Lost in the chaos and upheaval of the site’s technical problems earlier this year was the fact that one of the world’s finest film podcasts, the Projection Booth, was kind enough to feature a guest appearance by yours truly, to talk about the 1986 cult classic NIGHT OF THE COMET. It’s never too late to point you in the direction of cool movie stuff, so here you go.
Or, listen to the episode here:
Watch the trailer:
And here are some written words on the subject:
After NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, NIGHT OF THE COMET is the best “Night Of The” movie of the 1980s. (There were plenty of ‘em.) This is the kind of movie you hope for, every time you venture off the mainstream path looking for something out of the ordinary. This is the kind of movie there just plain aren’t enough of, although if there were, I suppose coming across them wouldn’t feel quite as special.
NIGHT OF THE COMET is about two sisters, Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart, from THE APPLE) and Sam (Kelli Maroney, later of CHOPPING MALL fame). Regina works at a movie theater where she sometimes hooks up with the dickhead projectionist (Michael Bowen, an expert at playing jockish creeps, who eventually became better known for roles in JACKIE BROWN, MAGNOLIA, Lost, andKILL BILL).
Meanwhile, Sam is younger, so she’s stuck at home with their shitty stepmother on the night when parties are gathering to watch the approach of a rare comet. Sam is sent to her room, and Regina is holed up in the projection booth, so they’re not outside with everyone else when the comet turns whole cities to zombies and dust.
Let me clarify: The comet mostly turns everyone to red dust, with a red haze coating the already-considerable haze of L.A. smog. Those who aren’t turned to dust are turned into zombies, which Regina discovers when her dickhead boyfriend ventures outside in the morning and is immediately killed by one. The zombie chases Regina out into the alley, where this exchange transpires:
ZOMBIE IN ALLEY: Come here!
REGINA: Come here your ass!
Two things: 1) Talking zombies, which is something I’ve always wanted to see in a movie like this one, and also, 2) what a great female protagonist! Smart-ass, super-pretty, and unafraid of any back-talking red-dust zombie.
So Regina escapes and finds Sam, hiding out. They discover, with a reaction somewhat more in stride than horrified, that everyone they know is dead. Apparently if you were inside during the comet’s approach, you lived. If you were outside, as most people were, you’re dust. If you got caught in between, you’re zombified — but not for long; dust is in your future. Of course, it strains credulity that Regina and Sam would be the only ones who managed to stay inside, but if you go with it, the movie works. It’s really DAWN OF THE DEAD, with a much lighter tone and a super-sarcastic ‘final girl’ or two.
The cool thing about NIGHT OF THE COMET is that it isn’t a standard zombie-apocalypse movie. Where you might expect the typical zombie hordes, here the zombies are very rare. This movie is even more sparsely-populated than any of the I Am Legend iterations. Eventually, Sam and Regina meet another survivor, Hector (Robert Beltran), a likable enough guy who helps them arm up before heading out for a while. Sam and Regina go foraging at the local mall — after DAWN OF THE DEAD, it was hard to escape that mall — where they encounter another group of zombies and are then captured by a brigade of scientists.
The scientists, led by cult fixture Mary Woronov and Eastwood supporting-player mainstay Geoffrey Lewis, are fixated on “the burden of civilization.” Their nominal goal is repopulating the earth, but like any grown-ups in a 1980s teen movie, apocalypse or no, they can’t be trusted.
For me, the movie falls apart, or at least lags, in this final third, as Regina and Sam have to escape the evil scientists. It would be hard for any movie to maintain the camp energy, eerie setting, and arch dialogue that NIGHT OF THE COMET initially established so well, and while some fans will disagree, I don’t feel that the last half hour or so stacks up to what came before it. However, I don’t want to dwell on any criticisms for long, because there’s so much to enjoy with this movie. It’s fun, silly, highly quotable, and surprisingly convincing, and I have to suspect that it was a partial inspiration for Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It certainly helped set the precedent for smart, self-aware teen heroines.
NIGHT OF THE COMET is an underrated, under-remembered cult movie, and a neat accomplishment by its creator, Thom Eberhardt, who went on to write HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID and to directCAPTAIN RON. Hollywood is so strange. But NIGHT OF THE COMET is a fun genre mash-up with a clearly influential tone. It has its flaws, but it’s way more fun than many so-called perfect movies. You’re gonna dig it, if you haven’t already dug it. So go dig it.
— JON ABRAMS.
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Tags: Aliens, Catherine Mary Stewart, clowns, comedy, geoffrey lewis, Guns, Horror, Joe Bob Briggs, Kelli Maroney, Listen Up, Los Angeles, Mary Woronov, Michael Bowen, Mike White, Motorcycles, Podcasts, Robert Beltran, Sci-Fi, Screenings, The 1980s, The Projection Booth, Thom Eberhardt, Zombies
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