Night of the Comet

Ian West5.0

I’ve been having issues sleeping at night for the last two weeks, lots of stuff going on in my head yadda yadda, so I’ve been trying to pop in movies that I love but don’t watch often—personalized deep cut favorites that I love to cherrish via sparsed out viewings. Night of the Comet is one of those movies—a 1980’s scifi horror end of the world comet zombie jam that emphasizes humor and thought provoking situations via Dawn of the Dead-esque consumerism anthropology. I love the cast, leftover human dust remains, that neon radio station, mall montage/shootout, and that score! Theres a specific piece of music that plays on the blu ray menu and throughout the film that’s one of my favorite soundwaves... sometimes I leave the menu on for hours when I write reviews here on letterboxd. I find the cinematography of empty LA streets with that red-orange colored skyline combined with that score and deliberate pacing to be absolutely hypnotic—this movie just screams my favorite kind of aesthetic.Sure, there’s not a lot of comet zombies, horror, or scifi in this but I really don’t care, I sop up stuff like this and Night of the Creeps—both being clever pastiches of their genre mashing. I used to have this at 4 or 4.5 stars but I was an idiot and gotta go full 5 now, I love this so much, and between this and Sole Survivor, Thom Eberhardt created two moody and very specific atmos filled cult classics that are so up my alley it’s not even funny—the kind of atmosphere I like to dub, the perfect mood.Long story short, I’m glad I popped this in—it’s one of my all timers and could easily slip into my top 4 at any moment.

Egg Wooderson5.0

A legit misunderstood masterpiece. "I'm not crazy, I just don't give a FUCK!" is one of the greatest lines of all time. There was more hair in this than on my back, and that is no easy task. Luckily if Reg falls off the motorcycle her perm will protect her melon. The constant switching of tones kept me on my toes and for such a low budget flick it is often very beautiful. The performances were terrible, but I was eating it up like the infected were eating humans.#fthismoviefest

SilentDawn4.5

83"See, this is the problem with these things. Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.Nearing the mid-80s, Night of the Comet is by any standards stripped to the core of its being, and all the better for it. With a blaring red atmospheric haze, well-sketched characters, and hardly anything else, Thom Eberhardt's hilarious, satirical blast on Reaganism and the joy of consumer control is intermingled with a low-fi sci-fi hang-out vibe. It exists on the brink of a void, totally consumed in its premise, promising nothing more than the greatest version of itself. Samantha and Regina, in the face of desolation, know exactly what to do - embrace what you love.