October 31, 2018
Written by: Thom Eberhardt
Starring: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran
Budget: $700,000
Quote: "Come on Hector, the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives."
Trivia: When cheerleader Samantha Belmont (Kelli Maroney) is playing at the radio station as a disk jockey, she says that she is taking requests from "all you teenage mutant comet zombies". This was the working title of the film
Overview: This is a fun little gem absolutely drenched in eighties nostalgia (I was barely two during its release so is it possible to feel nostalgic for a time I didn't experience?). Filmed during the final years decade of the Cold War, this film is an homage to the "end of the world" films of the 1950s. The ending of the 1980s coincided with the ending of the Soviet Union and thereby ended this particular brand of apocalyptic films (they would largely be replaced by the zombie apocalypse trope). Night of the Comet is a fitting finale. The movie is also a look at mall culture and attempts to showcase everything "cool" about the mid-1980s. Adding to the coolness of the movie is a really good soundtrack full of the 1980s version of bubblegum rock. While the movie is very stylistic with some great tongue-in-cheek comedic moments, it lacks both action and plot. The movie is a example of style over substance and the nostalgia is quickly replaced by boredom. Either way, it was a fun little movie. There is also something really hot about a valley girl in a cheerleader outfit with a machine gun.
Synopsis: The movie follows two sisters, Regina and her younger sister Sam (played by Kelli Maroney who had a brief but sexy cheerleader moment in Fast Time at Ridgemont High), who survive an apocalyptic comet that kills most of the world. While almost every person has vanished, some have been turned into zombies and now stalk the streets. The sisters meet a guy name Hector, go to the mall where they fight some zombies before being rescued by scientists who only want to kill them, and eventually escape. The sisters discover the scientists are actively killing survivors to harvest their blood as an attempt to keep to save what is left of humanity (the ol' science run amok scenario). The sisters finally save a couple kids, Regina hooks up with Hector and Sam hooks up with some cool guy in a cool car.
The Good: I love apocalypse movies and this one does a really good job of turning Los Angeles into a deserted lifeless landscape (apparently shot during odd hours to get the empty streets). The two main actors do a great job and their chemistry is great, I really believe them as sisters. There are also a lot of really funny lines peppered throughout the film, "See, this is the problem with these things. Daddy would have gotten us Uzis"... "You were born with an asshole, Doris, you don't need Chuck." Also, as I mentioned before, the filmmakers did an incredible job of capturing 1980s culture. Every moment seems to include some crucial element of the culture (arcades, movie theater, and mall culture). Finally, the soundtrack owns! Nearly two dozen fun and catchy pop songs.
The Bad: While the movie looks beautiful, there is very little beneath its facade. There is very little in terms of a story arc, instead the film focuses on pop cultural references. Sure there are a few zombie attacks and the weird storyline about the evil scientists, but most of the movie is just the sisters hanging out and cracking jokes which pretty quickly lose their appeal. I think Paul Attanasio from the Washington Post said it best when he said the movie "enters the atmosphere without ever igniting." It's true. The entire movie I was waiting for the movie to take off but it never did.
Gore: 2/5
Nudity: 1/5
...what's your thoughts?
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