Night of the Comet (1984)
Starring: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran
Writer & Director: Thom E. Eberhardt
*pictures/GIFS included are from DVD, not Blu-ray*
Synopsis:
A comet that hasn't passed Earth in 65
million years is about to zip by again. People be partying down-
getting' their drink and dance on. Well, the comet isn't friendly.
Those who were exposed to it were either reduced to red dust or
turned into ghouls – aka, the slower version of the process. Two
valley girl sisters are seemingly the only ones left alive. Their
once familiar city is covered by a red sky. The streets are filled
with empty clothes and comet zombies prowl the alleys. The two girls
head to the local radio station, where they learn that they aren't
the last humans on Earth.
Review:
Childhood classic right here, and it is
still every bit as entertaining -if not more- as it was back in the
80s. Night of the Comet takes the apocalypse and valley girl
sub-genres and tosses them in a blender. The end result is a perfect
mix of hilarity and some genuine creepiness. You got big hair, tube
socks, neon, talking zombies, sexy sisters, and great 80s jams.
There's nothing else needed for a good time. Additionally, for some
reason I often forget that Night of the Comet takes place around
Christmas. I won't be doing that anymore. It's got enough of the
yuletide vibe about it to be included in the annual “watch around
Christmas” list.
While it's heavier on comedy than
scares, Night of the Comet carries its bleak atmosphere pretty well.
The city is bleeding out death and loneliness, achieved by filming
during the wee hours on holidays, and using a colored lens on the
camera to fulfill that red sky approach. It totally works. The place
looks empty and even poisonous. As far as the story goes, it's super
entertaining. Lots of great “Like, oh my god!” dialogue and
there's some fine character depth for what it is. It's totally easy
to fall in love with the sisters, Regina and Samantha.
Performances from Catherine Mary
Stewart and Kelli Maroney are fantastic. It's seriously believable
that Reg and Sam are sisters. Little things like
ad-lib help a lot –such as the MAC-10 scene. If I'm being honest,
I've always been in the Team Samantha camp, ultimately. Both
characters are awesome, and hot, but Samantha just has an extra bit
of zing to her. When she's not funny as hell, she comes off like a
lost kitten type character; someone you would want to help and assure
that everything will be okay 'n all that jazz. Sam still holds
herself well while firing a gun or throwing high heels at ghouls, but
her sister is more of the badass. And perhaps Regina's highest attribute in my
eyes is that she plays the hell out of video games, and plays them
really well, at that. So yes, at the end of the day, both characters
are fun. Both actresses are adorable... but Samantha/Kelli Maroney
all day every day for me.
And, not to get all Weirdy McBeardy on everyone reading, but I gotta give thanks to Thom E. Everhardt for having some strange Kelli Maroney Legs/foot fetish... because homegirl's got it going on in the sexy stems/feet department.
Robert Beltran takes on the main dude role
as Hector, another survivor of the comet aftermath. Good character,
and there's some nice sympathetic moments between Hector and Regina (displayed),
but ultimately Beltran isn't given as much depth as the ladies. He's
still great in the part, especially in the previously mentioned
moments with Regina (Stewart). There's also some familiar faces up
in here, such as Mary Woronov, Geoggrey Lewis, and Michael Bowen. All
good, but they're mostly bit roles, especially Bowen's character.
Don't expect him to be lookin' all Breaking Bad, either.
Night of the Comet isn't the average
all out gory zombie flick, either. There's an impressive ooey gooey moment early on, but the movie largely uses
subtly for the horror. The zombie makeup is really nice, and it
blends well with the ghouls having personality and speech. The sunken in eye sockets are a nice approach. They look as if
there'll be bone showing at any moment. It's good stuff. There's also some
nice work on set design and mattes, to make areas look larger than
they are. Look for this during the science lab moments. If you still
don't catch some of it, go over the special features on the disc and
be blown away.
The film soundtrack is a big dose of
80s awesome. Probably most noted for the use of “Girls Just Want To
Have Fun” during the epic mall shopping scene. This version has Tami
Holbrook on vocals, and not Cyndi Lauper. That being said, Holbrook
does a bang-up job with the song. It's not even something I noticed
when I was a youngster. And even now I'm pretty much like “Damn,
who cares!? It's two cute girls dancing and trying on clothes to
Girls Just Want To Have Fun!” David Richard Campbell's film score is
nice, too. The music during the title credits sets the stage
perfectly. It carries that 1950's Sci-Fi vibe proudly on its
shoulders.
Night of the Comet is a film that is
perfect in a marathon, and said marathon doesn't even have to fully
consist of horror films. Watch it with Some Kind of Wonderful and
you'll be fine. Hell, with any 80s John Hughes related flick it
will go well. Or even Fast Times. But it will also be awesome with other apocalypse films with a 'last person'
theme. The Omega Man, Last Man on Earth, Dawn of the Dead... take your
pick. I don't want to say it's a perfect 80s horror comedy, but it's, like, really damn close.
cover art by Nathan Thomas Milliner
Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack:
Scream Factory's Blu-ray of Night of the Comet is presented in 1080p High-Definition Widescreen (1.78:1). The DVD is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1). Visually, the film doesn't appear quite as crisp as most previous Scream releases. There's a bit of a washed out or soft look. If I'm being honest, it kind of works in the film's favor, as the story has a city set in red dust remains of humans. This being said, it's still hands down the best I've ever seen the film, and I fan will want to own this release ASAP. Audio choices on the Blu-ray are a 5.1 DTS-HD Master and a 2.0 DTS-HD Master. On the DVD you got 5.1 Doly Digital Surround and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo. The 5.1 on the Blu-ray is solid. It's a good, rich sound and the mix between score and dialogue is solid. "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" is gonna be flowing through your soul!
Special Features
Audio Commentary with actresses Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart, hosted by Edwin Samuelson of The Cinephiles
Audio Commentary with director Thom Ederhardt, hosted by Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures
Audio Commentary with production designer John Muto, hosted by Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures
The Maroney/Stewart commentary is pretty fantastic. Lots of good jokes throughout, and a nice dose of information about the production of the film.
Valley Girls at the End of the World: with Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney- Good little fifteen minute featurette for Night of the Comet, where Maroney and Stewart take you all the way from their auditions for the role, to the production, as well as discussing the film's fanbase.
The Last Man on Earth?: with Robert Beltran- 12 and a half minute feaurette on how Beltran got the gig, and how it was a back and forth process at first.
Curse of the Comet: with David B. Miller- Good little FX featurette where Miller discusses his freedom on creating the makeup for Night of the Comet, and the process of making it work on a small budget.
Film Photo Gallery
Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
This is another loaded release from Scream Factory, and a definite must have for fans of Night of the Comet. Available now.
Order directly from Scream Factory HERE
Order from Amazon HERE
- Eric (Brobocop)
