[Yuletide Terrors] Day 19: NIGHT OF THE COMET

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

A mid December night and everyone is out to catch a glimpse of the comet about to pass by the Earth. Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) is working at the movie theater and misses the comet after spending the night in the projection room with a coworker. Her sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) is stuck at home with their stepmom and her dumb Comet Party. Samantha runs away but really hides in the tool shed in the backyard. The next morning something is odd. There’s no one else out in the city. The neighborhoods are quiet, the streets are empty and the freeway is abandoned. Everyone exposed to the Comet’s radiation has been turned to dust, except for the occasional mutated flesh hungry zombie. One step behind them is a group of scientists.

Night of the Comet is a great matinee movie. Writer and director Thom Eberhardt keeps the end of the world tounge in cheek. His script is more owes more to classic Sci-Fi than zombie movies. The zombies are honestly more like the creatures in Last Man On Earth. Mary Woronov pops up as one of the scientists. Her small role here is better than her starring role in Silent Night, Bloody Night. And her Eating Raoul co-star, Robert Beltran, plays the most eligible bachelor on the planet. While there are decorations and mentions of Christmas, the most festive this movie get is when Beltran pulls up in a classic car dressed like Santa Claus.

As a Christmas Classic Night of the Comet doesn’t rank high. I didn’t even realize it was set in December until it was pointed out to me. If you like your Christmas with more spirit, you could do better. But if you tire of watching different Santas hacking up girls and boys, this should do the trick.