Return of The Comet!

Here’s terrific news for fans of stunning teenaged girls with big hair who wield enormous automatic weapons: Night of the Comet, my favorite post-apocalyptic sci-fi teen angst movie of the 1980s, is finally available this week on DVD. Hot damn!

The story: a comet is scheduled for a “near-miss” of Earth, and the world excitedly awaits its appearance. Vendors everywhere sell comet merchandise. Folks gather for neighborhood barbeques to watch the event. As it happens, though, the comet turns almost everyone into empty clothes and red dust. Most who survive have only a short time left to live, and that time spent as pissed-off zombies. Fortunately, two L.A. valley-girl types live on to battle zombies and, we hope, repopulate the planet with what few men can be found.

There are absolutely great moments in Night of the Comet. One of my favorites is when the girls decide to trek to the mall (of course), where they run into crazyass, sadistic stockboys. “You’re insane!” one of the girls screams at one kid, following an exchange of gunfire. “I’m not insane,” he shouts back. “I just don’t give a fuck!”

One reason I’m fond of this film is that so much of it was shot in downtown Los Angeles when I was working there two decades ago. It’s tremendous fun to spot my old lunchtime hangouts. But the movie’s biggest plus is the fabulous Catherine Mary Stewart (pictured), who was also highly memorable and adorable that same year (1984) in the more kid-friendly The Last Starfighter. She is gorgeous in a “Hey, she reminds me of Linda Hamilton in the first Terminator” way. She is every sci-fi geekboy’s dream.

Night of the Comet is a perfect Friday night movie. Get a copy and start microwaving that popcorn!