggie Belmont (Catherine Mary Stuart) and her sister Sam (Kelli Maroney).

Somewhere out there in the final frontier where no man has gone before, is a comet zipping around with nothing better to do but to pay all of us here on earth a quick friendly visit. No, it doesn't exactly have earth's name on it, but it does want to take a cue from Top Gun and do a major fly by just so it can get up close and personal. Of course since we're a partying kind of planet, we decide to have one big planet wide comet festival just to welcome it into our solar system. There are comet tee shirts, comet hats, people have comet barbecues, and everything is just one big comet celebration. One of these comet parties is being held by Doris Belmont, wicked step monster to Reggie and Sam. Reggie and Sam's father is off doing army duty, and it's left up to Doris to keep the two girls safe and out of trouble, or as in Doris's case be a first class bitch while screwing the next door neighbor on the side. After an argument with Doris, Reggie ends up in a projection room at a local theater, and Sam ends up….well more about that in a moment. Eventually the comet does pass overhead, and being the grateful kind of comet that knows how to treat its host, it leaves us all a present by turning the vast majority of the human population into orange pixie dust.

Of course, if you happen to be one of the very lucky few, like Reggie and Sam, you may have survived. It turns out if you were in a dwelling of some sort completely encased by steel, then you also woke up the next morning to see the dawn's early light. Reggie, having spent the night in the theater projection room which just happens to be steel lined, does survive. Sam, who found herself somehow spending the night in a trash dumpster survives also. However, if you were only partially protected by a steel enclosure, then you only get to survive temporarily which also means you get to play zombie for a while before you disintegrate into a pile of dust bunnies. Then there are those scientists who were aware of the danger but instead of warning us all to momentarily hop into our Kenmore refrigerators, they built themselves a huge enclosure to protect themselves with. So not only are they extremely selfish scientists, they are also straight out of the Fred MacMurray School of Absent Minded Professors because although I'm sure they wear their seat belts and lock their car doors, they somehow forget to close the vents on their Comet Proof Bomb Shelter. What that means is they need to track down Sam, Reggie and other survivors who may pop up here and there in order to find a cure before they have to begin their own auditions for George Romero.

If it all sounds kind of goofy and wacky it certainly is all of that. Early in the film, you may have a bit of trouble buying into the proceedings but you'll eventually be seduced by the perkiness and charm of Stuart and Mulroney, and the witty dialog that inhabits Eberhardt's script. For instance, when Reggie returns with an arsenal to fight off zombies, Reggie complains that, `Dad would have gotten us Uzis'. And what are two teenage girls to do when faced with the apocalypse? They play D.J. on the only radio station still broadcasting, they vie for the affection of the only guy available, and they lift their spirits by going shopping at the mall to the music of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. As for special effects, they aren't much to speak of but we don't care because it's the script carrying the film anyway. It's obvious that Eberhardt was working from a somewhat miniscule budget, and although there are a few scary moments when Zombies pop out of nowhere, it's the whole premise of two Valley Girls trying to survive in a desolate Los Angels while being chase around by monsters and evil scientists that will win you over. It's obvious from the narration in the opening moments that this is a B movie, but Eberhardt keeps things on track by never taking himself seriously or asking us to which is a major requirement in a film of this nature.

Night of the Comet is not currently available on VHS or DVD. You may catch it on Cable at some point if you don't own it. Your only other alternative is to purchase it on Ebay at your own risk. I was lucky enough to have taped it some years ago, and am glad of having done so.

It takes an offbeat sense of humor to make a film like Night of the Comets and have it succeed as well as it does. It takes a quirky sense of humor for someone watching it to appreciate the film for what it is: a cheesy plot-hole ridden B movie, with a lot of odd but good natured humor and with two lead actresses that are good enough to take us along for the ride. I bought it, hook, line, sinker, cheap special effects and everything else that went with it. And if I can buy into all this I have no choice but to give you my grade which for Night of the Comet is a B. Now excuse me for a second while I go check out the vents on my comet shelter.

All of you who said this movie was dumb, unrealistic, or not scary, that is the point of a B-movie, as others have pointed out. What made this movie great was that it knew it was cheesy. A valley-girl cheerleader and her movie-theater-employee sister running around with machine guns, raiding the mall and saving the world while hiding out as radio DJ's, is not supposed to be taken seriously. Of course it is ridiculous that people would be instantly incinerated, yet plant life, clothes, and the electric company would be untouched. A lot of Academy-Award winning movies are not realistic either. This is supposed to be entertaining, and make you think about what you would do if you were one of the few people left in the world. This film was a classic 80's comedy. And I for one found the zombies pretty creepy, except for the junior zombie that breaks into Hector's mom's house, that was just hilarious. Catherine Mary Stewart (Regina) is great as the older sister, I was always surprised that she didn't become a bigger star after this one. If you grew up in the 80's, and you never saw this movie, see it now! It is an 80's classic! To this day I can't jaywalk without hearing the line, "The future of civilization is on us, we do not CROSS against the LIGHT!!"

I am horribly fascinated with EotW films. This particular endeavor may very well have been the cause. I was 12 when I first viewed it. It impressed upon my mind the possibility that all could be lost....and then....it could actually get worse. But what distinguishes it as one of the worthy few among films of it's kind is simple. They had a believable reason for the calamity. Moreover, they explained how and why the heroes were spared. Instead of obsessing over the hidden mechanism by which people were elected to survive or die, the viewer could relax and enjoy the rest of the story. Although it's fashion sense is long lost, I believe that lovers of this genre will appreciate it's adventurous spirit.

A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls (Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney) to fight the evil types who survive.

This came from producer Wayne Crawford, who also co-wrote and co-produced the film "Valley Girl" (as well as being the primary creative force behind "Barracuda"). I like to think Crawford had some important contributions to "Comet", but who knows? This was directed by Thom Eberhardt, who went on to make "Captain Ron" (1992).

Many people love this film, and Stewart and Maroney are always big hits on the convention circuit. I liked it, too, though perhaps not as much as some people. The film was funny, quirky and entertaining, though it never quite escalates from "good" to "cult classic", and I am curious to see if this will get some new eyes looking on it with the amazing Scream Factory release.

I will say the script is more clever than it first appears, though, once you begin to connect the dots on subtle jokes (such as when the comet struck and who has been playing the arcade game).

I originally saw this movie in the theater, and I LOVED it! I had often fantasized about the end of the world where only myself a few others had survived.

Well, I'm 16 years older now, and not quite as misanthropic, but I still got a kick out of watching this again the other night. Sure, the soundtrack was atrocious, and some of the acting was sub-par, but the sheer aplomb that "Samantha" has carries the film, I thought.

Plus, it was fun to see Robert Beltran (ST: Voyager's second in command), so much younger!

Quite a few laughs, and a pretty good plot twist or two to keep you guessing makes this an easy movie to enjoy.

My rating: 7