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catgrin
Reviews
Night of the Comet (1984)
Creepiness, intelligence, and silliness when you don't expect it. It's got a rhythm like free jazz.
My score 7/10 for the writing, period humor, and terrific casting!
I just got done viewing my copy of NotC (again). This is the first time I've watched it since last year's So-Cal wildfires, and I'd forgotten how red the sky was. It's weird how so cheap an effect is really effective to those who've seen the actual thing (a sky that looks post-apocalyptic).
NotC is full of that sort of thing. Creepiness, intelligence, and silliness when you don't expect it. It's got a rhythm like free jazz, and for some people that's a problem. For me, it's fun. I like a movie that keeps me on my toes, and NotC does that. The tone of the flick changes with the situations, and that's a good thing. No one ever said comedy had to be monotone. In fact horror and comedy both rely on our fears, and it's really difficult to walk a successful line between the two while giving screen time to each.
Some people wrote complaints in their reviews without really understanding concepts, and then claimed their own misunderstandings as plot errors. For example, one person complained about the movie's disastrous title comet being a "thinly veiled" reference to Halley's Comet arriving in 1986. Sorry writer, the movie clearly states this is a comet that has been away for 65,000,000,000 years and even has a bit of dialog about how harmless Halley's Comet is. This isn't to say NotC is error free, but it helps to pay attention if you don't want to be confused. I've read several reviews where people complained about plot holes and inconsistencies, and I'm a little baffled. Didn't these people realize they were watching an early 80's B-grade farce about two "valley girl" sisters who manage to survive the apocalypse? What were they expecting?
(Dialog spoiler this paragraph only.) NotC is meant to be ridiculous. It's meant to have a few good creep outs, and lots of silliness. How else can you explain the dialog of two brainy nurses who - due to slight mental incapacity - are unable to remember if they were instructed to draw 30 or 300cc's of blood a day from some less-than-willing donors. The problem being that if they draw 300, "they'll just expire altogether." If the movie were intended to be serious, they'd have notes. As it stands, they have silly, well-written dialog for a wholly unlikely situation. (All clear!)
I'm not sure if the movie's available, but I can recommend it to fans of sci-fi comedy for a night of relaxed humor. Sci-fi fans in general will notice themes repeated in newer films, and even some TV series. People who were in their teens and early 20s in the mid-eighties will probably receive it better. Please don't expect it to be more than it is. Just enjoy the silly weirdness of it all.
Dogs in Space (1986)
A snap-shot of the moment between youth and reality.
This is one of my favorite movies, but for personal - not cinematic - reasons.
During high school I lived without parents, and frequently my house resembled the house in the pic. It was filled with teens and early twenty-somethings who were trying to either get the hang of standing alone as adults or ignoring the fact that they'd passed childhood up altogether.
Most people may not realize that the movie gives a fairly accurate description of that (sur)reality. It may seem shallow or pretentious, and it may lack in "deep" plot twists and turns. The thing is, at that age, and in that type of life you live without worrying about the next day because it's just too big a concern to deal with. Most will never live, or think/feel this way.
On the cinematic side: the movie is not for someone sitting down to "view a good book." It's more a chance to turn off higher functions and experience another side of the world (not just Australia, but the time period and lifestyle). It's also important to note that this is not a Hollywood "teen" or "young adult" comedy - it's a drama with a lot of nonsense included, because that's what life is like.
It really is a shame that the movie isn't more widely available. I still own it from the original release, and only one of the rental stores (family owned) in my area has a copy. I'm sure it would more than meet the price to release to DVD. (I'm certain that a double disk including the original soundtrack would actually sell quite well!)
If you find it, watch it.