Review by Ben Bussey
The 80s were quite a time for ‘night of’ movies, weren’t they? Fred Dekker gave us 1986’s Night of the Creeps, and Kevin Tenney gave us 1988’s Night of the Demons; but before those, Thom Eberhardt delivered Night of the Comet. Low-budget genre features from fairly inexperienced filmmakers, one and all, but each offering their own unique pleasures. Creeps is easily my personal favourite of the three (and, as much as I hate to admit it, I actually find the original Night of the Demons pretty boring), but in many respects Night of the Comet is the most distinctive, unusual and – perhaps above all else – the most unmistakably 80s of them all.
It’s Christmas time in downtown LA, but Santa isn’t the one everyone’s looking forward to seeing soar across the sky; there’s a comet on the way which hasn’t passed by Earth since the dinosaurs ran the show. However, while most of the city is out on the streets waiting to witness the event first hand, cinema usher Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) is getting it on with the projectionist in his steel-lined booth, and across town her high school cheerleader sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) is sleeping in daddy’s toolshed – also steel – following yet another fight with their stepmother. Yet when the girls emerge next morning, the streets are curiously empty, there’s an unnatural red glow in the sky – and where the crowds stood hours earlier, there are now piles of clothes and dust. Yes, it seems that everyone who saw the comet head on has been blown to atoms – and, as the girls soon discover, those who weren’t directly hit by the radiation have been turned into zombies. However, Reggie and Sam are a little more than your average teenage mallrat girls: they’re teenage mallrat girls whose military father has trained them in self-defence, marksmanship and survival. Naturally, the apocalypse doesn’t stand a chance.
The temptation is, of course, to immediately discuss Night of the Comet with reference to other zombie movies and end-of-the-world sci-fi; not hard to do, given it follows the same essential plot beats as Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Triffids et al. However, considering the film specifically as a relic of its era, I find myself likening it to another 1984 film: John Milius’ Red Dawn. Perhaps this is because the dawn (and indeed the midday, afternoon and dusk) are quite literally red in Night of the Comet; perhaps it’s because both films were among the very first PG-13s (which may be evident from the comparative lack of violence, swearing and nudity). What Night of the Comet and Red Dawn share above all, though, is an apocalyptic vision in which teenagers are the only hope for humanity (or, at least, American society). Of course, the key difference is that Milius seemed to approach this idea dead straight, really expecting us to swallow Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and co as hardened freedom fighters – hence Red Dawn is so often held up as a camp classic today. Eberhardt, on the other hand, is clearly out to have a bit more fun with the idea. The notion of a couple of Debbie Gibson-types being mankind’s last chance is beautifully absurd, and Night of the Comet makes the most of this, mocking spoiled daughter stereotypes (as Sam complains in the scene pictured below, “Daddy would’ve gotten us Uzis”) and poking fun at the shallow materialism of the day (our heroines on a free shopping spree to the sound of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun;’ a paramedic in the sinister government lab being envious of their hair).
That said, having fun with the mallrat girl survivors is not the same as making fun of them. I haven’t come across any feminist academic takes on Night of the Comet, but I can’t imagine it being judged too harshly, as this film manages something cinema often seems incapable of doing: presenting tough, resourceful young women who take no shit, yet are also resolutely feminine and down to earth. When we think of most survivalist tough girl characters – take Sharni Vinson in You’re Next as a recent example – they tend to wind up somewhat masculinised, and it’s generally suggested that their violent, self-preserving ways may ultimately be doing them more harm than good. No such concerns here, as Reggie and Sam remain light-hearted and bubbly (but not bubble-headed) in the face of all the adversity that gets thrown in their path. There’s a fantastic moment towards the end when the girls are reunited, and we might anticipate a big emotional outpouring – but instead, the sisters casually compliment one another on their outfits. A healthy message indeed; being an ordinary girl with a love of all the stereotypically girly things, and being a strong woman able to take care of herself and her loved ones – these need not be mutually exclusive conditions. Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney both give thoroughly endearing performances, neither one of them overplaying it for obvious laughs.
Given that Stewart and Maroney are clearly the stars of the show, it is a little odd that top billing goes to Robert Beltran (AKA Chakotay AKA that guy with the forehead tattoo on Star Trek: Voyager), who’s ultimately a bit of a fifth wheel as the trucker who crosses paths with the girls and gets caught up in their battle with a bunch of shady scientists, including Mary Woronov (who co-starred with Beltran in earlier movie Eating Raoul, although I know her primarily as Principal Togar from Rock’n’Roll High School). But hey, that’s Hollywood for you.
Arrow Video’s original artwork for this Blu-ray edition, as fetching as it is, may be deemed a tad misleading for those unfamiliar with this movie, because – though there are a few zombies here and there – this isn’t really a zombie movie as such (indeed, the zombie cop pictured only appears in a nightmare sequence). But who really cares? There are more than enough Romero knock-offs out there. Night of the Comet is a hugely enjoyable genre-bender which, while not exactly the most ground-breaking movie ever made, has a fairly unique style and charm of its own, and it’s a pity Thom Eberhardt didn’t go on to make much more of note.
As ever from Arrow, this Blu-ray is a very nice package: the film looks great, and we have commentaries and interviews with Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Mary Woronov and make-up designer David B Miller (though I gather most of these were on the Scream Factory Blu-ray released in the US last year).
Night of the Comet is out now on UK Blu-ray from Arrow Video.