Movie review: ‘Night of the Comet’

FloridaGator80

You can find aliens influencing life on Earth in films. Take the aliens-come-to-earth genre (say, “Independence Day” or John Carpenter’s “They Live” – click here to read my review) that pretty much always ends up less than perfect for humanity. Then you can find those that are alien-like influencing Earth, such as in “Night of the Comet” when a comet passing near our planet introduces an alien disease that nearly wipes out our species. “Night of the Comet” is somewhat creative in its plot and how the survivors of the comet fare in the post-apocalyptic world, but it could have been better. Oh, in much more competent hands it could have been exceptional. It isn’t. I’m not a big fan of most sci-fi outside “Star Wars” or “Star Trek,” but I’m looking at “Night of the Comet” today.

‘Night of the Comet’
(1984; 95 minutes; rated PG-13; directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney and Robert Beltran)

SURVIVING THE COMET WAS THE EASY PART

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Jan. 27, 2020. I again expanded the review on May 11, 2025.)

I’ve reviewed films that I enjoyed years ago and now I’ve found that there is something mostly good to report even 30 years later. However, that’s not always the case. You have complete stinkers such as “Bobby Deerfield” with Al Pacino (click here to read my review) and you have some OK efforts such as “TAG: The Assassination Game” (click here to read my review). Today, I’m writing about the sci-fi effort and somewhat cult fav called “Night of the Comet.”

When I saw “Night of the Comet” listed on a cable channel, I recorded it on our DVR. I recalled that I liked the film and thought it was watchable sci-fi with a touch of zombies – a species I always enjoy on screen. What I didn’t remember was the mostly wooden performances by the actors (although headliner Catherine Mary Stewart has her moments), its poor directorial effort and not very clever filmography.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’d recommend against ever watching it, but I believe you should only if you are on the couch … it’s coming on … your remote is across the room … and you don’t have anything else to do for the next hour and a half.

In “Night of the Comet,” the world is awaiting the passage close to Earth of a comet. There are street parties planned and it’s the “event” of the time. The characters are introduced as a young woman who’s working at a theater and wants to keep only her initials on a video game and her younger sister is having a brouhaha with their abusive stepmother. Through a confluence of events both girls manage to stay protected overnight while sleeping in a metal or steel-reinforced room (the older one in a projection room at the theater and the younger in a steel shed in the backyard).

They wake up to find everyone gone – all that’s left are piles of clothes and little mounds of dust. Subsequently, there’s a quick tangle with a zombie by the older sister and then she makes her way home; she finds her sib still alive (naturally); and she manages to put two-and-two together – some who survived the comet are now deteriorating and go into a zombie phase before dying and leaving a pile of calcium dust.

The girls then hear a disc jockey on the radio and drive into the city to find him. What they find is a station on automated play but do find another healthy survivor. The trio hook up and begin an adventure that takes them to a shopping mall and finally out in the boonies where a bunch of scientists had prepared for the comet (with one fatal detail forgotten) and had survived.

The scientists had planned to be protected from the comet, but basically forgot to turn off the ventilation system and the comet’s particles got in and infected them. The scientists hear them when the girls broadcast through the radio station and then use helicopters for a rescue from zombie stockboys at the mall (neat gunfight in this part of the film). The girls manage to escape from the scientists’ facility with the help the guy they found at the radio station and finds out that rain washes away the comet dust and everything’s beautiful again.

I’d go into a little more detail about “Night of the Comet,” but you don’t need it. Actually, I didn’t need it. The plot, while creative, isn’t played out well and the effort of a couple of excellent supporting actors is wasted.

As for our headliner …

  • Stewart plays “Regina ‘Reggie’ Belmont” and gives an acceptable performance here. She is tough and tough minded and doesn’t mind making decisions – plus, she’s pretty handy with a MAC-10 machine pistol. I’m not sure how she could have better distinguished her character, but she does have her moments. Stewart was better in a smaller part in “Weekend at Bernie’s” (click here to read my review) and one of her earliest roles was a bit part in “Nighthawks” (click here to read my review) and she has had a variety of TV roles including “White Collar.” More recently she did an episode of the venerable series “Law & Order.”

The two co-stars of Stewart are Kelli Maroney playing “Samantha ‘Sam’ Belmont” and Robert Beltran as “Hector Gomez.” The characters have a chance of becoming memorable, being positioned well in the film and what appears enough leeway for the actor to make a mark. However, despite both getting excellent screen time, neither one gives performance worth remembering – 10 minutes after watching the film they’re pretty much forgotten.

  • Sadly, Maroney’s most memorable moment isn’t as an actor. It’s a scene where she undresses from her cheerleader outfit. Although giving a hint at being a better talent, it is what you’ll remember of her work in this one instead of her acting. She has also been in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Chopping Mall” and won several and was nominated for several awards in 2025 for the sci-fi/horror effort “Staycation” from 2024.
  • Sorry and I don’t mean to belittle his career, but Beltran has steered a very unremarkable course as an actor. He was in “Bugsy” as well as two “Star Trek” franchise series (first, he did an impressive 168 episodes of “Star Trek: Voyager” and later voiced for “Star Trek: Prodigy”). is an alumnus of the odd offering “Eating Raoul” (he’s “Raoul) from director Paul Bartel.

The two whose talents are mostly wasted here are veteran supporting actor Geoffrey Lewis, who plays the leading scientist “Dr. Carter,” and an actor who revels in eclectic roles, Mary Woronov, who plays scientist “Audrey White.” Both actors look like they’re trying to get into it – especially Woronov as she builds to her fatal injection scene – but both come up short of what you’d expect if you’re familiar with their respective careers.

  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Lewis was in several Clint Eastwood films, including “Every Which Way But Loose” (click here for my review) as well as “Dillinger” (click here to read my review). He was also supporting in the excellent TV vampire movie “Salem’s Lot” (click here to read my review). He was nominated for the TV series “Flo” and died at 79 in 2015 of a heart attack.
  • Woronov, along with friend Paul Bartel, made a mark for themselves with the very twisted film “Eating Raoul” that featured strange antics (by yesterday’s standards), a lot of murder and finally cannibalism – eclectic, see? She was also in “Warlock.” She has more than 120 acting credits in a career spanning six decades beginning in 1966, with the last credit coming for a tee-vee flick in 2019.

One of the few clever lines is when the scientists have landed in the city to get the girls, one asks aloud, “Where would adolescents with nothing to do go?” Of course, it’s the mall! Doh! So, the scientists go to the nearest one and save the girls from zombie stockboys.

Now, if there were just more scenes of the zombie stockboys!

“Night of the Comet” was the 65th rated film of 1984 at the U.S. box office with $14.4 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was made on a budget of $3 million, according to Wiki, but the same source did not have a worldwide total (maybe it was only in domestic release). The No. 1 film of the year was Eddie Muphy’s now-iconic “Beverly Hills Cop” with $234.7 million. Running a close second was the now-classic comedy “Ghostbusters” with $229.2 million. Here are the films from that year that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Stewart’s birth name is Catherine Mary Nursall; Beltran’s middle name is Adame and he’s the seventh of 10 children; Woronov’s nickname is “Penny Arcade;” and Lewis’ middle name was Bond.
  • Sharon Farrell plays “Doris,” the girls’ abusive stepmother who disappears into a heap of dust. Farrell was also in “Can’t Buy Me Love” (click here to read my review). Farrell’s birth name was Sharon Lee Forsmoe. She died at 82 in 2023.
  • The actor here with the best name is Dick Rude as one of the stockboys. Rude has also been in “Repo Man” and “Straight to Hell.”
  • Brick dust was used for the dust left behind when people died.
  • Two police officers in a nightmare scene were real-life cops who were directing traffic and brought into the production.
  • No CGI effects for this one … the scenes of deserted street in Los Angeles were created by … not computer graphics, but by holding up traffic.
  • The theater featured at the beginning of the film is the historic El Rey Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “When cheerleader Samantha Belmont (Kelli Maroney) is playing at the radio station as a disk jockey, she says that she is taking requests from ‘all you teenage mutant comet zombies.’ This was the working title of the film.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s lengthy page of trivia about the flick …

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