Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran
Director: Thom Eberhardt
What do you get when you throw a couple of teen girls into an apocalypse? An underappreciated horror/sci-fi/comedy cult classic…
Brief synopsis:
65 million years ago, a comet passed by Earth, coinciding with the extinction of the dinosaurs. That same comet is making a return tonight and the whole world is out and celebrating except for teenager sisters Sam and Reggie in Los Angeles. Sam had gotten into a fight with their stepmother Doris and ran away, spending the night in a steel shed. Reggie spent the night in a steel lined projection booth with her boyfriend Larry. When they wake up the next morning, their entire lives are changed…
Spoilers below (you have been warned):
Larry goes out in the morning to find a friend who never came by and is killed by a zombie-like man. Reggie gets accidentally locked out of the movie theater and encounters the same creature. She manages to fight him off and escapes across a now empty Los Angeles. She finds Sam at home and tries to convince her something is wrong, pointing out that the streets are now covered in clothes and red dust. Everyone is gone, turned into dust, and they are alone. At least they think they are alone until they hear the DJ on the radio from a local station.
The girls head to the station and discover that what they were hearing was prerecorded but they do run into a trucker named Hector. He tells them that he and a girl he picked up slept in the back of his truck that night. When they woke up in the morning, she freaked out and ran off. He tried to find her but she was being eaten by some zombies and he couldn’t save her. Reggie becomes upset as she realizes that must be what happened to her boyfriend but eventually recovers, realizing that they have bigger issues to deal with. She explains that Sam still believes that their father, a military man, will come save them but Reggie knows that this happened all over the world and the reality is that their father is probably gone. Hector and Reggie spend a few cute moments together while Sam watches jealously. Sam decides to kill time by playing DJ and receives a phone call. She grabs her sister and Hector and says that the call came from scientists who said that the comet killed everyone who were outside but some people were only partially exposed and are dying. These people are the zombies the trio had recently encountered. Hector decides to go and see his mother, futilely hoping she survived the comet. He leaves the sisters but promises to return.
Reggie and Sam practice shooting guns to defend themselves against the zombies. After a brief fight over Reggie claiming a man who could possibly be the last man on Earth, they do what teenage girls in the 80’s did to unwind – they head to the mall. After all, the stores are open and free of charge now. They have a fun musical montage before a group of zombified stock room boys attack, taking the two young girls hostage. The leader of the zombies plays Russian Roulette with them until the scientists come to the rescue. Reggie goes with the group to the base while Sam stays behind at the radio station with two scientists to wait for Hector. Scientist Audrey White gives Sam a shot to deal with a nasty rash she has developed. Sam claims that she gets nervous rashes before she seemingly dies. Audrey then turns and shoots the other scientist dead.
Reggie is answering questions at the base and getting increasingly unnerved by the scientist’s questions. After being told that Sam is dead, she tries to escape. As she makes her way through the base, she finds a room with numerous brain dead people who seem to kept alive as blood donors. She manages to grab a gun and stumbles upon two children who were being told to take a gas sedative so they can go to the North Pole and see Santa Clause. The attendants also show signs of memory loss as they cannot remember the specific details of their job. Meanwhile, Hector arrives at the radio station to find Audrey waiting for him. She explains that their group left the vents open at the base to expose themselves minimally to the comet. They were hoping to create a cure through the survivors blood but they had not had any luck yet and they were slowly dying. Audrey then kills herself.
Reggie continues trying to escape the base with the kids. Hector arrives at the base in a convertible and calls over a guard. He then shows the guard Sam in the trunk and explains that she isn’t dead, just sedated. Sam then grabs the guard and they knock him out. They meet up with Reggie and the kids and escape, blowing up the base in the process. The new family then drives away, back to Los Angeles. Rain comes and washes away all the red dust, cleaning up the town. Reggie and Hector become a couple, raising the children they found at the base. Sam meets up with a fellow survivor and drives off with him but not before promising to be home early because “the whole burden of civilization is on us.”
My thoughts (with spoilers):
An underrated film that did okay at the box office but became a cult classic on video, Night of the Comet is witty, fun, and a wild ride. The acting is excellent and the script is sharp and funny. For example, when Reggie is trying to explain to Sam what is going on, Sam’s response is complete disbelief. Recognizing that her sister is in denial, Reggie gives her a reality check and drags her out of the house to see the emptiness outside. She screams at her sister “It’s Saturday morning Sam, where are the goddamn kids?”. It may not be true now but on Saturdays as a kid, I was outside right after breakfast and did not come back in until the street lights came on. The fact that there were no kids out at all really points to the emptiness of this new world. Reggie then picks up a shoe and dumps out a bunch of red dust. “Here’s Chuck.” Boom – no need for any other explanation, just a two words and a simple visual. Our characters are now caught up on their new reality.
The sister’s chemistry is great. You believe that Catherine Mary Stewart (Reggie) and Kelli Maroney (Sam) are sisters who bicker and fight but still love each other at the end of the day. Sam complains that Reggie has stolen every boy she ever liked and how she has stolen Hector but you can see in her eyes she doesn’t mean it. This is a 16-year old who probably had a crush on her sister’s boyfriends and she could see Hector as maybe a chance to be more grown up. It quickly becomes clear that she doesn’t really feel that way as Sam was actually missing a young boy her age who she liked and lashing out to deal with it. It is relatable and understandable given the situation. Sam also gets the best line in the film. While the girls are practicing shooting at a car, the gun continuously jams. Frustrated, she hands the gun back to Reggie and says “Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.” Reggie gets a great comeback, noting that the now decimated car didn’t know the difference.
Thom Eberhardt’s direction is great. This was a low budget film, only $700,000, and every penny is well-spent. He brings some interesting camera angles to different shots and manages to create a feeling that Los Angeles is completely empty. The film company shot at odd hours to get the best shots of empty streets and you really feel that these girls are alone in the world. The cast, even minor roles, is filled with recognizable actors. The special effects and make up are very good, not John Carpenter’s The Thing good, but well done given the budget. The filter used to give Los Angeles the red sky from the dust is used sparingly and every permit they got to shoot on the streets were well utilized. Those permits weren’t cheap but those shots were used in at least 25% of the film and make all the difference.
Night of the Comet is hidden gem that needs more exposure. In the year of Gremlins and Ghostbusters, this little film still managed to make over $14,000,000,000 at the box office – a huge return on the initial investment and that is not even including home video revenue. Seek it out and have a fun night with these Valley girls.
More films from 1984 to check out:
Beverly Hills Cop – Star making vehicle for Eddie Murphy. When his friend in murdered at his apartment in Detroit, Axel Foley heads to Bevely Hills to investigate.
Firestarter – Okay Stephen King adaptation that was taken away from John Carpenter after The Thing flopped. Drew Barrymore does what she can with the material but I wonder how much better a Carpenter version of this film could have been.
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom – Second outing of the hero and definitely in the middle of my rankings. Went gross-out instead of focusing on the story and I usually love Kate Capshaw but I detested Willie.