Night of the Comet

The Poster
Going into the movie not knowing what it was about and just seeing the poster, I might be thinking it was about some mysterious event that unites or inspires humanity like Close Encounters or E.T. Something about the poster really does that for me.  I actually really love it. It’s simple, makes perfect sense to anyone who has or hasn’t seen the movie without giving much away and creates a nice sense of mystery with the possibility of horror or happiness; who knows.

The Good
The movie follows the survivors of a world-wide catastrophe brought about by a comet that passes close to Earth killing everyone exposed to it and turning many of the few survivors into flesh-eating zombies. Although it’s a horror comedy full of inconsistencies and little movie making gaffs, it’s also become something of a cult classic with some stunning visuals and some incredibly fun bits of fiction story telling going on.

The unforgettable red sky is . . . well . . . unforgettable!

Seriously this movie is a perfect example of great 80’s horror comedy. It has the look and feel of a low-budget movie made with a great cast with good chemistry and who seemed to really have a good time making the flick. It never oversteps itself and does a brilliant job of the whole story.

The Bad
It is a bit dated but I can’t say it’s so awful. You can see why it’s still so popular with fans. It’s the sort of thing I could see getting remade badly with sharp visuals and bad special effects that would overtake the cast and characters.

The “zombies” in the movie are the sort-of dead who didn’t get vaporized by the comet as it passed overhead. So this isn’t really a “zombie” flick per se but it’s just sort of fun having them in there.

Wow. I’m usually really negative in the bad section but I just can’t be with this movie.

The Ugly
The special effects in the movie are good for the time and were done by David Miller who did the effects for Freddy Kruger in the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Considering the budget the movie had of just seven hundred thousand dollars it’s pretty impressive.

For a LOT more about this movie in a VERY dry monotone voice check out this great review by GoodBadFlicks with LOTS more amazing facts on YouTube. (Click here if the embed doesn’t work.)