This Day in Horror History: NIGHT OF THE COMET Opened in 1984
Mike Sprague
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On this day in horror history, writer-director Thom Eberhardt’s horror-comedy Night of the Comet with Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney opened in 1984.
It tells the tale of teen sisters Regina (Stewart) and Samantha (Maroney) who are among the only survivors of a zombie attack after a comet. They partner with another survivor and try to avoid the zombies, but they’re sought by scientists who want to experiment on them in the hope of finding an antidote.
Eberhardt wrote the script to be lighthearted and adventuresome, merging strong female protagonists with post-apocalyptic films. Atlantic Releasing, wanting to capitalize on the success of Valley Girl and Repo Man, invested $700K.
Noted as one of the first mainstream movies to sport a PG-13 rating, it co-stars Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, and Mary Woronov with Geoffrey Lewis and Michael Bowen. Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street) auditioned for the role of Sam and was the number one choice, but the part ultimately went to Maroney.
Night of the Comet earned $3.5M opening weekend, coming in at third place. It stayed in theaters for six weeks and grossed $14.4M total in the US. It has since become a cult film, influencing Joss Whedon to create Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The film sports a 78% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: Valley Girl culture satire Night of the Comet gets lots of mileage out of its slapstick sci-fi zombie approach.
In 2018, Orion Pictures hired Roxanne Benjamin to write a remake, and as of April 2019, Benjamin confirmed she had submitted her script to the studio.
Do you dig Night of the Comet?
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