Harefooted Halloween: Night of the Comet

What I Liked: The cinematography is pretty nice for the most part (Arthur Albert (Better Call Saul)).  Since this takes place during post-apocalypse times they added a red filter to all outdoor scenes.  It has a gradation to it with the top of the sky, or frame, being a darker ominous red and then turning into a lighter almost glowing yellow-ish hue towards the ground, or bottom of the frame.  In fact a lot of the movie is colorful with these various neon tinted lights popping up all over to set mood.  Some fog is thrown in as well of course.  Sure it may look cartoony at times but for the somewhat playful tone they went with it can be cool to look at.  On the flipside though they also managed to get some genuinely eerie shots of completely desolate LA streets to set a foreboding atmosphere.

Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart (Weekend at Bernie’s)) is a take-no-shit brassy dame that’s good to have in an end-of-the-world type scenario.  She’s really confident but not in a gross annoying way.  If she wants to sleep with the projectionist at the movie theater she works at then she has no regrets.  If some crazed zombie cannibal attacks her she fights back.  I feel like this balance of macho and feminine is rarely seen.  Her father is in the military so she has gun training and isn’t afraid of combat.  At the same time she takes advantage of her situation by trying on endless clothing and makeup at a now deserted department store.  It’s not like Regina never gets scared or concerned about what’s happening around her, quite the opposite, but she forges ahead because it’s instinctual.  Stewart does a great job calibrating each scene to what’s required.

What I Didn’t Like: The rules for those who got affected by the passing comet and those who didn’t are fuzzy.  It’s supposed to be anyone outside, or exposed to the outside air through vents for example, either turned to dust or will turn into a zombie in a matter of days.  And if you were inside protected by steel then you’re fine.  So yea, this is damn flimsy.  From what we see almost no one survived the comet’s passing which doesn’t seem right.  Regina’s sister, Samantha (Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall)), was somehow unaffected simply by hiding out in a garden shed.  Meanwhile elite scientists in an underground lab are decaying because the vents in their facility were left open allowing the contaminated air in.  I mean I think the movie is meant to be a little tongue in cheek but this comes across pretty lazy as a setup to your scenario.

Unfortunately the entire middle portion of the film grinds to a halt after Regina and her sister meet up with another survivor and hide out in a radio station.  I’m not sure if writer/director Thom Eberhardt (Captain Ron) knew what to do after the comet wipes out almost all of humanity.  Characters sorta just bum around for a while until there needs to be a confrontation to kick start the third act.

There’s a very uncomfortable scene between Samantha and her asshole step-mother where they argue and then start slapping each other.  It culminates with the step-mother decking Samantha knocking her on her ass.  Like a straight up punch to a child’s mouth.  They definitely didn’t need to go that far to get the point across that these two don’t get along.

Overall Impressions: I think this is supposed to be a nod to 50’s and 60’s sci-fi horror that was a trend at the time like Invaders from Mars (1986) or The Blob (1988) (although those are direct remakes).  You know, something from space attacks Earth and creates a nightmare scenario and the government/military gets involved.  For this one they keep the tone fairly light by giving Samantha in particular a valley girl carefree attitude towards the entire situation (an inspiration for Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  It’s the end of civilization and she still yammers on about wanting to find cute guys.  And the bad guy scientists are bumbling fools who are supposed to be a threat but not a massive threat.  The zombie cannibals end up being the biggest danger.  Sadly, they’re not in this nearly enough.  They only make a couple of appearances but that was probably to keep the piece from getting too dark or frightening.

This isn’t anything you haven’t seen before and it’s executed fine but not exceptional enough to really stand out.  My biggest issue is that whole middle chunk where nothing much happens.  However, if you want a post-apocalypse film with a cutesy edge here it is.