Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Night of the Comet’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There's so much to love about the horror genre that quite frankly, we could do a year's worth of blogs in its honor. It's one of the few genres that can elicit a wide range of emotional responses in a matter of seconds and it's also one of the few genres that manages to perfectly preserve the time period in which the story was put together.

The Universal Monster era of films for example always remind us of the Golden Era of Hollywood. The sci-fi and creature features of the 1950's instantly take us back to a time of sock hops and atomic fear and the work of George Romero, Wes Craven and David Cronenberg remind us of how turbulent and terrifying the 60's and 70's were for our society. But while these films take us back to their respective era in their own special way, only a handful of them truly capture the spirit and feel of the times. Take for example horror from the 1980's. Sure the fashion is there, and the look reminds us of the times, but Freddy and Jason don't tell us what it was like to live back then...but one film that did, was 1984's Night of the Comet. 

Released during an era of films that capitalized on the craze of Haley's Comet (in fact 1985's Lifeforce and 1986's Maximum Overdrive would be the next set of motion pictures to feature comets and horror), the film takes us into a story where the planet earth passes through the tail of a surprise comet that last visited earth 65 million years ago. The close encounter between the two stellar objects should bring forth an incredible light show, and when the day arrives for the 'show' to begin the world is left in awe...and wiped out in the process. Anyone who was directly exposed to the phenomenon is turned to red dust and a pair of Valley Girls managed to find shelter from the comet's rays, giving them a chance at survival, that is...if they can escape the unfortunate souls that were slightly exposed to the comet who have transformed into bloodthirsty zombies that now roam the land...

---

So, what makes this film so unique is that it manages to bridge the gap between several eras of horror filmmaking. On one hand, Night of the Comet is an update on 1950's sci-fi/horror flicks. Giving us that feel of science that we don't understand doing us wrong and costing humanity greatly since no one has a clue in the scientific community what the comet is capable of and the fact that the apocalypse comes so quickly in the film is jarring to say the least and well...it doesn't end there. Once the comet does its thing, we say goodbye to the genre hybrid of old and find ourselves plunged into modern horror.

There is something incredibly disturbing about the film's visuals that show us a world now devoid of humanity. The empty Los Angeles freeways, the timers that flip on to make life easier for a species that no longer exists, and of course the piles of red dust spilling out of clothes all serve as ugly reminders of the tragedy that has befallen mankind. But while the horror in the film is excellent, the true draw of the film is the fact that it embodies the 1980's so well and that is done through our lead characters, Reggie and Sam, a pair of teenage girls who have no machinations about saving mankind, they just want to make it to tomorrow and well...their behavior, their dialogue and their look screams the eighties through and through. I mean come on, they go shopping in the middle of the movie while pop hits play in the background. It's good times to the max. 

Thankfully though, the film never lets the silliness and fun of moments like that overpower the story and the comet zombies are there to ground us when they and the third act of the film arrive. But when all is said and done, this may not be the brainiest or most revolutionary horror film to come out of the 1980's, and that's okay. Because this was the era of excess and fun and this film embodies all of that perfectly with it’s over the top moments and kitschy one-liners and to top it off, there's some pretty decent scares to be found in this one as well. If by chance you haven't seen Night of the Comet, pick up a copy of it as soon as you can, in fact make sure you snag the new Collector's Edition from Shout Factory since it is filled to the brim with awesome special features and the best print out there of a story that serves as perhaps one of the finest love letters to the 1980's ever put on film.

---