Friday, October 11, 2013

Night of the Comet

(1984) **1/2
In 1984, this film followed two California girls' survival after a comet on an extreme elliptical orbit emits radiation upon the earth, changing life forever. In the summer of 2013, I watched the entire series of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, which discusses such comets and elliptical planetary motion. The two events have nothing in common, but I am a math teacher, and I love ellipses.

Regina is a budding young woman of 18 and wants independence from her overbearing and manipulative step-mother (wait, didn't I just review a Disney-related movie?!??). She finds retreat in her job at the movie theater playing Tempest at the arcade and doing the film booth guy. Everyone seems to find the comet intriguing except for Regina, and this works to her advantage. There are, of course, survivors, and figuring out life after the comet is going to be a challenge, but Regina and her sister Samantha are tough enough to stick it out and have fun, too. I found myself curious about what life was like before the comet, but at a succinct 95 minutes and after a particularly grueling week I didn't find myself that curious. It is easy to give away all of this plot in one standard-sized paragraph, but I found the campiness and plot "twists" to be a lot more enjoyable when I knew barely anything about it.
Such splendid things are sibling bonds made of. Surviving intergalactic radiation and finding the perfect pair of heels.
Johnny Sweatpants is the only other person who's reviewed this film, and it's easy to see why. The campy narration in the beginning, big 80's hair, shopping mall montage, and secret government subplot have been done over and over, for better or for worse, and Night of the Comet falls in the exact median in its execution of aforementioned plot devices. This doesn't make it a winner, but it isn't a loser, either.

7 comments:

JPX said...

This film falls into the category of, "Films I continue to believe I watched even though I haven't"

Crystal you're on fire and you're making JSP look lazy!

Excellent summary.

Catfreeek said...

I do remember this one and have no desire to revisit it.

You really are cranking them out Crystal, way to go!

DKC said...

I am not apologizing for totally loving this cheesy 80's flick! I have seen it more then once in fact!

Landshark said...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I watched this with DCD at least 2-3 times back in the day. Good cheesy fun, IIR.

Octopunk said...

I remember with what I think is great clarity the outfit the younger sister is wearing when she drifts off to drug-induced sleep. It's like some deep green high-collared military-lookin' thing. Anyway I was totally crushed out on her during those shots. I should see this again and try to find my dream women under all that makeup and hair.

Ellipses! Yes. I've had Cosmos in my queue for years, but there are other complete series ahead of it that I'm not getting to either.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

This movie is currently being passed around my office like a hot potato.

AC said...

pretty sure i watched the first half but didn't finish it. is there a scene in a local radio station, or am i mixing things up?

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...