Obsession (2025)

“You wished for this.”

Written and directed by Curry Barker, 2025’s Obsession was a darling of the Toronto International Film Festival and the indie film circuit prior to its big-time release by Focus Features and Blumhouse, which led to the film becoming a massive hit at the box office and an instant classic for Gen Z, who related to the characters and their relationships in the film. While I happen to be a member of Generation X, I can see where Gen Z is coming from, but I reacted to this film in a different way. I’ll get to that later, but for now, let’s take a look at the film itself.

Some Spoilers Ahead!!!

Bear (Michael Johnston) is a shy, somewhat introverted guy who is friends with Sarah (Megan Lawless), Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), and Nikki (Inde Navarrette). All three of them work together at Cassell’s Music, which is owned by Sarah’s father, Carter (portrayed by the great Andy Richter in a small role). Bear likes Nikki, but is too shy to reveal his feelings to her and finds himself perpetually friend-zoned. When he drives her home one night, he makes a feeble attempt at opening up to her and fails miserably. In a moment of hopeless desperation, he cracks open a One Wish Willow, a novelty toy that grants one wish, only one wish, to the person that breaks the willow stick. He wishes that Nikki will love him more than anything in the world……and it works…..with horrible consequences. Nikki becomes infatuated, supernaturally, with Bear, wanting to spend every moment of her life with him, protecting him, loving him, and going to any lengths to make sure that he loves her as much as she loves him. The story spirals into one psychotic moment after another until things come to a head. What happens in the end? Watch Obsession and find out for yourself!

Barker has said that a Halloween episode of The Simpsons, featuring a tale inspired by W.W. Jacobs’ short story The Monkey’s Paw, was a primary inspiration for Obsession. Prior to learning this and while watching the film, my Gen X heart saw hints and glimpses of films like Misery, Fatal Attraction, Swimfan, Wishmaster, and even Play Misty For Me. Stories about wishes going wrong are as old as storytelling itself, and tales of psychotic lovers or obsessive fans have probably been around just as long. The element that Barker adds to this story that is unique (but not necessarily new, see films like The Craft), is the supernatural affect upon Nikki as she becomes more violent, more psychotic, and more protective of Bear and how his friends and acquaintances see him as the victim when, in fact, it’s Nikki that is trapped by Bear and his wish. You can take the story into a thousand different social and relational directions, which seems to be what Gen Z did, but the bottom line is that Bear is a bad guy, cowardly and selfish, and the horror is that he doesn’t seem to care that Nikki is falling apart internally and only begins to want things to go back to normal when he can no longer keep Nikki under wraps. It’s a well done film that takes old ideas and wraps them in a generational blanket that will be received by audiences differently depending on their age.

The cast do very well in all of their roles. Johnston is easy to dislike as supposedly innocent Bear, and Tomlinson does a fine job as his buddy, Ian. Sarah is easy to like, thanks to the performance of Lawless, and I believe that the entire audience was pulling for her throughout the film. Inde Navarrette has gotten the most attention for her performance as Nikki/supernaturally-unhinged Nikki, and she deserves the accolades that she has received. Barker, in my opinion, is the real star here, though, as his direction, writing, use of camera angles and lighting, all made the film much better than it should have been. In short, be sure to check out this movie. It’s not groundbreaking in any way, but it is a sharply delivered thriller that will get different reactions from everyone.

Thanks for checking out my review. I hope to do more reviews in the very near future. I’m still trying to get back into a rhythm after being pulled in a million different directions over the last few years.

The Devil’s Mouth (2026)

“I’m not afraid of the water, just what might be in it.”

Kathryn Newton has been on a role in recent years. With starring roles in successful films like Lisa Frankenstein (2024), Abigail (2024), Freaky (2020), and Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come (2026), and supporting roles in hits like Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023), it looks like she has solidified her spot as a bonafide star. It’s that star-power that drew me to her latest film, the direct-to-streaming Amazon thriller The Devil’s Mouth (2026). Written by Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner and directed by Jeff Wadlow (Imaginary, Fantasy Island), the film made its debut on Amazon Prime on July 29th.

This looks like the beginning of a Noxzema commercial.

The film’s plot centers on a group of five friends, Sara (Newton), Max (Lana Condor), Greg (Gavin Casalegno), Adrienne (Tommi Rose), and James (Nico Hiraga), taking one last trip together before paving their way through life as adults. Sara and Max have been friends for years, with Sara crediting Max for helping her navigate some negative times in her life. Max and James are a couple, but there’s friction between them due to Max being a control freak. Adrienne brings along Greg, her latest boy-toy, who is as immature as you’d expect a guy like him to be in a film like this. While hanging out on a yacht in Thailand, Sara gets mistakenly left behind for a brief moment and swims into a school of jellyfish that sting her. After she is rescued, tensions rise between her and Max, but the pair mend their differences and the group decides to have one last adventure before going home by exploring a flooded cave system highlighted by a grisly formation known as the Devil’s Mouth.

Along with their guide, Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong), the group enter the dark caverns only to discover that they are not alone. Due to a recent storm surge, saltwater has entered the cave system and brought with it a menacing bull shark. When they discover that a diver that has been exploring the caves with them has been attacked, the group has to find a way out of the caves safely. The shark goes on the hunt and one-by-one, it takes out members of the group. Who survives? Only those brave enough to watch The Devil’s Mouth will find out what happens!

The cast is good enough. Newton gives one of the best performances in the film, but I have to give Lana Condor my vote for best actress for the simple fact that I absolutely hated her character! I believe that this might be due to the fact that my wife had a controlling friend in college that acted much like Max does in this movie. Adrienne, James, and Wat are likeable characters. Poor Greg is annoying and immature…..and has shark bait written all over him.

The film is very dark and it’s hard to see what’s actually going on a lot of the time. The darkness also hides some of the limitations of the CGI shark, although it’s a pretty good-looking creature for a direct-to-streaming flick. The story plods along and, in all honesty, could have been shaved down by about twenty or so minutes. Overall, it’s not a terrible movie, but it adds nothing to the shark horror genre. If you like shark attack films, give it a look. If you feel that shark movies peaked with Jaws, skip this saltwater sleeper.

Thanks for checking out my review!

Masters Of The Universe (2026)

“They call me a devil, but I mean to be a god.”

I love this movie.

I could stop right there, but there’s so much more to talk about when it comes to 2026’s Masters Of The Universe. As a child of the 80s, I had more than my fair share of Masters of the Universe toys and I loved playing with them. I religiously watched (and eventually collected on DVD) the He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon. I saw the Dolph Lundgren-starring live action film from 1987 and watched the animated film He-Man And She-Ra: The Secret Of The Sword (1985) in the theater. I ignored the 1990 revival of He-Man called The New Adventures Of He-Man because it paled in comparison to the original. I owned comics, LPs, shirts, caps, a Velcro wallet, and tons of other MOTU merchandise. Heck, I even watched and reviewed the Kevin Smith MOTU Netflix shows. Basically, I’m saying all of this to let you know that my review will be a bit…..biased.

But I don’t care.

This movie was fun. I grinned from ear to ear as some of my favorite heroes from my childhood came to life on the big screen. Whether it was the ridiculously perfect costumes that looked so close to the original characters from the cartoon and the action figure line or the amazing score composed by Daniel Pemberton with power licks provided by Queen’s Brian May or the multiple Easter eggs, callbacks, winks, and nods to the entire franchise, I LOVED this movie. Yes, nostalgia played heavily upon my heart as I watched this film, but there’s more to it than nostalgia. It actually had a great story.

The film opens with Adam narrating the downfall of Eternia at the hands of the evil Skeletor and his minions. He then explains how he ends up in Oklahoma City, loses the Sword of Power, and how he must locate the sword in order to return to Eternia and release from the clutches of ol’ Boneface…..to a young woman that he is on a date with at the time. We then see Adam’s humdrum life working in a feeble and dull human resources department that checks off every single box of affirmation. Then he discovers the sword, is saved by Teela, and brought back to Eternia. His return is met with confusion and uncertainty, but he eventually finds the power within to lead his friends in a revolt against Skeletor.

The cast is excellent. Nicholas Galitzine did an amazing job as Adam/He-Man as did Idris Elba as Duncan/Man-At-Arms. Even better were the performances of Jared Leto as Skeletor, who chewed his way through every scene that he was in, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, who also chewed her way through all of her scenes, stealing most of them from everyone else in the cast. The rest of the cast, full of all of my favorite heroes and villains, played their characters to perfection. In particular, Sam C. Wilson dominated most of his scenes as Trap Jaw and Johannes Haukur Johannesson and Jon Xue Zhang portrayed Fisto and Ram-Man provided plenty of action and laughs.

Of special note is the performance of Camila Mendes as Teela. She portrayed a strong woman who kept a cool head in all of her scenes, hinted at a relationship with Adam, and was arguably the most believable character in a film loaded with fantastic characters. There were other heroes and villains in the film, but I’ll leave them out of this review to give you a chance to discover them for yourself.

As I previously mentioned, the characters in the film looked like wonderfully imagined live-action versions of their animated and action figure equivalents. Mekaneck looked a tad awkward, but the rest of the gang looked great. In particular, I loved the design and motion of Ram Man. I also loved the savage look given to Spikor. Other characters, especially those from the original toy line’s first release, looked almost identical to their toy counterparts.

From amazing character design, breathtaking visuals, and campy humor to the moral of the story that’s neatly tied up at the end just like it was in the animated series, Masters Of The Universe is a real treat. While it struggled at the box office, it has performed well on Amazon Prime and seems to have found its audience there. While no official green light has been given for a sequel (which was teased in the end credits), I have a sneaking suspicion that we will get a second MOTU film, and I’m totally ready for it!

Thanks for reading my post. I have the power!

Calcasieu Serialfest: Chapter 12!

Take a trip back to the Golden Age of Cinema!!!

It’s that time of year yet again! This Saturday, July 25th, the Brimstone Museum Annex will play host to classic cliffhangers, science fiction, and adventure as Calcasieu Serialfest returns for its twelfth chapter! Fans from all over will be in attendance to witness serials featuring action stars like Buster Crabbe and Tom Tyler as they battle it out against evil villains and desperate odds…..all in the name of fortune and glory!

Selected chapters from serials will be shown. The official schedule includes chapters from King Of The Rocketmen, The Phantom, Buck Rogers, and more! At 3:15 PM, the festival will feature The Alien That Fell To Planet-X, a 2026 short filmed in the same vein as the classic cliffhangers. The film is by Chris R. Notarile who presented Robot Princess From Planet-X at last year’s event. The day will end with 1936’s Rocket Ship, a feature-length cut of the original 1936 Flash Gordon serial.

Screenshot

As always, Calcasieu Serialfest is free to attend! Popcorn and drinks will be provided to all attendees and if you’re at the festival around noon, you’ll get free pizza provided by the Brimstone Museum Annex and Henning House! Bring your friends! Bring your family! Dress up as your favorite characters from classic serials, comics, contemporary films, and more!

Make your way to Sulphur, LA this weekend for a day filled with excitement and action!!!!

Classic Cinema: Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919)

“Suffering sunfish! GIRL pirates!!!“

The 1919 silent short film, Captain Kidd’s Kids, starred silent film legend Harold Lloyd, his longtime co-star, Bebe Daniels, and two other Harold Lloyd regulars, the perpetual second fiddle (but no less of a star) Snub Pollard, and Helen Gilmore, who had a successful career in a number of projects by Kids‘ director, Hal Roach. This was the last film that Daniels and Lloyd appeared in together, with Daniels going on to have a very successful career in film, television, and radio.

In the short, which runs about twenty minutes, Lloyd portrays “The Boy,” who awakens after a bachelor party bender that left him sleeping in his chest of drawers. Mad with her future son-in-law’s partying ways, “The Girl’s Mother” (Gilmore) calls off the wedding and decides to run off to the Canary Islands with “The Girl” (Daniels) to prevent her from marrying Lloyd. With the help of “The Valet” (Pollard), Lloyd sets out to find his love…..and tries to find the Canary Islands as well, and the duo end up going overboard after and altercation with some pickpockets. Luckily for the duo, they are rescued by a pirate ship staffed entirely by female pirates, one of which looks suspiciously like Daniels and her mother, Gilmore.

The story features tons of comedic pratfalls and gags, ranging from simple a simple shaving gag to a fairly elaborate fight between male and female pirates. All of these stunts and gags are pulled off in typical Harold Lloyd fashion. Lloyd is funny as “The Boy,” but the real standouts in this particular short are Snub Pollard and Helen Gilmore. They pull off a number of gags that had me laughing out loud at times.

The film is brilliantly preserved. I watched it on HBO Max, and it featured almost no blurbs or blemishes. The music and sound effects fit the film perfectly and fans of The Big Bang Theory may recognize the use of the the old sea shanty Blow The Man Down. Overall, this was a very fun short that, while not necessarily Lloyd’s best work, it’s still worth checking out, especially since it is available for free across a number of streaming services.

Thanks for checking out my post!

Imaginary (2024)

“Never ever.”

2024’s Imaginary, directed by Jeff Wadlow (who also co-wrote the film with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland), could have been a much better film, it just wore out its welcome. The movie stars DeWanda Wise as Jessica, a young stepmother who is trying to connect with her new stepdaughters, and reconnect with her own childhood in the home that she was briefly raised in before being taken away from her abusive father. When she and her family move into the home, the youngest daughter, Alice (Pyper Braun), becomes attached to a stuffed bear that she finds in the basement, names it Chauncey, and then begins exhibiting strange behaviors, some that are harmful to Alice and others. As Jessica digs deeper into Alice’s disturbing relationship with her imaginary friend, the she and her stepdaughters discover a terrifying world where imaginary friends feed off of the energy of creative children.

As I stated before, Imaginary isn’t necessarily a bad film, it’s just too long, lacks, shockingly, imagination, gets goofy really, really quick, and follows cookie-cutter plotlines that prevent it from standing out from the pack. The primary players in the film, Wise, Braun, and Taegan Burns, who portrays Alice’s older sister, Taylor, all do very good jobs in their roles. The supporting cast, which includes Tom Payne, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcon, and a wasted Betty Buckley, also do a fine job in their roles. The script, however, kills the effectiveness of their performances, especially Buckley and Falcon, who are my favorite actors in the film. The creature is also a bit underwhelming, and never proves to be that scary despite eating people and popping up in the shadows throughout the film.

In short, Imaginary wasted its opportunity to give horror fans a unique look at imaginary friends as monsters. Generic storytelling, a weak villain, and nearly zero scares made for a dull film that should have ended about twenty minutes before the credits finally role. It’s available on Peacock at the moment, so I recommend watching it there if you subscribe to that service. I’d also say that it has rentability, but I don’t necessarily recommend it.

Thanks for checking out my post.

A Nerd Turns Fifty

“The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

I turned fifty years old this month. Despite being that old, I still don’t really feel like an adult. Sure, I have to do “old guy” things like go to the doctor more often, pay a ton of bills, and try to navigate in a world where I’m too young to be a grumpy old man, but too old to be hip and young. Of course, I was never hip, and I don’t see myself becoming magically cool any time soon, but I feel as if I’m in a transitional stage where I’m losing interest in new things and clinging to the stuff of my youth.

I find myself watching a mix of classic shows that I grew up with and newer shows from the early 2000s in a constant rotation. If I’m at home and not watching football (soccer), I’m most likely watching Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, Cheers, Home Improvement, Two And A Half Men, Three’s Company, or some other sitcom that I’ve seen a million times before and will watch yet again. If I’m watching a movie, it’s usually a classic like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Tombstone, Dazed And Confused, or The Legend Of Boggy Creek.

In the last few years, the company that I work for has made major changes, including dissolving the job that I held for over twenty years. In an attempt to make a ton of money in a short amount of time, the company has put all of its employees, including loyal ones such as myself, into lower tier, more physical jobs so that they can put out maximum product for maximum profits. As a result, I’ve been working longer hours and writing fewer posts on this blog. I’ve become bitter, as if the company has cheated myself and other employees who worked hard to get into positions where we could do the best work, only to be tossed back into entry-level positions. It makes me (and others) wonder why we tried to move up in the company, only to be back where we started. I have other issues with the company, but I won’t talk about them here. I just can’t wait until I can retire.

For four years now, I’ve been the co-host of the Filmsquatch podcast. It has been fun working on this project and I hope that it continues. I’ve gained quite a few new friends since starting this project with Patrick Bennett and have had a number of cool opportunities to talk with some very interesting people. Along with this podcast, I’m also involved with the Lake Charles Film Festival, Calcasieu Parish Short Film Festival, and SerialFest. I still attend as many pop culture and horror conventions as I can, but it’s proving to become more difficult due to work and other duties and responsibilities. Plus, money is getting tighter for everyone.

I still love superheroes and collecting action figures, but my time is stretched considerably thin these days. As a result, I’m not able to keep up with pop culture as much as I’d like to no matter how hard I try. I’m tired. I just wish that I could slow things down a bit.

So that this entire post isn’t doom and gloom, I thought that I might mention a few other things that turn fifty this year. In music, KISS’ Destroyer and Rock And Roll Over albums both turn fifty, as does the Ramones debut album. In film, movies such as Rocky, Carrie, and Logan’s Run all share the same birth year with me. Celebrities that turn fifty this year include the lovely Isla Fisher, the funny Gabriel Iglesias, the cool Cillian Murphy, the friendly Jon Bernthal (seriously, I met him and he’s awesome), and the breathtaking Sarah Chalke.

I guess that I’ll continue to get older. It’s something that I can’t stop, so why worry about it, right? I hope that this post doesn’t upset folks, but if it does, just leave me a comment and I promise to respond. Turning fifty is supposed to be awesome, but life has been kind of tough lately and I’m in survival mode. Thanks for reading my post, and enjoy the gallery below of things I’m still clinging to from my past.

Banbo Toys Sockers

Let me be the voice of reason…..

Okay, let me start off by saying that I am a member of an exclusive review group with access to items that I receive in return for an honest and thorough review. I’m sure that most of you can figure out which review group this is but, for legal reasons, I’m not going to name names. That said, I have to come out and admit that reviews for a specific toy line seem to be skewing positively for reasons that I have yet to comprehend.

The toy line that I’m talking about is the Banbo Toys Sockers 8″ action figure line. These figures, which feature players from national teams and clubs from across the globe, have been receiving high praise in certain circles. The problem, at least for me, is that all of these reviews highlight the exact things that I find terribly wrong with these figures. Reviews include comments such as “highly collectible,” “great value for the money,” “amazing likeness,” and “wonderful for children.” They also wax poetic about the great articulation and the hours of fun that children will have playing with these toys.

I just don’t get it.

So let me explain……

These figures are terrible. At roughly forty United States bucks a pop, they’re also a rip off for buyers. Each and every figure has the same body. Banbo just slaps a different kit and a different noggin on each one. Granted, I actually do like the looks of many of these kits, but the head sculpts are atrocious, especially for the asking price. Also, since the bodies are all the same, there is no variation in the player’s heights. In other words, Christian Pulisic is just as tall as Declan Rice despite the fact that Pulisic is listed at 5′ 10″ and Rice is billed as being 6′ 2″ tall. As an adult collector, this bugs me. So does the fact that many of the figures have had legs pop off while removing them from their boxes. Oh, and if your favorite player has tattoos, don’t expect to find them on these figures. They feel very cheaply made but have a rather big asking price.

But wait, Ken, you might be saying, aren’t these figures geared at children? Well, the price point says otherwise in my opinion. Also, if they are aimed at kids, what kid wants to play with a figure that comes with twelve points of limited articulation and ZERO articulation at the hips where, ya know, football players need to move in order to kick the ball sometimes????? On top of that, why would a parent drop forty bucks on a figure that has just a few points of articulation more (and poorer sculpts) than those twelve inch Marvel Titan figures that you can get for around ten dollars?

Version 1.0.0
Spidey is thirty dollars cheaper than Martin Odegaard and ten times more fun to play with in action figure form.

Banbo Toys has been making these figures for awhile now, but there has been a massive push to move these toys in recent months due to the 2026 World Cup. That’s a great idea by Banbo, who offers multiple players in their nation’s kits and still crank out players it kits for clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham, Club America, Real Madrid, and more, but it also comes across a tad bit desperate. It’s like they know that these figures are lame and they want to move as much product as they can because there are probably some other toy companies lining up to get licenses to produce soccer/football action figures as well and they will probably be of much better quality.

Is Richarlison attempting a bicycle kick…..or just sad and laying on the ground?

I’ll include a gallery at the bottom of this post showing just how terrible the face sculpts are for these figures. I really hate ragging on a product, especially a product that I really, really want to be good, but I cannot recommend purchasing any of these figures. Take a look at the gallery and let me know. Also, if you are aware of a company that makes betters figures, please tell me in the comments.

Thanks for checking out my post. I’m sorry for putting Banbo on blast, but the quality of these figures and the praise-filled reviews feel misleading.

Fanboys (2009)

“What if the movie sucks?”

Fanboys takes us into the wild world of a group of hardcore Star Wars “fanboys” who are intent on helping their dying friend see a rough cut of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace before he passes away. In order to do this, the group has to navigate cross-country to Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas’ working film ranch. As with any road comedy film, the gang encounters a number of interesting groups and individuals and get themselves into crazy situations. The film was released in 2009 and seems to have become something of a divisive film due to its troubled production and attachment to people like Harvey Weinstein, Harry Knowles, and Kevin Spacey, all of whom have been accused of and/or found guilty of multiple sexual offenses.

While I won’t go in-depth on the film’s production troubles, I will say that it faced quite the uphill climb to get released. Weinstein demanded re-shoots to add raunchier scenes and demanded that the film’s cancer subplot be removed. The director of the original cut of the film, Kyle Newman, as well as fans of Star Wars, fought to keep the cancer subplot in the film and Weinstein and re-shoots director Steven Brill ultimately caved. As a result of the chopped up nature of the final cut of the movie, its pacing and humor suffer.

Troubles aside, the film is still pretty funny. It features a ton of cameos from across pop culture, and a few from the Star Wars franchise itself. Seth Rogen pulls triple duty as a Star Trek fan named Admiral Seasholtz, a Star Trek Convention guard referred to as Alien, and a massive Star Wars fan….who happens to also be a pimp, named Roach. Other cameos include Kevin Smith, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Ray Park, Ethan Suplee, Jaime King, and Danny McBride, among others. I don’t won’t to reveal the biggest cameo of them all, just know that it’s a funny surprise.

The film’s main cast includes Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Sam Huntington, and Chris Marquette. Other cast members include Christopher McDonald, David Denman, and Allie Grant. Fogler does a pretty good job as Hutch in the film, whipping out quote after quote from the Star Wars films. Baruchel is funny as the socially awkward Windows, who is looking for love online and excited to find out that he’ll be meeting his online girlfriend, Rogue Leader, on the cross country trip. Bell steals most of the scenes that she is in as Zoe, and is a perfect mimic of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the original trilogy. Huntington is essentially the straight man of the group, Eric, and Marquette rounds the gang out Linus, the terminally ill fanboy who is the entire reason for the group’s roadtrip.

I enjoyed Fanboys. Of course, I love Star Wars (and Star Trek) and love it when both franchises are the targets of some good-natured humor. The film might fall a little flat with folks that have no interest or happen to be unfamiliar with Star Wars, however, and in that case, it’s nothing more than an average road comedy. Oh, and I’m sure a ton of red-blooded Star Wars fans tuned into this film only to see Kristen Bell in the Slave Leia costume so…..here ya go:

Thanks for checking out my review. May the Force be with you!

Cult Classic: Night Of The Comet (1984)

“Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.”

With a perfect blend of horror, humor, and science fiction, Night Of The Comet (1984) is easily one of the best end-of-the-world films from the 1980s. Writer/Director Thom Eberhardt dumps the audience directly into the film from the the very beginning and allows the viewer to ride along with the Belmont sisters as they try to survive in a world where zombies roam, humans are scarce, and many of them can’t be trusted. The movie is a great time capsule for early 1980s culture as well, and I absolutely love it.

In the film, Earth passes through the tail of a comet that previously crossed the planet’s path sixty-five million years earlier and is believed to have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Reggie Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart) decides to spend the evening of the comet’s passing with her boyfriend in the projection room of the theater she works at while her sister, Sam (Kelli Maroney) gets into a fight with their stepmother and sleeps off the argument in a shed. When Reggie wakes up the next morning, she discovers a world where almost all humans and animals have turned into red dust and a few have mutated into murderous zombies. Reggie’s boyfriend is quickly dispatched by one of the zombies and Reggie makes her escape on his motorcycle, hoping to find her sister and others alive and well.

The sisters reunite and decide to head to the local radio station where a DJ is playing the latest hits of the 80s. When they arrive, however, they learn that the program is pre-recorded. They also run into Hector (Robert Beltran), a trucker who spent the night inside his rig, safe from the comet. The trio then make contact with a research facility located in the desert. Hector decides to check on his mother and while waiting for him, Reggie and Sam visit the local mall for a fashion montage. Unfortunately for them, zombified workers at the mall take them prisoner, planning to have a little fun with them before the kill them. Thankfully, the research team shows up just in time to save the girls and Reggie is trucked off to the research center while Sam is left behind with a couple of the research scientists in order to wait for Hector to return. Once Reggie arrives at the facility, however, she notices that the researchers aren’t necessarily on a rescue mission. Can Reggie, Sam, and Hector survive in this fresh, new dystopia? Check out Night Of The Comet to find out what happens!

This film is awesome. It’s one of my favorite science fiction/horror/comedies of all time. While it appears that Reggie (Stewart) is meant to be the star, Sam (Maroney) steals the show. Maroney’s comedic timing is brilliant and you can’t help but cheer on her and Reggie as they navigate their new world. Beltran does a great job as Hector as well, with his encounter with a security guard at the research facility and his role in the film’s climax being two of the best moments in the film. Stewart does a great job as the “straight man” in her comedy duo with Maroney. The rest of the cast give excellent performances as well, especially Geoffrey Lewis as one of the research scientists and Mary Woronov as another of the facility’s researchers.

Eberhardt proves that a low budget is perfectly fine to make an excellent film if you know how to use it. He told his cast to react in character any time that something went wrong in order to cut down on the number of retakes, and these reactions, especially those of Maroney, are what make this film so wonderful. The film has good music, amazing cinematography, and some great action sequences. It’s lightning in a bottle!

I highly recommend this film. It’s funny, creepy at times, and all around just a wonderful low-budget flick. Make sure to check it out and let me know what you think about it! Thanks for checking out my review!