Warriors of the Wasteland (Not the 1983 Mad Max Ripoff)

Apparently, the post-apocalyptic West Balkans went ahead and Balkanized—yet again. Various warring tribes battle for water and bullets, while the evil overlord ruling the “City” plays them against each other and generally exploits everyone to the fullest extent possible. A sword-wielding biker challenges the “Lord,” whoever he might currently be, in Nemanja Ceranic’s Warriors of the Wasteland, which releases tomorrow on digital VOD.

This is not a remake of Enzo Castellari’s like-titled 1983 cult favorite, but is a bit of a rip-off, just as Castellari ripped off Mad Max. In fact, half the recent remakes and reboots bear less similarity to their alleged source material than this Wasteland does to Castellari’s, but be that as it may. This story will be told by a mysterious bard with Invisible Man bandages, who must sing for his water. Except we never hear him sing, just that initial strum of his lute, signaling more flashbacks.

John was once part of the Grain People until the City destroyed his independent agrarian clan. Their next target appears to be the “Soaked,” who dress like masked horror movie slashers, but ironically don’t seem to be that bad. In fact, “Outlander” wants to frame them for the recent assassination of the recently deceased Lord, even though it was John’s sister Maria, whom the nasty Captain of the City’s security forces long carried a torch for. Outlander also aspires to usurp the City Lordship from the entitled heir.

Clear enough so far? If so, that makes one of us. Even though Warriors of the Wasteland runs a little over two hours in its North American cut, its various clan rivalries remain largely baffling. Obviously, John is supposed to be a bit of a Sanjuro-like Ronin, but he is also allegedly virtuous enough for his clan’s Excalibur-esque sword to “chose” him.

The framing scenes with the Bard are arguably the most successful, even though any idiot could guess who is under the bandages. Supposedly, Strahinja Madzarevic’s screenplay incorporates Western Balkan folklore, but if so, it shares a lot of common denominator similarities with Samurai chanbara tropes and other universally recurring archetypes. Indeed, perhaps most frustratingly, Ceranic strives for an epic vibe rather than embrace the film’s inherently exploitative DNA. You can practically hear the wisecracking riffs waiting to be super-imposed over the ponderous score.

The Last Spark of Hope

Arthur is not as nurturing as the android grandma in Ray Bradbury’s “I Sing the Body Electric!” Not even close. To be fair, that was never his intended function. He is a patrol robot, who was deployed during the “climate wars.” Those wars are over and everyone lost. After a little makeshift reprogramming, Eva’s now presumed dead father left Arthur to look after her. Unfortunately, Arthur is downright “robotic” when it comes to following his directives. Ironically, that endangers Eva in director-screenwriter Piotr Biedron’s The Last Spark of Hope, which releasees today on VOD.

Those who could, bugged out on spaceships bound for nowhere. Eva is relatively lucky among those who remained. Her mountain-top camp remains higher than he worst of the toxic atmosphere. Despite the risks, Eva most regularly ventures down in search of supplies. One day, she returns home after Arthur’s monthly password has already changed. Awkwardly, the password list is inside, but Arthur will not let her enter without the password. There is nothing funny about this Catch-22 for Eva, because without the water inside, she dies.

In a way, Last Spark is a very zeitgeisty film, but while most artificial intelligence thrillers worry about AI’s taking too much initiative, Arthur is dangerous because he is so blinkered by his rules and procedures. Arthur’s visual design is also quite shrewd. He looks like one of broken down robots the Jawas were hawking in the original Star Wars, but the obvious mileage makes his unreliableness quite believable.

Of course, some viewers might well ask how Eva could lose sight of something as important as her killer robot’s passwords. That is a very Gen-X attitude, reflecting an instinctive distrust of technology. Eva is several generations younger than Gen-Z. Presumably, she grew up with very different attitudes towards tech, despite witnessing the horrors of robotic war.

Survive: A Pole Reversal Disaster

California would say this is a heck of a time for a disaster movie about a lack of water, but here it is. Technically, the water did not disappear. It just shifted to where all the land used to be, when the Earth’s poles reversed. Perhaps it is not as bad for a French family enjoying a sailing holiday as it is for those living in coastal lowlands—but it is still pretty bad. The next piece of good news-bad news is the anticipated reversion of the poles back to normal, which means they need to find a safe shelter for the coming deluge in Frederic Jardin’s Survive, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Tom is German and Julia is French, but somehow, they met, married, and started raising a family in America. Even the kids are enjoying their Caribbean cruise. For teenaged Cassie, still regularly video-chatting with her boyfriend helps considerably. She is online with him when she noticed a bizarre electrical storm in the background—and then all heck breaks loose.

When everyone comes to, the boat is perched on the now dry ocean floor, which stretches out around them like the surface of the Moon (apart from some puddles remaining here and there). Eventually, they make contact with Nao, a Japanese oceanographer, who weathered the disaster in his submersible diving craft. He rather neighborly warns the parents his readings show the catastrophic event will soon reverse itself. Since his partner did not survive, he has room for two additional bodies. Of course, the couple are willing to sacrifice themselves to save their children. However, they must first contend with a vicious survivor out to plunder their food and supplies.

The post-pole-switch landscape is definitely the most impressive aspect of the film. It truly looks like an alien world. Jardin and screenwriters Alexandre Coquelle and Mathieu Oullion also devise plenty of credible challenges in traversing the rises and crevices of the formerly undersea terrain. Unfortunately, they under-deliver when it comes to the promised rabid marine creatures that only appear in the last twenty minutes or so.

There is no camp here, so do not assume anything like Land of the Lost. As the title suggests, this is all about the struggle to survive under extreme and unprecedented circumstances. However, the writing and characterization does not do justice to stunning backdrop. It is also bleakly nihilistic in the ways it depicts other survivors, which grows increasingly depressing. As a further frustration, both children often act out in irresponsible ways that are difficult to believe. True, kids are annoying, but they are usually keenly attuned to the people around them, so they should have picked up on the crisis vibes. Instead, they keep making poor decisions for the sake of advancing the plot.

Year 10: The Apocalypse Takes a Toll

Coastal city folk love to mock preppers, but then every post-apocalyptic movie Hollywood releases completely vindicates their extreme foresight. Judging from this film, you will want to keep plenty of canned goods, medicine, and firearms on-hand. All are apparently scarce in this savage land reverting back to wilderness. Consequently, any medicine will be worth killing for, especially for Jake, who desperately needs antibiotics to treat his ailing partner’s infection in Ben Goodger’s Year 10, which is now available on VOD.

According to press materials, our protagonist’s name is Jake, but you wouldn’t know it from the film, because it is entirely free of dialogue. Evidently, ten years after the apocalypse (however it happened), there just isn’t anything left to say. Jake and his father are hunting traditional game, while the “Leader” and his people hunt human beings. Soon, they hunt Jake’s father, who sacrifices himself, to save Jake and his girlfriend-wife-whatever.

Unfortunately, while they evacuated their dugout, Jake dropped the meds his wounded partner desperately needs. To cure her, he must stalk the Leader’s pack of cannibal brutes. However, he must first replace the warm clothes they stole, so he must find some survivors who are even more vulnerable than he and his partner.

Year 10 is a relentlessly bleak and brutal film. Basically, it is like an entire movie consisting of the really disturbing parts of The Road. Believe it or not, the absence of dialogue never feels like a gimmick, particularly because the music composed by Mario Grigorov and Matt Hill so clearly communicates the underlying emotions of each scene.

However, it is hard to figure why all the survivors remain in such close proximity to each other. It is pretty clear the action had to stay within a pre-set production area. However, the crude sets and assorted clutter look realistically dreary and drearily real.

Regardless, Luke Massy’s fiercely malevolent portrayal of the Leader will define the film for most viewers. He never says a word, but it might be the scariest performance of the year. Frankly, Year 10 probably should be classified as a horror film, even though it is not really written as such, largely because of his work.

Tanel Toom’s Last Sentinel

In lighthouse and deep-sea oil rig movies and series, like The Vanishing and The Rig, characters often feel like the rest of the world might have disappeared, leaving them stranded forever. For the rag-tag crew aboard this post-apocalyptic ocean fort, that is a very real possibility. Their relief is distressingly late and some of them are starting to act a little stir crazy in Tanel Toom’s Last Sentinel, which opens this Friday in theaters.

The seas have risen, but the two tiny surviving nations remain perpetually at war. It is just four of them manning this remote, seabound military outpost (modeled on WWII Britain’s Maunsell forts), but Sgt. Hendrichs will not let any of them slack off. Cpl. Cassidy tries to be an intermediary between him and the grunts, Sullivan and Baines, but it isn’t easy. Their relief is way, way overdue, but when a ship finally arrives, unannounced, it is a cause of concern rather than relief. In fact, Hendrichs almost uses the fort’s super weapon to blow them all up.

That would have been a mistake, but the empty vessel is still disconcerting. At least it isn’t full of rats, like in Three Skeleton Key. It also holds some supplies, as well as a good deal of mystery. Regardless, it is still a sea-worthy ship, but Hendrichs is not about to let the squad abandon their post.

The basic concept of this Waterworld-like world is familiar, but the execution of the Estonian Toom (an Oscar nominee for the short film, The Confession) is notably strong. The initial encounter with the derelict ship is surprisingly tense, as are several subsequent sequences. The isolated setting is definitely eerie and the spartan set design is highly effective. It all looks great, but unfortunately, some of screenwriter Malachi Smythe later plot points stretch credibility.

SuperGrid: The WolfCop Team Goes Post-Apocalyptic

They used to be so polite, but in the dark and stormy future, Canada will be known for cannibalism. Hard to believe, but that comes straight from a new Canadian-produced Saskatchewan-shot post-apocalyptic action-road movie-family drama. Of course, the United States is not much better since the outbreak of the Black Lung plague. Things are bad everywhere, but there are serious smuggling opportunities to be found on the lawless titular SuperGrid highway connecting Fargo country to the Great White North. The guilt-ridden Deke convinces his brother Jesse to come back for one last contraband run in Lowell Dean’s SuperGrid (trailer here), which opens this Friday in select Canadian cities.

Deke has black lung, but at least he is not dead yet, like his sister. He recruited her to drive during an unusually dangerous run forced on him by post-apocalyptic gangster Lazlo. Even though she was killed, Deke still owes him his cargo, whatever that might be. After some brotherly angst, Jesse agrees to join him, but the bickering only stops when they know they are in dire trouble (actually, that is pretty often). Fortunately, Jesse’s ex-wife North and her partner Owl form the Overwatch security agency are discretely riding shotgun, as an off-the-books favor to Deke.

There is nothing particularly original about this foray into the near-future wasteland, but SuperGrid is still an enjoyable time at the movies, because it has so much humanity and attitude. Dean and several of several cast-members of his wildly entertaining WolfCop movies, including the big dog himself, Leo Fafard, truly bring out the human element in this tale of estranged brothers. Viewers quickly invest in them and North. The island of civilization represented by a resilient First Nations community is also a smart piece of world-building.

Fafard really commands the screen playing it straight-as-an-arrow as Jesse, the no-fooling-around brother. He and Marshall Williams really sound like brothers who get on each other’s last nerves. Natalie Krill also shows some decent action chops as North. Plus, Tinsel Korey helps boost the film’s intelligence and sensitivity as Eagle, the First Nations doctor.

SuperGrid has tons of logical holes, but it is impossible to dislike such a dashed resourceful, bootstrap-pulling film. Based on this film and the Wolfcops, we would watch anything Dean and his repertory company took a swing at. But seriously, when’s the new WolfCop coming out? Recommended with weird affection for fans of the post-apocalypse, SuperGrid opens this Friday (12/14) in Toronto at the Carlton Cinemat and in Ottawa at the Mayfair Theatre, with a VOD release coming on both sides of the border next Tuesday (12/18)—and special thanks to GAT.

Domain

It is sort was sort of like winning the ultimate reality TV survival game, except maybe winners weren’t so lucky. After the doomsday plague broke out, 5,000 lottery winners were placed in sealed bunkers and connected to six other survivors via the communication system known as the “Domain.” Survival has been more of a mental challenge for Phoenix and her six fellow lucky drawers, but they might start to face physical issues as well in screenwriter-director Nathaniel Atcheson’s Domain (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in Los Angeles.

Phoenix is stuck with a really motley group of survivors. Somewhere, along the way, they stopped using names and started referring to each by the city their bunker is located in. Orlando is an aggressively obnoxious jerk, who recently confessed to his criminal past. He is definitely the worst of the group, but Chicago has also been exhibiting anti-social tendencies. At least she has Denver, with whom she has commenced a seriously long-distance relationship. That has caused a bit of jealousy in Boston, who takes his position as their ostensive leader very seriously.

Over Phoenix’s objections, the group votes to disconnect Orlando from their feeds. Presumably, this is a massive violation of protocol, but Denver’s hacking prowess makes it possible. Unfortunately, bugs start developing in the system shortly thereafter, suggesting they may have upset the Domain’s equilibrium. As the glitches become progressively more serious, Phoenix and Denver start considering the possibility of escape.

The first two-thirds of Domain are quite cleverly conceived and tightly executed. These (for the most part) six bunkers feel like a real living environment, as well as a hermetically sealed ecosystem unto itself. However, Atcheson sort of writes himself into a corner, which forces him to fall back on a derivative cop-out third act reveal.

Brit Lower is terrific as Phoenix, balancing strength and vulnerability in equal measure. She develops some remarkably potent (though necessarily chaste) chemistry with Ryan Merriman’s Denver. William Gregory Lee also portrays the risk-averse Boston with surprising depth and dimension.

Even though the laws governing their situation do not make a great deal of sense, but Atcheson scrupulous observes them—and in some cases explanations will be revealed later. Yet, the film really works best when things are murky and mysterious. Recommended as an interesting near-future, slightly-dystopian film (one that is more about the social and psychological implications of extreme situations), Domain opens tomorrow (9/28) in LA, at the Laemmle Music Hall.

What Still Remains: Where are the Zombies When We Need Them?

If you think this post-apocalyptic world looks bad, just imagine what the zombies are like. Supposedly, there are still some of them out there, but the most pressing threat comes from other people in screenwriter-director Josh Mendoza’s What Still Remains (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Anna’s mother is dying, but at least it is from natural poor health. When her brother is killed by a psychotic berserker stalking the family, Anna is left all alone. She is tough, but she recognizes reality, so when the seemingly decent Peter offers her refuge in his community, she accepts. Unfortunately, his authoritarian, ultra-Christian colors start to come out during the trek from her cabin to his compound.

To be fair, stepping in a bear trap tends to bring out the worst in people. Nevertheless, there seems to be something a little extreme about Peter. She is also not comfortable surrendering her firearm at the Gates of Zion, so to speak. She is right to feel that way, especially with the freaky berserkers making noise out there.

Honestly, Remains is so derivative and stilted, watching it is just a fruitless chore. Here’s the takeaway: people are bad, especially the Christian ones. The end. We get that after the first act, but Mendoza keeps driving the point into the ground, over and over again. Genre fans will also be disappointed by the way the film references zombies, but never actually shows one.

It is really a shame Remains craters so completely into tedium, because it wastes a terrific star turn from Lulu Antariksa as Anna. The TV thesp definitely proves she can carry a feature—now she just needs a worthy project. To give all due credit, Colin O’Donoghue and Jeff Kober are strong screen presences as Peter and his mentor Zack, but it is hard to watch Mimi Rogers’ cartoonish intolerance as Judith, the camp matriarch.

Remains is a below-average film that wears its prejudices on its sleeve. Once again, we are basically told human nature is so inherently bad, we basically deserve the apocalypse. Speak for yourselves, humanity-hating genre filmmakers. Not recommended, What Still Remains opens tomorrow (8/10) in LA, at the Laemmle Music Hall.

Genesis: The Singularity Get Biblical

By now, we know any post-apocalyptic shelter named “Eden” will be anything but. The Biblical references will not stop there. It is 2067 and humanity isn’t quite dead enough, so we will go ahead and hasten the Singularity to finish the job in Freddie Hutton-Mills & Bart Ruspoli’s people-hating Genesis (trailer here), which releases today on DVD.

Paul Brooks earnestly tries hold the last dregs of human civilization together as the civilian proles’ official liaison to the Eden government, but he is losing heart. The government elites keep slashing rations, even though they still eat quite well themselves. Like Marie Antoinette, they treat the “Civvies” like dirt, insisting they do nonsensical “punishment duty” for minor infractions. Basically, this entails walking around outside, until their environmental suits start losing their integrity. You’d think they would just stand still, to cause less wear and tear, but they can’t help wandering off. Periodically, some sort of environmental death ray flares up, forcing them to take shelter in rusted-out cars. Considering how many wrecked jalopies are out there, you’d think they could use them to build a bigger base.

Dr. Eve Gabriel (her name is a double-whammy) still has hope—and he is named Abel (seriously). That is the AI android built with technology developed by her late husband. It/he also happens to be the spitting image of the robotics scientist. Dr. Gabriel hopes that Abel will be able to forage for food and potentially scout for other human survivors, because he can walk around the post-apocalyptic surface without a hazmat suit. Yet, as Abel learns more about human nature and starts thinking for himself, the implications become rather awkward for Team Eden.

Why do Hutton-Mills & Ruspoli hate their fellow humankind so much, they want to eradicate us as a species? Frankly, the theme that humanity has become too sick to merit survival has become alarmingly prevalent in science fiction and end-of-the-world films in recent years. Okay, so maybe people hate Trump, but killing us off as a species definitely seems like overkill.

In this case, Genesis is not just rehashing a particularly problematic theme. It is basically cobbled together from bits and pieces cast-off from dozens of more accomplished sf films. A particular head-slapper is the big revelation that comes midway through. We won’t be outright spoilery, but as a hint, it was probably lifted from the original Bladerunner.

Compared to Genesis, Singularity (with John Cusack) is still complete junk. This film has a boatload of issues, but it benefits tremendously from the reassuring presence of John Hannah. He has a lot of accrued good will from Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Mummy franchise. In fact, Hannah is terrific doing the post-apocalyptic thing in the honestly entertaining Gina Carano vehicle, Scorched Earth, but we can only follow him so far here.

Likewise, Olivia Grant is considerably better than this movie deserves as Dr. Gabriel, who has quite a developmental arc. For what it’s worth, Warren Brown is also decently nefarious as Sec. Jordan Ainsley. Unfortunately, Chiké Okonkwo takes the vaguely sketched Abel and makes him almost impossibly boring, for a genocidal machine.

This is bad future speculation, bad character development, and bad world-building. Yet, the conclusion promises (threatens) more to come. As armchair futurologists, our analysis says a Genesis sequel (probably to be titled Revelations) is highly unlikely. Not recommended, Genesis releases today on DVD.

The Hermit (short): It’s a Bug’s Life

Insects survive. It’s what they do. However, it is not always such a bed of roses being the last species standing. One insect survivor endures the threats of a hostile environment as well as a profound sense of alienation in the Raúl & Daniel Díez’s animated short film The Hermit (trailer here), which kicks off a week of special screenings this Friday in Los Angeles.

The opening titles tell us this was a time when warring insects ruled our planet. That sounds like the distant past, but the décor is rather post-apocalyptic looking. Either way, The Hermit would make quite provocative pairing with The Hellstrom Chronicle or perhaps Saul Bass’s Phase IV. Initially, viewers will just soak up the stunningly immersive world-building, as the armored mantis, grasshopper, or whatever forages about his desert wasteland. Eventually, it builds to a Twilight Zone-style ironic ending. Frankly, it would be a pretty potent twist, but it is just overshadowed by the awesome spectacle of the 3D animation and the harsh wonders of the surrounding world.

For the records, Raúl Díez is credited as director, screenwriter, co-producer, and co-executive producer, while his brother Daniel is listed as co-artistic director, co-3D supervisor, co-producer, and co-executive producer. No matter what you call them, they both most likely spent many sleepless nights on the project. However, the resulting film should make the animation world sit up and take notice. This is a macabrely beautiful film, subtly enhanced by José Abenza’s eerie sound design.

The Hermit is only fifteen minutes, but it is exactly the kind of viewing experience Shane Acker’s feature treatment of 9 promised, but never quite delivered. Festival programmers could also consider it on a bill proceeding Birdboy: The Forgotten Children. In any event, The Hermit should be Oscar-qualified after its Laemmle screenings—and it deserves to be a contender. Very highly recommended, The Hermit starts a week of special afternoon screenings this Friday (5/11) at the Laemmle Royal.

Diverge: Back from the Post-Apocalypse

Time is like a river, or maybe it acts like sub-atomic molecules. A theoretical physicist like Dmitri Tarkov could explain which is correct. He has a theory about time travel that he will put into practice after a super-virus brings on Armageddon. Molecular biologist Chris Towne is the perfect subject to send back in time. His curative strain might have saved humanity and it might yet do so in James Morrison’s Diverge (trailer here), which releases today on VOD.

Towne’s wife Anna is dying, but she hung on far longer than most the infected, due to the surviving shreds of a cure-all hybrid he developed in the days leading up to the apocalypse. Unfortunately, he entrusted it in the wrong people. Therefore, nobody is better equipped to alter history. Tarkov will give him the opportunity to do exactly that, after Anna’s inevitable death. Like Towne, Tarkov is also immune, but his daughter Daisy was/is not.

Granted, Towne did not exactly sign up for this, but what does he have to lose? Tarkov even gives him personal information that will convince his earlier self to help. Yet, he is still unprepared for the skullduggery surrounding his plant.

Admittedly, Diverge is far from a perfect film. It spends way too much time mired in the post-apocalyptic wasteland before it finally gets down to its time travel business. However, the second and third acts are cleverly plotted and hold several fresh surprises. Once again time travel lends itself to some provocative but largely special effects-free science fiction speculation. In terms of tone, think of it as a better alternative to Stasis or a more conflict driven Movement+Location.

Morrison shows he has cool ideas as a director and screenwriter, but he labors under the limitations of his budget and cast. Jamie Jackson is terrific as Tarkov, creating two very different personas for the same character in each time frame. Co-producer Andrew Sensenig (We Are Still Here, Camera Obscura) continues to be one of those constantly busy genre character actors, who is immediately credible in any role, including his turn here as creepy corporate headhunter Jim Eldon. Unfortunately, the rest of the ensemble is pretty hit-or-miss.

Using little more than a few news reports of livestock outbreaks, Morrison creates a palpable sense that the end is nigh (again). Diverge, his feature debut, is a bit messy and inconsistently paced, but it is sufficiently distinctive and inventive to make us eager to see his next film. Recommended for genre fans who appreciate emerging talent, Diverge releases today on VOD.

Scorched Earth: Gina Carano, Bounty Hunter

In the post-apocalyptic future, the West will be Old again. Bounty-hunter Attica Gage rides out of New Montana, tracking down outlaws for money and silver, the key ingredient for life-preserving air filters. Gage goes undercover in Elijah Jackson’s decency-defying enclave of outlaws for the sake of bounties, but she will stay to extract some old school vengeance in Peter Howitt’s Scorched Earth (trailer here), which releases in select theaters and on iTunes this Friday.

In the future, water and silver are the most precious commodities on Earth, whereas oil is not in such demand anymore ever since motor vehicles were banned to prevent any further warming emissions. There are still idiots driving around out there, like the first loser-bounty we see Gage collar. Her second will be much tougher prey. Initially, she is disappointed she had to kill the notorious Chavo, resulting in an automatic halving of the bounty, but since they are roughly the same build, it allows her to “safely” assume the outlaw’s identity to infiltrate Jackson’s bandit town. Okay, so it really isn’t such a safe scheme. Her mentor, Doc, a former bounty hunter slowed by age and injury, is dead set against, but she goes in anyway.

Scorched Earth serves up a fair amount of B-movie fun, but it never fully capitalizes on Gina Carano’s muay thai and mixed martial arts chops. Currently, she is perched somewhere between an “A” and “B” list action star, because she has the skills and the presence, but she has yet to truly score a breakout role. This isn’t it either, but it is still amusing to see her riffing on Spaghetti Western tropes (she even drags a coffin behind her horse during the opening sequences).

Weirdly, Carano’s best fight scene comes early on, when she faces off against Luvia Petersen’s Chavo. Frankly, as villains go, Jackson and his chief henchman Leer are pretty blah (whereas Chavo had some flair). However, one of the most appealing aspects of the film is the platonic teacher-protégé relationship shared by Gage and Doc. John Hannah (from Four Weddings and a Funeral) is drily sardonic and pleasantly understated as the gun-slinging sawbones (“doctor” would be too strong a word for him).

Howitt previously directed Hannah in Sliding Doors, the re-conception of Kieslowski’s Blind Chance, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, which in terms of time and tone seems so long ago and so far away from Scorched. However, we have to give him credit for staging a nifty climatic shootout.

For Carano fans and connoisseurs of day-and-date action movie releases, Scorched Earth is likely to become a familiar guilty pleasure. It is far from transcendent, but it delivers what it promises and should wear well over time. Recommended as a VOD indulgence, Scorched Earth hits theaters and iTunes this Friday (2/2).

Eclipse Viewing: Night of the Comet

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.

Sure, the scientists’ subterranean base is pretty cheesy looking, but that is all part of the fun. All things considered, the film holds pretty well, especially when it comes to the energy and attitude of Stewart, Muroney, and Beltran. Just as highly recommended as ever, Night of the Comet is available on DVD and it screens September 5^th at the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester.