Some of my favorite movies are among the worst movies ever made. We all have at least one movie we consider so bad it's good, I may have more than some but that doesn't mean my taste isn't refined, I'm just not a movie snob. I say all that to make this point; sometimes it's necessary to watch without expectations of anything other than to have fun and enjoy yourself like you did when you were a kid. If you haven't seen this and want to, I suggest that you try that mindset when you do. That said, this movie reflects the era in which it came out. Hailey's Comet was due to make a flyby in less than two years and fascination (and fear) with all things comet related was at an all-time high. Previous transits of the famous comet had caused hysteria stoked by sensational headlines warning of the danger posed by comets and capitalized on by unethical people/companies selling bogus products claiming to comet-proof an individual/home/family (i.e. Gas masks in during the previous passing in the early 1900's). While this movie may have been rooted in the times, it's still a campy horror movie that elicits more groans than gasps. The special effects were truly bad even for the times. The acting is pretty terrible, the dialogue even worse. However it does play pretty successfully on every teenager/young adult's fantasies of living in a world with no rules, all the material things one would ever want, and fast cars with no cops to enforce the speed limit; albeit a post-apocalyptic one but why be picky. It also has a lead character infused with charisma for days by Catherine Mary Stewart. I may be biased in that by the crush I had on her for the most of that decade and the next. The movie is terrible but if you allow yourself to be a kid again, without expectations of anything but having fun and enjoying yourself, then it can be terribly fun.
Review of Night of the Comet
