Night of the Comet

Night of the Comet

©MGM

• themovielord's Grade: B
• Night of the Comet

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A comet is heading towards Earth. All the world looks up into the sky to watch a comet that hasn’t passed the by the Earth since the time of the Dinosaurs. The Comet comes and goes but this time it kills the human population. Of course there are survivors, two sisters, both Valley Girls.

Now I already know what you are thinking if you have never heard of ‘Night of the Comet’ before. This is your classic T&A film. It’s not, I swear! Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney are two teenage girls that survive in the barren waste land of down town L.A. There are other survivors but as in the case with all these kinds of movies they need blood to survive.

The movie is or was a modern day remake of Richard Matheson’s classic novel I am Legend. Which was of course was made into two, soon to be three movies. ‘Last Man on Earth’ starring Vincent Price, ‘Omega Man’ with Charlton Heston, and this December with Will Smith in ‘I am Legend’. What makes ‘Night of the Comet’ different is, besides the comet, the heroes are two young women. So there is a slightly different perspective on the end of the world. Especially with who gets the last man on Earth? It is a breath of fresh air in a genre that is stagnant with one man armies. Is it believable? Yes. It is your classic end of the scenario which we all love to put ourselves into. What would I do? Where would I go? Of course these girls go shopping and there is this montage to the tune “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” that is totally Eighties. The pure science fiction fan may roll his yes at this but remember even Charlton Heston went shopping and he too was picky about what he took off the clothing rack.

The budget is low but it still delivers a big budget end of the world waste land. I am sure there was a lot of early morning shooting and well placed cameras to give it that barren look. The huge underground “evil” survivors bunker is impressive in its wide shots. Close up though it appears to be an old Buck Rogers set which is a little distracting but deep down you know this movie is fun and the stuff great B sci-fi/horror film fans love so it is easy to get over.

It’s unfortunate that this film suffered from a low budget and no marquee supporting stars. It might have lead to bigger things for Stewart and Maroney.