Night of the Comet 1984 ***

Seemingly a prototype for Planet Terror, the Robert Rodriguez directed segment of the Grindhouse movie, Night of the Comet is a cheerfully deranged sci-fi thriller from 1984. Writer/director Thom Eberhardt’s original title was Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies, and that’s pretty much the synopsis; two valley girls (Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney) awaken to find a comet had wiped out most of Earth’s inhabitants, Day of the Triffids-style. The presence of Geoffrey Lewis and Mary Wonorov cements the genre credentials; this is an apocalypse movie with an eighties feel, with the girls taking advantage of the world’s end to hit the mall to Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun.