THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Life on Earth is all but wiped out as a comet flies towards the Earth, entering the atmosphere with cataclysmic style. Two hard-hitting girls fight against cannibal Zombies and sinister scientists to try and stay alive.

MY VERDICT:

Night of the Comet is terrible - a true abomination that, by some toxified miracle, has gained a totally unjustified cult following. Okay, the first few minutes of the film does give off some cool 80s' vibes with dusty, solid colours and heavy electric music but that's all - there is literally nothing else to like about this movie. The first disappointment is the completely non-sensical story featuring people looking up at a comet one fateful night as it enters Earth's atmosphere and this, somehow, - it is never explained how - turns everyone gazing at the spectacle into small orange-red dust piles. Later scenes show scientists, some corrupt, followed by mumbo-jumbo about a failed experiment but it is never 100% clear how this relates to the comet (or any of the rest of the film for that matter). Then, by the end of the whole confusing narrative, the topsy-turvy movie has turned into a bizarre 80s sitcom where the few survivors that are left alive seem particularly unbothered by the fact that society has collapsed and the world as they once knew it has ended, seemingly unphased the millions of deaths that occurred just hours ago. Another nail in the coffin used to seal this dreadful movie's sordid fate is that the acting; while not terrible, it is definitely on the wrong side of decent throughout. Finally, we see a hint of promise in the movie's Zombies - however, it is just a fleeting glimmer unfortunately. The comet only turned most of the onlookers into dust, some became death-dealing Zombies - again, no explanation as to why. Aside from two Zombies that only turn up in someone's nightmare, there are only a handful of Zombies in the movie which is extremely disappointing - the first encountered Zombie and the two dream-Zombies are nicely detailed so it is an amazing shame when they are whisked away so quickly, never to be seen again. The "Zombies" seen later in the film are almost entirely indistinguishable from humans - albeit humans with hostile intentions and a bad attitude towards the living; they can speak, plan, dress themselves in hardcore 80s outfits and fire weapons. This, like the nonsense story, just demonstrates that the film has an extremely difficult time deciding just what it wants to be.