"Night of the Comet" is a truly fun and engaging little genre effort of the 80's, but surely some of its hardcore fans are slightly overestimating the value and significance of this film. I've encountered reviews stating that "Night of the Comet" is a quintessential gem of 80's horror and that it's easily one of the most intelligent tributes/parodies to older B-movies ever made. Okay, the script is quite clever and writer/director Thom Eberhardt definitely knows a lot about all the post-apocalyptic classics of the 50's and 60's, but I honestly doubt it ever was his intention to direct the ULTIMATE homage. "Night of the Comet" is more like a miniature-tribute! All the obligatory story lines and sub plots to create an end-of-the-world epic are present, but Eberhardt's only disposed of a limited budget and thus the elaboration is only small-scaled and rather cheesy. There are mutated zombies, crazed scientists and hostile groups of survivors on the rampage, but all just in small doses. The movie opens during a bright summer evening, when the entire world is preparing to see a mesmerizing and once-in-a-lifetime ecological phenomenon, namely the passing of a comet. Two high-school teenagers who missed out on the event (sisters, moreover, what are the odds?) wake up the next morning and slowly realize that the comet's radiation killed every human being in L.A, only leaving behind small piles of red dust. They entrench themselves in an abandoned radio station, meet up with another sole (and male) survivor, battle the occasional mutated zombie and – of course – go shopping without credit cards. Things get slightly more dangerous when a bunch of dying scientists, who predicted the extinction of the human race, try to abduct the survivors to steal their still uncontaminated blood. The tone of "Night of the Comet" is continuously light-headed, still director Ebarhardt manages to maintain a more or less sinister atmosphere which never allow you to forget that the whole of mankind just got wiped out. The girls, although mostly concerned about fashion trends and pop music, understand the seriousness of the situation and deal with it the best way they possibly can. There are still a handful of creepy sequences (the confrontation in the mall) and well-developed Sci-Fi ideas (the diabolical scientists),but the emphasis largely lies on the two girls and their typically 80's pop-culture life-styles. I've never heard this many campy pop-songs in one movie, not even in a musical, and the special & make-up effects are kept to a minimum. The acting performances of Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney are more adequate than you'd expect, as it certainly isn't easy for young actresses to portray teenage character that are stereotypical, ignorant, fashionable and yet likable at the same time. "Night of the Comet" certainly isn't brilliant, probably even a bit overrated by its fans, but still worth a peek in case you have a weakness for 80's cinema.

Although NIGHT OF THE COMET possesses a minor status as a cult zombie film, I'm sorry to say that it is totally unworthy of said respect. Truth be told, it's a dumb '80s teen comedy, with a couple of utterly irritating teenage girls as leads and not a great deal to recommend it whatsoever. The paucity of the film's budget is evident from the outset, as comet effects are achieved with flashlights and the sky turns a cheesy red colour for the rest of the movie. As for the plot, it's a direct rip-off of Day of the Triffids, as comets destroy everyone aside from a few people who weren't exposed to the radiation. And what of the zombies? Well, the director clearly loves the work of George Romero and feels it necessary to incorporate a few okay-ish zombie attacks into the film, but these takes up 5 minutes of the running time tops and half of those are padded dream sequences.

Catherine Mary Stewart makes for an unlikely heroine, with a big mouth and even bigger attitude. She's matched by blonde bimbo Kelli Maroney, who character is hands down the worst thing in the movie; you'll be screaming for her death scene, but even that's a cheat. The lead is taken by Robert Beltran, later known for his starring role in STAR TREK: VOYAGER, but he doesn't really have anything to do in this film, just stand around and look dashing. Two cult movie fans appear in the flick: Mary Woronov and Geoffrey Lewis. Both are entertaining in their own right, but criminally underused.

The film is slow moving and even the slim plot seems padded. It can't even use the lack of budget as an excuse, as Steve Barkett's THE AFTERMATH was done on about one tenth of this film's budget and was ten times better. The comedy is diabolical and halfway through things grind to a halt for an appalling shopping mall interlude clearly stolen from DAWN OF THE DEAD. Except this time, two obnoxious teenagers dress up to the 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' song. Words can't express how bad this is. Things do pick up for an eleventh day sub-plot about some ruthless scientists harvesting human blood to protect themselves from the radioactive ways, but it 's over quickly and without much to recommend it. Poor acting, plot, special effects, and barely any gore effects make this film one to avoid. The evil scientist plot is the only thing to stop it from being totally without merit.

The earth passes through the tail of an unnamed comet. It's been 65 million years since the last time when the dinosaurs died off. There is a party atmosphere. Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) working at the movie theater spends the night in the projection booth with a co-worker. Her cheerleader sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) gets into a fistfight with stepmother Doris and hides out in the lawn storage shed. The comet turns most people into dust and the rest into brutal zombies of varying abilities. The steel protected both girls. They drive to a radio station which is still broadcasting but it's all automated and they run into truck driver Hector (Robert Beltran). Then a secret underground military base makes contact with the trio. This is a terrific end-of-the-world B-movie. The lines are fun. Samantha is funny. Regina has attitude. I loved CMS. It's LA without people around. There is something very compelling about an empty large city. It works as a fun apocalyptic movie but also so campy when needed.