In November of this year, many horror fans will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the release of the beloved film, Night Of The Comet. Made for just $700,000 and grossing more than $14 million in the US alone, Night Of The Comet is one of those huge hits that very few people seem to know about. But, those of us are fans of the film are very passionate about it. I can talk your ear off about it! Recently, it was announced that a remake of the movie is in the works, and I find myself torn on the issue. Why remake something so brilliant? Can the magic that the original film was be captured a second time? I guess we will have to wait and see. No matter what happens down the road, NOTC will remain a classic that I watch at least once a year. For those who have not seen it, NOTC is about family and perseverance in a harsh world overrun by zombie-like killers and mad scientists. Okay, maybe that makes it sound a little more high-falutin' than it actually is, but, really, that IS the basics.
Night Of The Comet tells the story of the aftermath of a near miss by a comet right before Christmas, the closest since the end of the dinosaurs, according to the narrator at the beginner. Obviously, people are excited about this comet, and comet parties to view it are happening all over the world. The downside is, everyone who isn't inside a place with steel shielding when the comet passes overhead either gets turned to red dust immediately, or is doing it more slowly while becoming a maniacal killer with bad skin. Our heroes are two teenage sisters, Regina and Samantha Belmont, played by Catherine Mary Stewart (The Last Starfighter) and Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall)who find they are the only survivors in L.A. The movie also stars Robert Beltran (Star Trek Voyager) as a truck driver named Hector Gomez, Mary Woronov (Death Race 2000) and Geoffrey Lewis (Salem's Lot) as scientists Audrey White and Dr. Carter who work for a secret government think tank with a dark agenda, and Sharon Farrell (Sweet Sixteen) as Regina and Samantha's wicked stepmother Doris. NOTC is actually the second film with Beltran and Woronov after Eating Raoul and they would go on to appear together in Scenes From The Class Struggle In Beverly Hills. Woronov and Kelli Maroney also both appeared in Chopping Mall.
The film follows the Belmont sisters as they try to find other survivors and avoid being killed by the killer mutants (the original title of the film was to be Teenage Comet Zombies, which is also a line Samantha uses while on the radio) or the think tank scientists. Regina and Samantha's father is a Marine who has taught the sisters how to handle themselves, as well as how to fire military weapons like MAC 10s.
One of the most memorable scenes in NOTC shows Samantha in her cheerleader costume target shooting at a car with a MAC 10. The weapon misfires several times, and Samantha says "See that's the problem with these things, Daddy would have gotten us UZI's." Kelli Maroney says writer/director Thom Eberhardt actually wanted UZIs for the scene and complained that the MAC 10s would jam and mess up the takes. Of course, they did jam multiple times, and Thom told Kelli to just keep the scene going if it happened again. Kelli asked him what she could say if it did, and Thom gave her the line on the spot. And so, a classic quote was born!
There are a lot of great scenes in NOTC. My favorite is the "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" montage scene as Regina and Samantha go "shopping". It is a great light moment between the sisters, who are very different. Regina is the older and more serious sister, while Samantha appears to be the frivolous dumb blonde cheerleader. But, we get plenty of scenes that show us our first impressions of both characters are very wrong, as we see some silliness from Regina, and serious emotional depth and intelligence from Samantha as she copes with the deaths of everyone she knows. You definitely get the idea that the Samantha we think we know from the start of the film is nothing more than an act she has contrived. We also get a great scene as Hector goes home to see if his family survived to give a little more foundation to his character. Geoffrey Lewis is great as the evil Dr. Carter, as well.
One of the best character arcs in the movie is actually Mary Woronov's. Woronov had spent most of her acting career to this point playing scheming, manipulative, or just downright mean characters. Audrey is different. It seems like she is playing another character who has gone to the dark side, but she shows you far more in the long run. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but I loved her part in NOTC, and think it is one of the best of her career.
Night Of The Comet could not have been an easy film to make, just logistically. Many scenes had to be shot quickly, because L.A. traffic was being held up offscreen to simulate a deserted L.A. Other scenes, like the one in the mall, had to be shot at night. Kudos have to go out to the production staff who made this happen and the editors who were able to piece all this together to make a seamless looking film.
Thom Eberhardt wrote a great script and directed Night Of The Comet with what was obviously a lot of love. NOTC is one of those rare films that straddles the line between drama, comedy, horror, and sci fi successfully. That is why it is a true classic and one that people revisit often. A round of applause to everyone involved. Add Night Of The Comic to your film rotation for multiple viewings. I have watched literally dozens of times, and still run across things I either hadn't noticed before, or forgotten.
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