The
Sun and the Moon exert an influence over the Earth every day of the year, so
there is no rational reason to fear the eclipse. However, after revisiting this
awesome Eighties cult classic, the idea of gazing heavenwards with a large
group of strangers feels like an invitation to bad karma. Skip the eclipse and
find a steel-lined shed instead, to watch Thom Eberhardt’s influential
end-of-the-world romp, Night of the
Comet
(trailer here).
As
the in-a-word-style narrator points out in the prologue, a mysterious comet is
about to pass Earth for the first time since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Some find this fact significant, but most do not. Regina (“Reggie”) and
Samantha Belmont haven’t given it much thought. They are more concerned with
their own high school love affairs and drama with their unfaithful stepmother, Doris.
Each skips the comet-watching, crashing in lead-lined rooms.
In
Reggie’s case, she slept with her pseudo-boyfriend Larry Dupree, a bootlegging
projectionist, who might have become another Tarantino if the world had
survived to early 1990s indie boom. Unfortunately, Dupree lived through the
comet, only to become the first victim of the zombie-like remnants. Eventually,
they too will turn to dust, like the rest of the comet’s victims, but first
they will kill whatever they can catch.
Alarmed
by her own encounter with an infected non-zombie, Reggie makes her way home
through the eerily empty, dust-strewn streets of Los Angeles, reuniting with
her in-denial sister. They might look and sound like Valley Girls, but the
Belmont sisters know how to take care of themselves, thanks to their Special
Forces father. Hooking up with Hector, a long-haul trucker at a still
broadcasting radio station (local, but alas, not so live), they decide to stock
up on guns at the nearby armory and famously, do a bit of shopping.
Unfortunately, the scientists who received their is-anybody-out-there message
at the radio station do not necessarily have good intentions.
Comet might just be the
greatest apocalyptic science fiction movie ever. Some might dismiss it as a
sarcastic teen comedy, but its sly attitude arguably reflects something acutely
human, especially during times of stress. Maybe they are not the sharpest
knives in the drawer, but if the world really did end, you could do far worse
than teaming up with the bickering Belmont sisters.
As
Reggie Belmont, Catherine Mary Stewart became the movie-crush of every Eighties
teen science fiction fan. Seriously, how could you not fall for a beautiful
woman, who could fight and shoot guns, but preferred to spend her time playing
video games? (Plus, she had already appeared in The Last Starfighter and would go on to co-star in Weekend at Bernies.) Stewart perfectly played
off Kelli Maroney’s Samantha Belmont, who had most of the best lines and the
cheerleader outfit, carrying off both quite well.
Robert
Beltran nicely serves a grounding, stabilizing influence. Despite his years on Star Trek: Voyager, he probably gets more
questions at conventions about portraying good old Hector. For extra cult movie
cred, Mary Woronov plays the decent mad scientist and Geoffrey Lewis plays her
evil boss.
There
are not a lot of special effects in Comet,
which is one of the reasons it is so gosh-darned cool. Instead, Eberhardt and
his cast and crew filmed guerrilla-style on the deserted streets of LA one
early Christmas morning. As a result, Comet
feels more desolate than just about every doomsday movie that followed it. Whedon
himself has cited the film’s influence on the creation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but you can see its influence on scores
of ironic midnight genre movies. Frankly, Eberhardt’s contributions to 1980s
and early 1990s pop culture have been criminally under-recognized, considering
he also helmed the Sherlock Holmes spoof, Without
a Clue and the pilot episode of Parker
Lewis Can’t Lose.
