Night of the Comet (1984)

Directed by Thom Eberhardt. Starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Michael Bower, Peter Fox, Sharon Farrell. [PG-13]

A comet flies past Earth (the same one that passed by Earth 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs went extinct), turning nearly the entire human race into either dust or mindless zombies. Among the small handful of human survivors: a couple of bubble-headed Valley girls (Stewart, Maroney). Offbeat end-of-the-world story doesn’t really work as satire, melodrama, or horror-thriller, but isn’t the worst way to kill an hour-and-a-half. Characterizations are as crude as the performances, but Maroney has a few amusing moments as an airhead in a cheerleader get-up (allegedly inspiring Joss Whedon’s tongue-in-cheek Buffy the Vampire Slayer film script). The consumer culture sendups were wittier in Dawn of the Dead. Production values are slightly better than one expects to find in low-budget exploitation fare. Has acquired a cult following. Director Eberhadt also scripted.

53/100