Night of the Comet

Night of the Comet is a 1984 American science fiction horror comedy in which the vast majority of animal life on Earth is turned to dust as Earth passes through the tail of a comet, leaving the few human survivors having to contend with zombies.

Since before recorded time, it had swung through the universe in an elliptical orbit so large that its very existence remained a secret of time and space.

~ Narrator
   opening line

I'm Steve LaBeau, trapped inside your radio, the guy who really cares about you; I mean, who else would sit in this little box everyday just to play music?

~ Steve LaBeau

C'mon, Hector: the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives.

~ Regina Belmont

If something's wrong, it's wrong; majority rule doesn't have anything to do with it.

~ Audrey White

Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.

~ Samantha Belmont

Good, 'cause you don't need it: the stores are open!

~ Regina Belmont

I don't know, my parents told me never to breathe anything from strangers.

~ Sarah

We do not cross against the light!

~ Regina Belmont

You may as well face the facts, Samantha: the whole burden of civilization has fallen upon us.

~ Regina Belmont

God, I'm sorry, but you shouldn't cross against the light like that.

~ Danny Mason Keener

Thanks, I have twenty-three of em'.

~ Danny Mason Keener

Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt.  Produced by Andrew Lane and Wayne Crawford.

It was the last thing on earth they ever expected.  (taglines)

Samantha Belmont

• You were born with an asshole, Doris—you don't need Chuck.
• This is Samantha Belmont, one-third owner of the Greater Los Angeles Basin, speaking.
  • Broadcast over the radio.
• [after her MAC-10 jams during target practice]  See, this is the problem with these things.  Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.
• My sister, who swiped every guy I ever had my eye on, has now swiped the last guy in the whole freaked out world!
• Hey, I'm sorry if the end of the world makes me a little nervous.

Audrey White

• If something's wrong, it's wrong; majority rule doesn't have anything to do with it.
• Seems to be the perfect Christmas gift this year.
  • Referring to firearms.

Willy

• I'm not crazy, I just don't give a fuck!
• Let's play a game: it's called scary noises.

Other

• Narrator:  Since before recorded time, it had swung through the universe in an elliptical orbit so large that its very existence remained a secret of time and space.  But now, in the last few years of the twentieth century, the visitor was returning.  The citizens of Earth would get an extra Christmas present this year as their planet orbited through the tail of the comet.  Scientists predicted a light show of stellar proportions, something not seen on earth for sixty-five million years—indeed not since the time that the dinosaurs disappeared—virtually overnight.  There were a few who saw this as more than just a coincidence, but most didn't…
  • Opening line.
• Steve LaBeau:  I'm Steve LaBeau, trapped inside your radio, the guy who really cares about you; I mean, who else would sit in this little box everyday just to play music?
  • This is a prerecorded message labelled Friday's Voice Tracks programmed to play automatically.
• Regina Belmont:  Come on, Hector: the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives.
• Hector Gomez:  [after child zombie smashes fist through door]  Geez!  There goes the neighbourhood.
• Sarah  I don't know, my parents told me never to breathe anything from strangers.
  • The scientist to whom she is speaking wishes for her to inhale nitrous oxide.

Dialogue

Regina:  Do you have your, uh—do you have your MasterCard on you?

Samantha:  No…

Regina:  Good, 'cause you don't need it: the stores are open!

---

Regina:  They said you were dead!

Samantha:  They were exaggerating, totally!

---

Hector:  [yelling at government scientists]  Hey!  "Think tank," huh?

Regina:  Uh, couldn't we just, like, leave?

Hector:  [giving government scientists the finger]  Think over this!

---

Samantha:  [calling across street to others after Regina pushes crosswalk button]  What are you waiting for?

Hector:  We're waiting for the light to change.

Regina:  We do not cross against the light!

Samantha:  [looks at red crosswalk light]  Are you nuts, "Auntie Regina"?

Regina:  [sighs]  You may as well face the facts, Samantha: the whole burden of civilization has fallen upon us.

Samantha:  What's that supposed to mean?

Regina:  It means we do not cross against the light!

Samantha:  [walking out into street]  That's totally stupid: there's nobody here!  See?  We're talking ghost town!  [runs out of way of Mercedes-Benz 380SL that suddenly comes speeding around corner]

Regina:  [to Brian]  See what happens?

Danny:  [after turning his car around and stopping next to Samantha]  God, I'm sorry, but you shouldn't cross against the light like that.  [pause]  Hey, you guys are survivors, too, huh?  [Samantha looks upward, mouths "thank you"]  What?

Samantha:  Nothing.  Great car.

Danny:  Thanks, I have twenty-three of em'.  You want to go for a ride?

Samantha:  More than you know.

Hector:  [to Regina]  We don't know anything about this guy.  Where's he from?  What's his name?

Samantha:  [to Danny]  What's your name?

Danny:  Danny Mason Keener.

Samantha:  [to others]  Danny Mason Keener, okay?

Regina:  Yeah, alright, well—just be back by midnight, okay?

Danny:  Midnight?

Samantha:  The burden of civilization is on us, okay?

Danny:  Oh, yeah.  Bitchin', isn't it?

• [last lines]

Taglines

• It was the last thing on earth they ever expected.
• They came.  They Shopped.  They saved the world!
• The comet's coming, and the world will never be the same.
• The last time it came the dinosaurs disappeared

Quotes from the trailer

• Narrator:  Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be one of the last people on Earth?

Quotes about the film

• Night of the Comet is a successful pastiche of numerous science fiction films, executed with an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek flair that compensates for its absence in originality.
  • Variety Staff, "Review: 'Night of the Comet'," Variety (31 December 1983).
• Reggie and Sam have quite a lark tooling around a seemingly empty Los Angeles, going on fancy, nonspending sprees in chic boutiques.  They even meet a handsome young man who shows a distinct interest in Reggie to Sam's disappointment.  Then, however, the zombies attack, and after the zombies, there arrive on the scene the members of some secret Government mission who know that their only hope of survival is to steal the young women's blood.
  • Vincent Canby, "Film: 'Night of Comet,' Adventure in California," The New York Times (16 November 1984).
• Is Night of the Comet a totally cheestastic and sometimes completely outlandish sci-fi flick?  Of course.  But I think it's the film's ability to embrace its own zaniness that has cemented Night of the Comet‍'‍s legacy in modern horror as by far one of the most inventive cult classics to have been spawned during the 80's.
  • Heather Wixson, "Reviews: Saturn 3 & Night of the Comet (Blu-ray)," Daily Dead (30 December 2013).
• See, Night of the Comet is legendary for being that movie where the end of the world comes and all that remains are a couple of dingbat Valley Girls who take the sudden emptying out of their city as a great opportunity to do some "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"-scored shopping.
  • Walter Chaw, "Night of the Comet (1984) [Collector's Edition] - Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack," Film Freak Central (3 February 2014).
• Night of the Comet is the rare film that's effective as both a science-fiction movie and a parody of a science-fiction movie.
  • Mike McGranaghan, "'Night of the Comet'," The Aisle Seat: Movie Reviews by Mike McGranaghan (18 August 2014).

Quotes from the soundtrack

Night of the Comet: Original Soundtrack (1984) is the soundtrack to the film.

"Unbelievable" by Revolver

Written by Gary Mallaber, John Massaro, and Byron Allred.

• Oh, it was unbelievable
  If I only knew
  How you could be so unbelievable
  It's beyond me
  That I'm beside you

"Whole World is Celebratin'" by Chris Farren & Wayne Crawford

Written by Chris Farren and Wayne Crawford

• Don't worry about tomorrow
  Don't ask the reasons why
  Just stop, take a look at yourself
  Take a look at the sky!

The whole world is celebratin'

"Trouble" by Skip Adams

Written by Skip Adams.

• My name is Trouble

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Tami Holbrook

Written by Robert Hazard.  Song not included on the soundtrack release.

• Oh, girls just wanna have fun

Cast

• Robert Beltran — Hector Gomez
• Catherine Mary Stewart — Regina "Reggie" Belmont
• Kelli Maroney — Samantha "Sam" Belmont
• Mary Woronov — Audrey White
• Sharon Farrell — Doris
• Geoffrey Lewis — Dr. Carter
• Michael Bowen — Larry Dupree
• Ivan E. Roth — Willy
• Janice Kawaye — Sarah
• Chance Boyer — Brian
• Marc Poppel — Danny Mason Keener / DMK

External links

• Night of the Comet quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Night of the Comet at the TCM Movie Database
• Night of the Comet at Mojo
• Night of the Comet at Rotten Tomatoes