La notte della cometa

First of all, 2 glaring corrections:

1. 'Liquid Sky' is NOT an Aussie movie...it's an American film.

2. 'Liquid Sky' was released two years before NOTC, and has no thematic resemblance to the NOTC. I think the poster below me is thinking of a different movie, about a man who wakes up in Sydney to find himself seemingly the last man alive. Can't remember the name of it though.

Don't believe anyone who tells you NOTC is a disgrace...it isn't, it wasn't meant to be the uberartistic art-fag opus that many people for some reason seem to think everything should be. It's simply a cheesy 80's movie that centers around 2 valley girl sisters who decide shopping and listening to Cindy Lauper tunes will cheer them up after a comet turns the majority of the population into red ferrous-oxide dust, and turns most everyone left who isn't immune into flesh-hungry zombies...and any movie with zombies ain't completely bad. Face it people, we need more zombie movies, and this one's a toot. Not perfect by any means, but I'm proud to have it in my collection.

"Night of the Comet" is a truly fun and engaging little genre effort of the 80's, but surely some of its hardcore fans are slightly overestimating the value and significance of this film. I've encountered reviews stating that "Night of the Comet" is a quintessential gem of 80's horror and that it's easily one of the most intelligent tributes/parodies to older B-movies ever made. Okay, the script is quite clever and writer/director Thom Eberhardt definitely knows a lot about all the post-apocalyptic classics of the 50's and 60's, but I honestly doubt it ever was his intention to direct the ULTIMATE homage. "Night of the Comet" is more like a miniature-tribute! All the obligatory story lines and sub plots to create an end-of-the-world epic are present, but Eberhardt's only disposed of a limited budget and thus the elaboration is only small-scaled and rather cheesy. There are mutated zombies, crazed scientists and hostile groups of survivors on the rampage, but all just in small doses. The movie opens during a bright summer evening, when the entire world is preparing to see a mesmerizing and once-in-a-lifetime ecological phenomenon, namely the passing of a comet. Two high-school teenagers who missed out on the event (sisters, moreover, what are the odds?) wake up the next morning and slowly realize that the comet's radiation killed every human being in L.A, only leaving behind small piles of red dust. They entrench themselves in an abandoned radio station, meet up with another sole (and male) survivor, battle the occasional mutated zombie and – of course – go shopping without credit cards. Things get slightly more dangerous when a bunch of dying scientists, who predicted the extinction of the human race, try to abduct the survivors to steal their still uncontaminated blood. The tone of "Night of the Comet" is continuously light-headed, still director Ebarhardt manages to maintain a more or less sinister atmosphere which never allow you to forget that the whole of mankind just got wiped out. The girls, although mostly concerned about fashion trends and pop music, understand the seriousness of the situation and deal with it the best way they possibly can. There are still a handful of creepy sequences (the confrontation in the mall) and well-developed Sci-Fi ideas (the diabolical scientists), but the emphasis largely lies on the two girls and their typically 80's pop-culture life-styles. I've never heard this many campy pop-songs in one movie, not even in a musical, and the special & make-up effects are kept to a minimum. The acting performances of Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney are more adequate than you'd expect, as it certainly isn't easy for young actresses to portray teenage character that are stereotypical, ignorant, fashionable and yet likable at the same time. "Night of the Comet" certainly isn't brilliant, probably even a bit overrated by its fans, but still worth a peek in case you have a weakness for 80's cinema.

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.

Hey, you can complain about it all you want folks, but this is classic 80s!!! Those of you who feel nostalgic when you hear synth music, see super fluffy layered hair with LOTS of Aqua net, and skintight SV's or Jordache, this is for you.

Robert Beltran is our Ponchlike hero, we who are Trekkers have come to know him as Chakotay from ST: Voyager, but some of you 80s buffs might remember him as "RAOUL" from a little picture from around the same year called "Eating Raoul" with the great Mary Waronov, who is also briefly in this movie as a mad scientist/zombie gone good with a conscience. Her part I wish had been larger, and that her interaction with Beltran had been more detailed... they are great on screen together, and she fits right in with this 80s camp.

Catherine Mary Stewart who used to be Kayla Brady on Days of our Lives shines as the tough chick, while cute Kelly Maroney of Ryan's Hope is her naive cheerleader sister. Sorry if some of you think it is awful, but if you grew up during the time this film was made, I believe you will really enjoy it. The music is really nostalgic... there's one slow song that is really reminiscent of the Frank Stallone days when he was on top with "Staying Alive"... Anyone remember "Moody Girl"? This song will remind you of that, and this movie will make you long for days before the world lost all it's creativity and started copying everything great from that time.

Enjoy, Children of the 80s, this one's for you.

PS... Had to edit this upon just watching it again... How funny and predictive is it that Kelly says "Beam me up Scotty"... As The future Chakotay is listening!" :)

Cheesy, but enjoyable satire is like the poor man's version of 28 Days Later (2002) with a big chunk of '80's vibe for flavor!

Comet eliminates the worlds population, leaving surviving sisters to fend against a group of demented scientists.

While many peg Night of the Comet as a zombie picture, and granted two or three zombies do show up along the way, this film really has much more in common with the old B sci-fi movies of the 1950s. In fact, one could make a good case that the film is meant to be a comical parody of those old schlock films, after all it does have a nice comic book feel! From any view, this is an entertaining film even with its silly moments. It manages to stir up a few chills along with the laughs.

The films cast is only decent, but their performances do hold their own. The special FX, mostly the zombies, are pretty decent. The music score is composed mainly of electronic tunes that perfect that great '80's feel!

For those seeking a bit of fun humor with their horror, Night of the Comet isn't a bad choice.

*** out of ****