Night of the Comet (1984)

A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.

Director:

Thom Eberhardt

Writer:

Thom Eberhardt

Stars:

Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Beltran	...	Hector Gomez
Catherine Mary Stewart	...	Regina Belmont
Kelli Maroney	...	Samantha Belmont
Sharon Farrell	...	Doris Belmont
Mary Woronov	...	Audrey White
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Dr. Carter
Peter Fox	...	Dr. Wilson
John Achorn	...	Oscar
Michael Bowen	...	Larry Dupree
Devon Ericson	...	Minder
Lissa Layng	...	Davenport
Ivan E. Roth	...	Willy
Janice Kawaye	...	Sarah
Chance Boyer	...	Brian
Andrew Boyer	...	Rogers

Storyline

It's the first comet to buzz our planet Earth in 65 million years, and everyone seems to be celebrating its imminent arrival. Everyone except Regina Belmont, and her younger sister Samantha, two Valley Girls who care more about fashion trends than celestial phenomena. But upon daybreak, when the girls discover that they are the only residents of Los Angeles whom the comet hasn't vaporized or turned into a zombie, they would do what all Valley Girls do - they go shopping. However, with the help of a friendly truck driver, the girls save Earth and escape from flesh-eating zombies and blood-seeking scientists in hot pursuit.

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Plot Keywords:

post apocalypse | sister sister relationship | radio station | comet | survival | 

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Taglines:

The comet's coming, and the world will never be the same.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies

Filming Locations:

19174 Dunure Place, San Fernando Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,580,578, 18 November 1984

Gross USA:

$14,418,922

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,418,922

Company Credits

Production Co:

Coleman/Roseblatt Productions, Film Development Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Samantha is arguing with mother Doris in the beginning, actress Sharon Farrell actually slapped Kelli Maroney for real. Maroney felt like she wasn't getting the right reaction to Farrell's fake slaps to her and asked Farrell to slap her for real in order to get an authentic response; she also didn't want to waste too many more takes and wanted to wrap up the scene due to the low budget.

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Goofs

The amount of film on the reel playing in the projection booth changes (increases and decreases) several times between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Since before recorded time, it had swung through the universe in an elliptical orbit so large that its very existence remained a secret of time and space; but now in the last few years of the 20th century, the visitor was returning. The citizens of earth would get an extra Christmas present this year as their planet orbited through the tail of the comet. Scientists predicted a light show of stellar proportions, something not seen on earth for 65 million years, indeed not since the ...

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Connections

References Death Race 2000 (1975)

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Soundtracks

Jingle Bells
Written by James Pierpont (uncredited)
Performed by Jerry Sharell
Produced by Don Perry and Bob Summers

User Reviews

What if they gave a parody and nobody came?

Trapped in a hellish copyright limbo for over a decade, Thom Eberhardt's "Night Of The Comet" is a film whose reputation is due for a serious rehabilitation. Generally--and wrongly--categorized with typical 80s teen horror films, "Comet" is in fact a smart, skillful parody of the low-budget sci-fi horror classics of the 50s, 60s and 70s--and a wry commentary on teen culture in the 1980s as well. For those familiar with the original films, the parody "clues" are all over the place--not least of which is that the early part of the film takes place in the back of LA's classically offbeat El Rey movie theatre, which is showing low-budget B horror movies. Most of the "scary" scenes are preceded (subtly or otherwise) by the famous "red light" warning used commonly in the 60s and 70s. And the apocalyptic plot, settings and dialog, especially among the scientists, are straight out of the 50s.

Catherine Mary Stewart is by far the centerpiece of the movie as Reggie, the only teenage girl in Los Angeles who's both a lowly-paid theatre usher and an expert with assault weapons. She is most definitely *not* a Valley Girl. A pre-"Voyager" Robert Beltran is Hector "date night in the barrio" Gomez, the classic b-movie hero, and far more engaging here than his stoic, dry-as-bones role for the McTrek franchise. Kelli Maroney brings the totally 80s camp value as Valley Girl Samantha, who realizes with horror that her pool of potential Izod-clad boyfriends has just shrunk dramatically. Geoffrey Lewis sheds his mostly Western image here as the deliciously megalomaniacal leader of the researchers, whose taste for superscience soon gives way to a craving for hot buttered gray matter.

Eberhardt is a canny director who doesn't miss a trick--the scares are rare, but when they come, they'll get you. The gore is minimal, but the atmosphere of malevolence gets progressively thicker until the climax. The tightrope between comedy and fright is skillfully toed--undead droog stockboys, anyone? The effects may not be the digitized visual pablum people take for granted these days, but in a way they're more engaging for their rawness. Anyone who thinks this was a low-budget movie has never tried to completely empty out downtown Los Angeles at 7 am for a film shoot. Thom Eberhardt should be hailed for his brilliantly sharp, funny script and his deft execution as director.

Veteran sci-fi/indie/horror actress Mary Woronov is "Night Of The Comet"'s direct physical and spiritual link to the golden days of the genre. She's passing the baton here to a new generation of camp sci-fi/horror fans. That nobody has thus far picked up that baton is a tragedy.

To address a distressingly common misperception: the comet in question is *not* Halley's comet. Both in-film plot elements and the film's tagline suggest this comet only appeared once before, when it wiped out the dinosaurs. Halley's comet, on the other hand, has had more comebacks than Cher.

"Night Of The Comet" works pretty well the way a lot of people view it--as a simple 80s cheesy sci-fi comedy. But as with "Rocky Horror," if you've seen the original material it's spoofing, the results are a hundred times more rewarding. A future DVD release is a must.