Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Night of the Comet Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 26, 2014

Thom Eberhardt's "Night of the Comet" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; three audio commentaries: with stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart, with production designer John Muto, and with director Tom Eberhardt; new video interviews with actors Mary Woronov and Robert Beltran, and makeup supervisor David B. Miller; and more. The release also arrives with a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by James Oliver illustrated with original archive stills and posters. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

It's the end of the world. Let's go shopping!

A giant comet approaches the Earth and turns almost everyone into cosmic dust. Some of the survivors become zombies, while the rest arm themselves and form small groups to protect each other.

In LA, amongst the lucky survivors are two Valley girls: Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart, The Last Starfighter), who has spent the night of the comet making love to a boring projectionist in a steel-lined room, and her younger sister, Samantha (Kelli Maroney, The Zero Boys), who has slept alone in a shed to avoid her annoying stepmother’s guests. The only guy around is Hector (Robert Beltran, Kiss Me a Killer), a clueless Chicano truck driver from San Diego.

Regina and Samantha meet Hector at a local radio station. They quickly warm up to each other and then Samantha concludes that the last handsome man on Earth is likely to hook up with her sister. Then Hector goes back to San Diego to see what has happened to his mother, while the two sisters go shopping.

Around the same time a group of scientists who have managed to stay alive in an underground shelter somewhere in the desert dispatch a small team to LA to capture and bring back as many survivors as they can find. They need the survivors’ blood to develop a vaccine that can turn the contaminated zombies into humans again.

This low-budget apocalyptic film directed by Thom Eberhardt in 1984 is an exotic time capsule of sorts that captures the pulse of Reagan’s America while paying homage to Boris Sagal’s classic The Omega Man. It has a wonderful sense of humor and a laidback attitude that makes the eccentric material exceptionally easy to tolerate.

The film is loosely divided into two contrasting sections. The first has a horror-esque edge and feels slightly more atmospheric. The thick red skies are beautiful and here LA looks more sad than dangerous (unlike the dark and spooky city Charlton Heston’s Neville roams alone). The second section has a different vibe. Here the humor is a lot more prominent and after Mary Woronov’s character appears the horror element disappears. The finale is cheesy, but it does not feel out of sync with the rest of the film.

It is easy to tell that Eberhardt and his team had a small budget to work with, but the film is cut and edited very well. In fact, the various panoramic shots from the empty LA are wonderfully utilized and at times truly make the film look like it was a far bigger production.

The cast is likeable. There is good chemistry between Stewart and Maroney, while Beltran looks appropriately energetic. Woronov has a small part in the film but leaves a lasting impression as the jaded scientist. (Two years earlier, Beltran and Woronov also appeared in another cult low-budget film with a great sense of humor, Paul Bartel's Eating Raoul).

The film is complimented by a first-class soundtrack featuring John Townsend’s “Strong Heart”, Chris Farren’s “Whole World is Celebratin” and “Learn to Love Again”, Revolver’s “Unbelievable” and “Tell Me Yourself”, Diana De Witt’s “Hard Act to Follow”, and Stallion’s “Let My Fingers Do the Talking”, amongst others.

Night of the Comet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Thom Eberhardt's Night of the Comet arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from the same MGM master Shout Factory accessed when they prepared their Blu-ray release of Night of the Comet for the U.S. market. This is certainly excellent news as the film has a wonderful organic appearance. Excluding some tiny dirt specks that occasionally pop up here and there (see screencapture #14) all of the important areas we typically address in our reviews look solid -- image depth and clarity are very good, contrast levels remain stable, and color reproduction is pleasing. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Compromising sharpening adjustments also have not been applied. Overall image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. All in all, this is a very good organic presentation of Night of the Comet which should please fans of the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Night of the Comet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Arrow Video have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless track is excellent. The atmospheric music and the random sounds and noises, for example, are very well balanced (see the the panoramic shots around the 12-minute mark). The rock track also breathe easily throughout the entire film. Overall dynamic intensity is rather limited, but this should not be surprising considering the fact that the film's creators had to work with a very small budget. During the action sequences, however, there is plenty of depth (see the department store shootout). The dialog is clean, stable, and very easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, background hiss, or digital distortions to report in this review.

Night of the Comet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Night of the Comet. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Curse of the Comet - in this video interview, makeup supervisor David B. Miller discusses his work on Night of the Comet, his first big project working as a supervisor. Before joining director Thom Eberhardt, he assisted Rick Baker on Michael Jackson's Thriller. The interview was filmed by Red Shirt Pictures on August 20, 2013, in Los Angeles. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

• End of the World Blues - in this video interview, actress Mary Woronov (Audrey) discusses her contribution to Night of the Comet, the film's unique look and atmosphere, and cult status. The interview was filmed by Red Shirt Pictures on June 18, 2014, in Los Angeles. In English, not subtitled. (10 min).

• The Last Man on Earth? - in this video interview, actor Robert Beltran (Hector) recalls how he joined the cast of Night of the Comet (his contribution to Paul Bartel's Eating Raoul was enormously helpful), and discusses the qualities of his Chicano character, Thom Eberhardt's directing style, the film's unique look, etc. The interview was filmed by Red Shirt Pictures on August 5, 2013, in Los Angeles. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Valley Girls At The End Of The World - presented here are two video interviews with stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart in which they discuss the casting process and their initial impressions of the script for Night of the Comet (which originally had a different title), the shooting process and their interactions with Thom Eberhardt, the rather surprisingly good reviews the film generated after its premiere, the film's cult status, etc. The interview was filmed by Red Shirt Pictures on September 11, 2013, in Los Angeles. In English, not subtitled. (15 min).

• Audio Commentary with Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart - this is a casual and quite entertaining audio commentary in which the two actresses spend a great deal of time discussing how different scenes were shot, some interesting plot errors (the video game ranking), the film's visual style and how key sequences were shot in LA, etc.

• Audio Commentary with Tom Eberhardt - this is the best of the three commentaries included on this release. Tom Eberhardt explains how Night of the Comet came to exist (it was partially inspired by Valley Girls), and discusses the funding of the film and the casting process, how key sequences were shot in downtown LA, cinematographer Arthur Albert's lensing, the film's unique sense of humor, etc. The commentary is moderated by Michael Felsher.

• Audio Commentary with John Muto - in this audio commentary, production designer John Muto explains how he was approached and asked to work with Thom Eberhardt on Night of the Comet (after working on different Roger Corman films) and discusses in great detail how different filters were used to film the red sky of LA, some of the lighting effects in the film, etc. Thom Eberhardt also explains how his work changed after Night of the Comet (there are some interesting comments about his contribution to Home Alone).

• Cover - reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin.

• Booklet - collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by James Oliver illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Night of the Comet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I thoroughly enjoyed Thom Eberhardt's Night of the Comet. It is one of those '80s low-budget films that is just perfect to see very late at night. It has a cracking soundtrack as well. Arrow Video's Blu-ray also comes with a terrific selection of supplemental features, including a very honest and quite funny interview with actress Mary Woronov. If you don't have this film in your collections yet, you should consider getting yourself a copy. It looks lovely on Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.