Popularity of post-apocalyptic films during 1980s can be explained with the re-escalating Cold War that made the annihilation of civilisation and humanity increasingly realistic prospect. Some film authors tried to combat ultimately depressive character of such subject with more light-hearted approach. One of them was Thom Eberhardt with 1984 science fiction comedy Night of the Comet.
The plot is set in Los Angeles shortly before Christmas. People are, however, more intrigued with an arrival of mysterious comet which happens to pass near Earth every 65 million years. Apparently oblivious that last such event coincided with sudden disappearance of dinosaurs, they gather on the street or hold parties in order to celebrate once-in-a-lifetime astronomic event. All this seems to be of little concern to protagonists – 18-year old cinema employee Regina “Reggie” Belmont (played by Catherine Mary Stewart) and her 16-year old sister, cheerleader Samantha “Sam” Belmont (played by Kelli Maroney). When they wake up next morning, they found the city strangely quiet and streets filled with clothes and small piles of red dust. It becomes apparent that anyone exposed to the comet and their effects was either incinerated or turned into carnivorous zombie. The only sign of normalcy seems to be a radio station and sisters go there where they meet truck driver Hector Gomez (played by Robert Beltran). This creates a problem because sisters suddenly becomes rivals for the affection of what might easily be the last male on Earth. But, soon even more trouble comes in the form of scientists who came from underground bunkers, apparently to search for survivors, but whose real motive for such endeavour is quite sinister.
Made with extremely low budget, Night of the Comet features very ingenious and usually effective use of meagre resources to create rather original-looking post-apocalyptic world. But the main asset of the film is Eberhardt’s idea to show aftermath of apocalypse from the perspective of teenagers who would, suddenly without adults’ supervision, see it as an opportunity to have some fun. This led to another original concept - Valley girls who serve as knife fodder in slasher films, but here can actually handle dangerous situations quite well. Unsurprisingly, Joss Whedon later credited this film as an inspiration for character of Buffy Summers in 1992 film and subsequent TV series. Night of the Comet, however, doesn’t work if the audience takes it too seriously, so Eberhardt tries to add some ironic distance not only through large amounts of black humour, but also through extensive use of 1980s pop soundtrack which in some cases, like Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, might be appreciated even by audience with little knowledge of that period of history. Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney are great in their respective roles, while Robert Beltran (future Chakotay in Star Trek: Voyager) is somewhat flat. Mary Wornow, actress known for prolific career in cult and B-films, delivers relatively short but memorable performance as one of the scientists. There are some scenes that are somewhat overdone, like Sam’s nightmare, and plot loses bit of momentum in the second half. Impression is saved by the effective ending, resulting in silly but entertaining film that can be appreciated even by audience unaffected by 1980s nostalgia.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/18462-night-of-the-comet Critic: AA
