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We're hearing about so many new horror films lately, and we couldn't be more excited. Recently, we learned of an upcoming horror flick called Menace. IFC Films and Shudder have joined forces again and acquired North American rights to this movie, which is expected to be released sometime in 2025.

Menace is being described as a sci-fi horror film coming from Image Nation Abu Dhabi and the genre label Spooky Pictures. These two production companies were behind the horror movies Watcher and Late Night with the Devil. Randall Okita, who's known for helming the thriller flick See for Me, directed Menace from a screenplay written by Thom Eberhardt (Night of the Comet). Production on the movie recently wrapped in Canada.

Here's what Okita had to say about partnering with IFC Films and Shudder for Menace via Fangoria:

I am thrilled to be working with IFC and Shudder to share Menace with audiences around the world.

IFC Films and Shudder have acquired North American, UK and Ireland, and Australia and New Zealand rights to Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s sci-fi horror Menace in Cannes.

The deal reunites IFC Films and Shudder with the producers of previous releases Watcher and Late Night With The Devil, the latter of which became IFC Films’ highest-grossing opening weekend ever and is nearing $10m at the US box office.

IFC Films and Shudder will release Menace in 2025. Randall Okita, whose previous feature See For Me was released by IFC Films, directed the story starring Isabel May as a...

Just ten days ago, we shared the news that Isabel May of Let’s Scare Julie and the Yellowstone spin-off 1883 has the lead role in the sci-fi horror film Menace, the first film to be written by Night of the Comet screenwriter Thom Eberhardt in over 20 years. Now Variety reports that Menace has landed a distribution deal with IFC Films and the Shudder streaming service, with the plan being for IFC and Shudder to release the film in North America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand sometime in 2025. Variety also unveiled a lower quality image of May’s character in the film, which can be seen above.

Directed by Randall Okita, who previously worked with IFC Films on the thriller See for Me, Menace follows a research student (Isabel May), who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town.

Director Randall Okita (See for Me) is back this year with new movie Menace, which was notably written by Thom Eberhardt, the writer of 1984 fan favorite Night of the Comet.

Variety reports this morning that IFC Films and Shudder have acquired the North American rights to the upcoming film, which is expected to see release sometime in 2025.

Isabel May (1883) will star in sci-fi horror movie Menace, which comes courtesy of Image Nation Abu Dhabi and the genre label Spooky Pictures. This is the third feature from Image Nation and Spooky Pictures, behind Watcher and Late Night with the Devil.

“The film follows a research student (Isabel May), who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town.

“There, strange things begin to transpire and people start disappearing, leaving her uncertain about what is real or what is simply a figment of her imagination.

As much of a bummer as it is, Hollywood isn’t exactly about making art; it’s more about making money, with a few notable exceptions. It doesn’t matter how great an idea for a movie or its cast are — when a stakeholder decides you won’t hit the bank, they’ll send you home right away, cutting off the financing at any stage of the project.

Johnny Depp learned it the hard way in 1995, and he was pissed.

Divine Rapture Was Johnny Depp’s Dream Movie

In 1995, director Thom Eberhardt started shooting his next big thing: Divine Rapture. Set and filmed in rural Ireland, American investors didn’t understand this movie, so it had to be done on a small budget — but it had great ambitions and an amazing star-studded cast of Marlon Brando, Debra Winger, and, of course, Johnny Depp.

Divine Rapture followed a peculiar incident in an Irish village.

Would you believe that it has been over 20 years since Night of the Comet director/scribe Thom Eberhardt penned a movie? Well, he’s back, writing upcoming horror movie Menace, which is slated to make an appearance at this year’s Cannes Market.

Menace comes from Image Nation and Spooky Pictures, the studio behind Late Night with the Devil, a film that has been widely praised by critics and audiences (despite some controversies). Both companies were also behind 2022’s Watcher, another highly regarded work in the genre.

As per Deadline, Menace stars Isabel May “as a research student who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town. When strange things start happening around her and people start disappearing, she isn’t sure what is real or what is her imagination.”

That’s not a whole lot to go on...

Director Randall Okita impressed us back in 2022 with the home invasion thriller See for Me, and today brings a first look at Okita’s next horror movie. This one is titled Menace.

Deadline reports that Isabel May (1883) will star in sci-fi horror movie Menace, which comes courtesy of Image Nation Abu Dhabi and the genre label Spooky Pictures. This is the third feature from Image Nation and Spooky Pictures, behind Watcher and Late Night with the Devil.

The site details, “May stars as a research student who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town.

“When strange things start happening around her and people start disappearing, she isn’t sure what is real or what is her imagination.”

AGC International will launch sales at the Cannes Market this month.

Of particular note for horror fans, Menace is written by Thom Eberhardt,...

Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Roy Lee and Steven Schneider’s genre label Spooky Pictures have set the third feature under their multi-picture slate deal with sci-fi horror Menace. Directed by Randall Okita (See For Me), the film stars Isabel May (1883) who also serves as an executive producer via her banner Una Vaca Productions.

AGC International will launch sales at the Cannes Market and show off first footage from the movie which recently wrapped production in Canada. Cinetic Media is handling North American rights.

May stars as a research student who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town. When strange things start happening around her and people start disappearing, she isn’t sure what is real or what is her imagination.

May was most recently seen in 1883 for Paramount+ and the Apple TV series, Masters of the Air.

Keanu Reeves has a reputation for being one of the nicest men around. As an actor, he has been a part of several noteworthy films and franchises. Throughout his career, Reeves has won hearts on and off the screen.

The actor lives a very down-to-earth lifestyle, and he is known for his charming personality in real life. His co-stars are always in awe of him. Even those he shared the screen with years ago have nothing but the best things to say about him, including Lori Loughlin.

Loughlin was all praise for Reeves (Source: The Night Before)

Lori Loughlin recalls what an amazing co-star she had in Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves is one of the most sought-after actors in the industry at present. The Matrix star has been around for nearly four decades, and he has amassed a huge fanbase. Given his loveable nature, his co-stars also make up a good portion of his fanbase.

While taking a trip down memory lane, Lori Loughlin recalled the positive experience of working with Keanu Reeves on their 1988 film The Night Before.

The Full House actress recently opened up about the teen comedy on her former co-stars Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber’s How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast. The Thom Eberhardt-directed film follows Reeves’ character, Winston, who takes the popular high school girl, Tara (Loughlin), to prom, but wakes up with no memories and Tara missing.

“[Reeves] was the nerdy guy?” Sweetin asked as Loughlin confirmed, “He was the nerdy guy. Could you imagine?”

The When Calls the Heart actress added that The Matrix star “was so wonderful. … What a lovely, lovely man.”

Sweetin admitted that she has wanted to “meet him so bad” because of all the “awesome” things she’s heard about Reeves, and Loughlin confirmed it all to be true, adding, “He’s just a dream” and “so sweet.

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

At a time when nuclear anxiety was both real and common, Thom Eberhardt went against the grain and made a quirky genre movie about the end of the world. Of course, the catastrophic event shown in Night of the Comet wasn’t the result of unleashed weapons of mass destruction. No, this story’s obliteration of (most) life on Earth was brought on by a less obvious force: a passing comet on par with the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Hollywood and the like have never been opposed to putting fears of nuclear strike and fallout on screen, but nothing made back in the ‘80s quite compares to Eberhardt’s doomsday tale of two valley girls looking for signs of life in disaster-stricken SoCal.

The filmmaker behind 1984’s Sole Survivor, the disquieting hidden gem about one woman’s brush with death, later returned that same year with something lighthearted,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

My Bloody Valentine 4K Uhd from Scream Factory

My Bloody Valentine will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on September 12 via Scream Factory. The uncut version has been newly restored in 4K with Dolby Vision. The three-disc set also includes the theatrical version on Blu-ray.

The 1981 Canadian slasher is directed by George Mihalka and written by John Beaird. Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Don Francks, Cynthia Dale, Alf Humphreys, Keith Knight, and Patricia Hamilton star.

Special features from the Blu-ray are ported over, including a commentary by Mihalka, a 35th anniversary panel with Mihalka and the cast, seven cast and crew interviews, and more.

Night of the Comet 4K Uhd from Scream Factory...

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering Night of the Comet was Written by Emilie Black, Narrated by Jason Hewlett, Edited by Jaime Vasquez, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

1984, the year of many interests and fears for Americans, from fears of a nuclear attack still remaining to a love-hate relationship with consumerism, American films explored teenage life in all its aspects. Some of these films were more memorable and on point for life and fears of the American teenager from living in the valley in Valley Girl, survival like Red Dawn and The Zero Boys, and a whole lot more; the mid-1980s were filled with teen cinema, and some of it was definitely on the dark side. Night of the Comet (get it Here) was definitely on the bleaker side of things while mixing teenage life, consumerism, potential alien invasion, mutation,...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Sole Survivor"

Where You Can Stream It: Shudder

The Pitch: Among the five installments (soon to be six) of the celebrated "Final Destination" franchise, one maxim sits at the core of every elaborate death contained therein, summed up by Tony Todd's Bludworth: "In death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes." When someone escapes death -- say, a plane crash that kills everyone else on board -- the resident Reaper figure of the franchise explains that near-death experiences are something like bugs in a system that, in the end, always gets their man. Death as an active enforcer was a hit concept for these movies, but "Sole Survivor" was playing in the same sandbox decades ago.

As you may recall, it was announced back in 2018 that Roxanne Benjamin would be scripting a remake of the 1984 horror movie Night of the Comet for Orion Pictures, but it’s been quite some time since we’ve heard a peep about the project. Thankfully, Slash Film provides a fresh update.

“That’s an interesting one. It’s still alive, just not really in the same iteration, but it’s still kicking,” Benjamin tells the site. “It’s gone through a lot of different — everything’s consolidating with everything. The snake is eating itself in our industry right now. So it’s gone through a lot of different hands, I think, throughout the process, but it’s still out there.”

Benjamin further explains, “There’s other stuff that’s going on with it. That movie division, I think, is gone now, or I can’t even remember. I think Orion Pictures,...

"Since before recorded time, it had swung through the universe in an elliptical orbit so large that its very existence remained a secret of time and space; but now in the last few years of the 20th century, the visitor was returning."

The opening narration of Thom Eberhardt's 1984 post-apocalyptic gem "Night of the Comet" sets the stage for a sci-fi adventure featuring a pair of sisters ("The Last Starfighter" star Catherine Mary Stewart and "Chopping Mall" star Kelli Maroney) who wake up in the wake of a world-ending event. Released the same year as "Gremlins" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Comet" was one of the early mainstream carriers of the newly-established PG-13 label which allowed its targeted teen demographic to enjoy the thrills of zombies and scavenger skirmishes without having to beg mommy and daddy to chaperone. Showcasing adventurous youth protagonists and a disaster spectacle on...

Brian Trenchard-Smith created this trailer for an Aussie supernatural thriller that never made it to American theaters. Director David Hemmings (star of Blow-Up) was determined to class up what was initially intended as a lowly horror movie, and rewrites of David Ambrose’s script continued throughout production. Actor’s Equity frowned on so many overseas cast members and refused to allow Susan George and Samatha Eggar to perform. Thom Eberhardt’s 1983 Sole Survivor uses the same premise to a degree that it should almost be considered a remake, although there’s no official connection.

The post The Survivor appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

No one is going to confuse the lead character of Roxanne Benjamin’s “Body at Brighton Rock” as some sort of hardened heroine. As timid park ranger Wendy, star Karina Fontes is already out of her depth when the retro-leaning horror feature kicks off, and that’s long before she stumbles upon a dead body in a remote patch of her state park. Things only get worse from there, as Benjamin’s feature directorial debut follows Wendy on a crash course to do the wrong thing at every possible opportunity.

“She does a lot of bone-headed things,” Benjamin said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “When people are like, ‘Ooh, she does so much stupid shit!’ I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I did all of those things.’ Besides finding the dead body, I’ve done literally all the things that happen in the movie.”

Benjamin wanted to present the kind...

Most of us who came of age in the 1980s have a soft-spot in our black hearts for Night of the Comet, written and directed by Thom Eberhardt. At the time, critics dismissed it as a product of the “Valley Girl” phenomenon, but horror fans have always seen it as way ahead of its time. […] The post Script Completed for Night Of The Comet Remake at Orion appeared first on Dread Central.

For years now, I’ve been hosting horror movie marathons around Halloween. It’s my favourite time of year: an extended excuse to trawl through the trash bins of ‘80s and ‘90s horror in search of legit gems. To save you the pain of suffering through dumpster fires like Chopping Mall and House 4: The Repossession, I’ve summoned a list of ten sure-fire horror party bangers. These are films which nail the venerable Venn intersection of scares, humour and murderous efficiency.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order…

Sleepaway Camp, Aka Nightmare Vacation (1983)

It’s not exactly laugh-a-minute, and in terms of gore it’s fairly tame, even for the period. But this summer camp slasher has one great trump card: uniqueness. Apart from its genuinely great twist (which passes the test of being both completely unexpected and holding up to repeated viewings), director Robert Hiltzik drenches...

1984’s Night of the Comet, written and directed by Thom Eberhardt, was so far ahead of its time, even hardcore horror fans didn’t know what to make of it. Remember, this was during the slasher subgenre’s heyday, a time when zombie offerings were few and far between and sci-fi movies looked like The Thing and […]

The post There’s a Night Of The Comet Remake in the Works at Orion! appeared first on Dread Central.

Tony Sokol Oct 23, 2018

The cult classic Night of the Comet will pass through our atmosphere again in a remake from Orion.

Geez! There goes the neighborhood. In 1910, Halley's Comet returned. Everyone thought they were going to die then. In the 1984 comedy horror cult hit Night of the Comet, the Earth passes through the tail of a comet. The last time that happened was 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) will write the screenplay for a Night of the Comet remake for Orion Pictures, according to Deadline.

Thom Eberhardt's 1984 doomsday cult movie told the story of two sisters, played by Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart, who battled cannibal zombies after an exctinction event. "A huge comet passes near the earth, vaporizing nearly the whole planet," reads the official 1984 Night of the Comet synopsis. "Only a few teenagers, who were inside a steel movie projection booth,...

Crank up Chris Farren's "Whole World is Celebratin'" and brush up on your Valley Girl jargon, because Orion Pictures' Night of the Comet reimagining now has a writer.

Deadline reports that "Orion Pictures has set" Roxanne Benjamin to write a remake of the 1984 cult horror comedy Night of the Comet. While plot details for the new take have yet to be revealed, fans of the Thom Eberhardt film know that the original followed teenaged sisters Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Samantha Belmont (Kelli Maroney), two Valley Girls who shoot and shop their way through the sudden apocalypse after a passing comet reduces the Earth's population to piles of dust and ravenous zombies.

While the original Night of the Comet incorporated plenty of comedic elements into its spooky storyline, Deadline reveals that the remake is expected to hone in on the horror and sci-fi aspects of the apocalyptic story.

Exclusive: Orion Pictures has set Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) to pen a reimagining of the 1984 doomsday horror-comedy-sci-fi Night Of The Comet.

The cult original followed two sisters facing off against cannibal zombies after a comet wipes out most of life on Earth. The film and its female protagonists hit home with genre fans including Joss Whedon who credited it as one of the inspirations for Buffy Summers. The update will skew horror-sci-fi rather than comedy, I understand.

Thom Eberhardt wrote and directed the original, which starred Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran and Catherine Mary Stewart. Made on a budget of under $1M it went on to make $14M in the U.S.

Benjamin recently wrote, directed, and produced feature thriller Body At Brighton Rock, which is currently in post-production and is set to be released by Magnet next year. She previously produced the V/H/S franchise and directed on horror movies Xx and Southbound.

In retrospect, Carnival of Souls (1962) certainly cast a long and deep shadow over the horror genre; not for general audiences at the time, where it ended up relegated to the bargain bins of the public domain for decades. But horror frequently pays it forward, and filmmakers find inspiration in the lost and obscure. Take the debut from Thom Eberhardt, Sole Survivor (1983), an oasis of cool originality in a genre that was drying out in the slasher sands.

Given a limited release in December, Eberhardt used the meager $350,000 budget to his advantage, crafting a film filled with an eerie calm and paying it forward himself by inspiring Final Destination (2000) and It Follows (2014). Sometimes big shadows are cast from small sources, and Sole Survivor has earned its particular darkness.

Our film opens with over the hill actress/psychic Karla (Caren Larkey – Get Out) predicting a plane crash. On that very plane is...

Post-apocalyptic films were a dime a dozen in the early ‘80s. They were almost always done on the cheap – a small cast of a few survivors, a barren desert and some rags for wardrobe, and voila! Throw it on HBO for a few years and call it a day. But sometimes ambition seeps in, and Night of the Comet (1984) is one of the best examples of low budget ingenuity, smart, sharply drawn characters, and a whole lot of heart. When the aliens return to take back the earth (do you want to claim responsibility for this freak show?) and wish to be shown a film indicative of the ‘80s, show them this – it represents all the best qualities of the decade’s filmmaking.

Distributed by Atlantic Releasing Corporation in mid-November, Night of the Comet brought in over $14 million against a $700,000 budget, making it an indie success with audiences and critics alike.

“The legal drinking age is now ten, but you will need I.D. . Let’s be real!”

Night Of The Comet screens Wednesday, March 1st at 8pm at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, Mo 63143) as part of Webster University’s Award-Winning Strange Brew Film Series. Admission is $5

Imagine the horror of being stuck with 80s fashion, style, and music for the rest of your life: that’s the fate facing teenage sisters Regina and Samantha (Catherine Mary Stewart and blonde cutie Kelli Maroney) when civilization comes to a standstill after a passing comet turns most of the human race into orange dust in the 1984 cult-sci-fier Night Of The Comet. Amazingly, Regina and Sam have survived desiccation thanks to the fact they were both surrounded by steel when the Earth passed through the comet’s tail, but that doesn’t mean that they are no...

In today's Horror Highlights, we have a look at Halloween Forevermore's limited edition Cthulhu statue, a horror DVD prize pack contest courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment, an excerpt from The Anatomy of Fear: Conversations with Cult Horror and Science-Fiction Filmmakers, a trailer for the haunting short film Agatha, the cast announcement for Manos Returns, a teaser video and poster for Barry Baker: Aspiring Serial Killer, and details on the All Through the House Blu-ray signing at Dark Delicacies in Burbank.

Halloween Forevermore's Limited Edition Cthulhu Statue: "Halloween Forevermore is a company known to many Halloween and Horror fans. Formed in 2014, they have released one dozen very popular and well-made wax warmers that appeal to both the seasonal Halloween fan and horror lifestyle enthusiasts. Their Undertaker and Cthulhu wax warmers were featured in Rue Morgue magazine. The company that trick-or-treats 365 nights a year is proud to announce a new limited edition...

Thom Eberhardt’s eerie 1983 chiller Sole Survivor discussed. For years, no one talked about Thom (Night Of The Comet) Eberhardt’s 1983 chiller Sole Survivor. It haunted video stores. It drifted across late night cable TV. That’s where I saw it. But no one else I knew had seen it. I had no one to share…

The post In Praise of Thom Eberhardt’s 1983 Chiller Sole Survivor appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

“The legal drinking age is now ten, but you will need I.D. . Let’s be real!”

Night Of The Comet screens midnights this Friday and Saturday Night (May 1st and 2nd) at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave, St. Louis) as part of Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse

Imagine the horror of being stuck with 80s fashion, style, and music for the rest of your life: that’s the fate facing teenage sisters Regina and Samantha (Catherine Mary Stewart and blonde cutie Kelli Maroney) when civilization comes to a standstill after a passing comet turns most of the human race into orange dust in the 1984 cult-sci-fier Night Of The Comet.

Amazingly, Regina and Sam have survived desiccation thanks to the fact they were both surrounded by steel when the Earth passed through the comet’s tail, but that doesn’t mean that they are no longer in...

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

A mid December night and everyone is out to catch a glimpse of the comet about to pass by the Earth. Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) is working at the movie theater and misses the comet after spending the night in the projection room with a coworker. Her sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) is stuck at home with their stepmom and her dumb Comet Party. Samantha runs away but really hides in the tool shed in the backyard. The next morning something is odd.

In Thom Eberhardt’s 1984 cult classic film, Night of the Comet, teenaged sisters Regina and Samantha Belmont prove that Valley Girls can survive with the best of them after most of the population has either been reduced to dust or turned into zombies. Fans of the fun fright flick who live in the London area can watch a special screening at The Prince Charles Cinema with Catherine Mary Stewart in attendance.

Taking place at 9:00pm this Thursday, October 16th, the Night of the Comet screening will be followed by a live Q&A with Catherine Mary Stewart (who plays Regina, aka “Reggie” in the film). To learn more about this special event, visit:

http://www.princecharlescinema.com/events/events.php?

“In this satirical sci-fi comedy, Samantha (Kelli Maroney) and Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) are two sisters whose father was a hard-bitten Green Beret, but who”ve grown into typical Valley Girls.

Taking its cues from classic doomsday movies such as The Day of the Triffids and The Omega Man (with a healthy dose of Dawn of the Dead thrown in for good measure), Night of the Comet (1984) is an irresistible slice of Reagan-era B-movie fare which features Cyndi Lauper dance-alongs as well as some truly gravity-defying hairstyles. To celebrate the release of Night of the Comet this coming Monday (22 September), we have Three Dual Format copies of Thom Eberhardt eighties favourite to give away to our readers, courtesy of cult movie specialists Arrow Video. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

★★★☆☆Arrow Video has once again dug down deep into the cornucopia of neglected cult titles to unearth a gem. Thom Eberhardt's cheaply-made but impressive-looking apocalyptic sci-fi/horror yarn, 1984's Night of the Comet is George A. Romero-style zombie invasion infused with a Valley girl sensibility. While it doesn't quite have the budget or resourcefulness to fully deliver in this kitschy B-movie premise, it remains a fun ride nonetheless. Opening on the eve of a huge comet passing by Earth, global celebrations take a swift dive when mankind is all but wiped out and turned into piles of red dust. Two sisters, Samantha (Kelli Maroney) and the older Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart), avoid obliteration.

Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Peter Fox, John Achorn, Michael Bowen, Devon Ericson, Lissa Layng | Written and Directed by Thom Eberhardt

It’s no surprise really that the Eighties are so fondly remembered for horror and science fiction, that was the time that VHS was growing allowing easier viewing of movies, and of course a time when a lot of people of my generation were growing up. Night of the Comet is one of those sci-fi horrors that never took itself too seriously and came to be known as a film that symbolised everything about the eighties. Yet another classic picked up by Arrow Video it epitomises everything we come to expect from a B-movie.

When a comet which hasn’t flown past this earth since the extinction of the dinosaurs pays a return visit most of the population of Earth...

Stargazers crumble into dust or become zombies in Thom Eberhardt’s 1984 cult classic film, Night of the Comet. With adult supervision seemingly eradicated, surviving sisters Regina and Samantha have fun with their newfound freedom and their adventures are captured in next week’s UK Blu-ray / DVD release of Night of the Comet, complete with an abundance of special features.

Night of the Comet will be released on a dual format Blu-ray and DVD in the UK from Arrow Video on September 22nd. We have the official synopsis, list of special features, and a look at the cover art:

“It Was The Last Thing On Earth They Ever Expected.

Life can be tough when you’re a Valley girl. First, there’s making sure you’re on time for pep squad practice. Then there’s having to live under the same roof as your bitchy stepmother who, you suspect, is making...

Indie horror Faults and Venezuelan chiller The House At The End Of Time are two of the films in this month's Bottom Shelf...

Summer holidays, barbecues on the beach and weekends decimated by relentless weddings: this is August for some. For other, more discerning types, it is about Frightfest, otherwise known as the chance to spend those rare sunny days ensconced in a darkened room for a horror movie marathon. This year’s Leicester Square event featured the usual mix of gonzo gore, copycat-killings and premiere screenings of future favourites; we managed to catch a few highlights.

The latest film from writer and director Riley Stearns (Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s husband, fact fans), Faults, received a European premiere last month. Massively enjoyable from start to finish, Stearns’ black comedy mostly eschews the genre necessity of scattergun bloody slayings in favour of an intelligent script focusing on the gaping voids left in desperate characters’ lives.

Arrow Video is excited to announce the UK Blu-ray and DVD release of Night of the Comet, the 80s cult-classic which since its initial release in 1984, has gone on to amass a legion of loyal fans with its hugely entertaining riff on the apocalyptic sub-genre of movies, paying homage to such classics as The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth. In fact, this might be the most purely entertaining depiction of the aftermath of a catastrophic event, not just in movie history but possibly... well, ever. The movie will make its UK Blu-ray debut on 22nd September 2014 in a newly restored transfer with a host of extra features including interviews with stars Kelli Maroney, Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran and Mary Woronov. The disc will also feature audio commentaries with writer/director Thom Eberhardt, stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart and production designer John Muto. Alongside this,...

Scream Factory is churning out awesome Blu-ray releases pretty regularly these days, and today we have a double feature review for two of their recent sci-fi / horror titles, the 80’s cult classic Night of the Comet and Saturn 3.

As far as trippy 70’s sci-fi movies go, Saturn 3 didn’t disappoint even if the film never quite fully comes together and it’s likely due to the behind-the-scenes politics that left production troubled from the very beginning. The story of Saturn 3 at least has some ingenuity going for it, which really made the film all the more fascinating experience for me (more on that in a sec) and ultimately, rather entertaining.

The futuristic intergalactic tale of Saturn 3 is centered around Adam (Kirk Douglas) and Alex (Farrah Fawcett), caretakers for a hydroponic growing station on Saturn’s third moon who are working to find their ecologically-devastated home planet...

With this freshly remastered edition of "DVD Is the New Vinyl," another format war has been fought and won. But rather than the skirmish between Blu-ray and HD DVD (remember that one?) or VHS and Betamax (now we're really dating ourselves), the podcast has trumped the listicle, two words that weren't even around a decade ago. Beginning now and once a month, your somewhat humble video-store proprietor will be chatting with a trio of renowned guests about the grooviest new DVD and Blu-ray releases. Listen up! Podcast Intro Music: VHS or Beta, "Bring on the Comets" Special Guest #1: Kathleen Hanna on "Night of the Comet" Intro Music: The Julie Ruin, "Cookie Road" Kathleen Hanna is a feminist activist, punk icon (best known as the singer/songwriter of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and the Julie Ruin), and the subject of Sini Anderson's terrific new documentary "The Punk Singer," releasing...

"This movie has been written about in books — go figure — and there's discussion about whether or not it's actually a zombie movie. And I can tell you it's not; it's not a zombie movie." So says director Thom Eberhardt about 20 minutes into the commentary for his low-budget 1984 movie Night of the Comet, which Shout! Factory is releasing in a DVD/Blu-ray edition this week. There's ample evidence contradicting Eberhardt's "not a zombie movie" claim, not the least of which is that, on the other two commentary tracks, stars Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney as well as production designer John Muto independently confirm that when they first saw the script, it was titled...

1984′s Night of the Comet is getting a high-definition upgrade from Scream Factory. Due out next week, we have release details and a look at the original trailer.

“Scream Factory invites loyal fans and movie collectors to feast on sci-fi gory goodness and high-camp spills from 80s when Thom E. Eberhardt’s end-of-the-world cult classic Night Of The Comet Collector’s Edition Blu-ray+DVD combo pack finally lands on home entertainment shelves everywhere on November 19, 20013. This highly entertaining fantasy classic debuts for the first time on Blu-ray™. Featuring anamorphic widescreen movie presentation, Night Of The Comet Collector’s Edition boasts newly rendered retro-style artwork, exciting bonus content, and a reversible wrap with theatrical key art and more!

It’s the first comet to buzz the planet in 65 million years, and everyone seems to be celebrating its imminent arrival. Everyone, that is, except Regina Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart, The Last Starfighter...

Another '80s cult classic is getting the Special Edition treatment from the fine folks at Scream Factory: the crazed apocalyptic horror/sci-fi comedy Night of the Comet makes its Blu-ray debut this Fall in a combo pack loaded with special features, and we've got the full breakdown below. Packaged with newly-commissioned '80s-style artwork (which is also available as a 18”x24” poster to early-birds who preorder the combo pack through Scream Factory's website) as well as the original theatrical key art, both discs are presented in anamorphic widescreen (Blu-ray in 1080p HD), with new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes. There's also a bonanza of bonus features: Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Thom Eberhardt Audio Commentary with Stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart Audio Commentary with Production Designer John Muto Valley Girls at the End of the World – Interviews with Stars Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart The Last Man on Earth?...

1984′s Night of the Comet is getting a high-definition upgrade from Scream Factory. Due out this November, we have release details and the cover art for the upcoming Collector’s Edition Blu-ray / DVD release:

“Scream Factory invites loyal fans and movie collectors to feast on sci-fi gory goodness and high-camp spills from 80s when Thom E. Eberhardt’s end-of-the-world cult classic Night Of The Comet Collector’s Edition Blu-ray+DVD combo pack finally lands on home entertainment shelves everywhere on November 19, 20013. This highly entertaining fantasy classic debuts for the first time on Blu-ray™. Featuring anamorphic widescreen movie presentation, Night Of The Comet Collector’s Edition boasts newly rendered retro-style artwork, exciting bonus content, and a reversible wrap with theatrical key art and more!

It’s the first comet to buzz the planet in 65 million years, and everyone seems to be celebrating its imminent arrival. Everyone, that is, except Regina Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart,...

Some movies will always make me laugh, but let’s face it; the same movies might make others yawn. Comedy is tricky business, the hardest genre to pull off from script to screen. I’ve put together a list of 10 More underrated or dismissed comedies that deserve a first chance or even a second chance at recognition. Humor is subjective, but gives these flicks a chance and I promise you will enjoy yourself.

Check out the first 10 here and 10 more below; let me know what you think and what your list might look like.

Beer League

An unemployed slacker inspires his softball teammates to improve their game so they won’t get kicked out of the local league.

Director: Frank Sebastiano

Writers: Frank Sebastiano, Artie Lange

Stars: Artie Lange, Ralph Macchio

I found a double disc DVD for this in a sale bin (not a surprise) for $5, it was well worth it.

When I was growing up, horror movies and popcorn happened every weekend. I have three brothers – two older half brothers and one younger brother. Naturally, I usually lost the battle over what movie we rented to three boys – they wanted all horror, all the time. I gradually became a horror fan myself (and now I’m obsessed), and I attribute my early horror love to my brothers, but also to Thom E. Eberhardt’s Night of the Comet (1984). Finally, a horror movie that was made for young girls – I had been lost, and Night of the Comet found me and made me a diehard fan of the genre. Not only that, but the film showed several more times on cable television, so I got to watch it over, and over, and over again. Released the same year that I was born, my brothers and I rented Night of the Comet...

Above: A Romanian poster by “Manescu” for Anne of the Thousand Days (Charles Jarrott, USA, 1969).

When Christopher Landry emailed me the other day he apologized for not replying sooner and said he’d been “working nights up in the Carpathians on a horror movie,” which is the best excuse for a tardy email I’ve ever heard (and it wasn’t even that tardy). Landry is an expat film producer and writer from Massachusetts who has been living and working in Romania since 1995. He is also the author of The Silver Screen in the Golden Age: Romanian Film Posters 1965-1989, a lavish coffee-table book of more than 300 posters from the country’s Communist era.

Romanian cinema has of course undergone a post-Ceaușescu renaissance in the past twenty years, and this weekend sees the opening of the week-long festival Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York.

Before getting into the penultimate edition of when comedy meets horror, let’s get into the honourable mentions.

Treevenge is a Canadian short film about Christmas trees getting revenge that has an evil dead attitude to gore, from the director of Hobo with a Shotgun. Feast, a siege movie starring Henry Rollins as a group of drinkers are hit by mysterious monsters, the film also boats as referential pallet for video games. Dead & Breakfast, a comedy horror musical in which a night at a local bed and breakfast turns into a supernatural fight to the death. Blacula and Scream Blacula Scream could be included, because if we learned anything from Black Dynamite, it’s that all Blaxploitation films are ripe for parody. There are countless other films that could be included; this endeavour could easily stretch to around the 150 films mark. Until tomorrow, the last one is The Cottage, a...

Brian Trenchard-Smith created this trailer for an Aussie supernatural thriller that never made it to American theaters. Director David Hemmings (star of Blow-Up) was determined to class up what was initially intended as a lowly horror movie, and rewrites of David Ambrose’s script continued throughout production. Actor’s Equity frowned on so many overseas cast members and refused to allow Susan George and Samatha Eggar to perform. Thom Eberhardt’s 1983 Sole Survivor uses the same premise to a degree that it should almost be considered a remake, although there’s no official connection.