Most of humanity has turned to dust. Some have mutated into zombies. And even fewer are just trying to survive. In the 1984 cult classicNight of the Comet, teenage sisters Reggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Sam (Kelli Maroney) fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. They encounter sinister scientists, and demented mutants, and have to navigate a world that has completely shifted over the night. Their prefrontal cortexes haven’t even finished developing. They have to make sense of their new reality. But the sisters prove to be capable of taking on all that a post-apocalyptic California can throw their way. (It was one of the first films to be rated PG-13, which was a newly established rating.) Like many films,Night of the Comethas aged like wine, better and more appreciated as time goes on. Though it was regarded as a B movie, it influenced the creation of another girl who was also skilled at fighting off hellish fiends: Buffy Summers ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
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From Sam to Buffy
In a2010 ranking of the 100 greatest charactersof the last 20 years, Buffy was ranked third.Buffy’s creator,Joss Whedon, spoke of a formula for how to create Buffy. Sarah Connor, Ripley, and evenJimmy Stewartare listed as ingredients. But Whedon also lists Sam – three tablespoons to be precise – as part of the concoction to create Buffy.Whedon also praised the title of the moviethat intrigues people to watch it: “I would like to make a movie that was one of these crappy, low-budget movies, that like the Romero films, had a feminist agenda, had females in it who were people, and had all the fun, all the silliness.Night of the Cometwas a big influence. That actually had a cheerleader in it. With a title that would actually make people take it off the video store shelves, because it has to sound silly and not boring”
ThoughSarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy has been the most iconic of the franchise, the original Buffy (Kristy Swanson) ofthe ‘92 filmthat started it all has a similar trajectory to Sam and Reggie. Whereas we’re introduced to the Buffy of the series as a girl who has already walked into her role as the Slayer, albeit still reluctantly, the Buffy of the film starts off as just a regular girl the viewers see rise into the person she is destined to become; initially, her biggest concerns are vapid; her classmates begin to go missing; she meets Merrick (Donald Sutherland) who is the Watcher of the film; and she finally accepts her role in keeping evil at bay. We see Sam and Reggie begin similarly; they start off the movie as regular teenagers; a comet twists their world upside down; and they have to accept the new condition of their world and fight to stay alive in it.
While Reggie, the older, more mature sister who accepts what has happened immediately and has to be the voice of reason, might seem like a Buffy stencil, Sam, with her wanting to be a regular teenager and not wanting to accept her new reality bares a resemblance from the Buffy in the movie and the series–Buffy, who doesn’t want to be the Slayer, but instead just wishes to be a regular person.
What is ‘Night of the Comet’ About?
Night of the Cometbegins with almost everyone excited to see a comet that will be passing by Earth for the first time in 65 million years, around the time the dinosaurs went extinct. People throw watch parties, anticipating the cosmic event, similar to the solar eclipse of 2017. Meanwhile, Reggie is hooking up with her boyfriend/coworker in a steel-lined projection booth at the cinema she works at. Sam gets into a fight with her odious stepmother and decides to run away, spending the night in a steel shed.
As the comet passes by, its audience begins to tremble, overtaken by some force. The next morning a red haze fills the sky and there are piles of clothes that are covered in red dust. Reggie reunites with Sam and helps Sam realize the severity of their situation. They go to a local radio station because they hear a DJ, but once they arrive, they discover it’s only a prerecording. They do meet other survivors along the way and encounter scientists who have been exposed to the harmful effects of the comet. The ending mirrors the ending of theBuffyfilm with one of the sisters driving off with a guy like how Buffy rides off with Pike (Luke Perry) — not Spike (James Marsters) — on a motorcycle at the end of the film.
Despite the end of the world premise ofNight of the Comet, Reggie and Sam are still teenagers who act like teenagers; they go to the mall and try on different outfits and speed through the empty streets of Los Angeles. It was important for directorThom Eberhardtto capture how teenagers would react if everyone was gone, and they had a major city to themselves.
According to Whedon, though Buffy’s primary foes are vampires–she encounters everything the underworld throws at her ranging from creature teachers to various demons–Buffyat its core is about growing up. The monsters just serve as freakish manifestations of the trials of reaching adulthood.Night of the Cometis also about having to grow up. Reggie and particularly Sam just want to be teenagers, but life throws them the ultimate curveball, and they have to roll with the punches.Cometshows two teen protagonists having to grow up in the face of different horrors and still trying to find joy in the everyday.
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Night of the Comet’ Were Both Before Its Time
But one of the most important meanings behindNight of the CometandBuffy the Vampire Slayeris the empowering message it leaves for female viewers: women are powerful and capable. Reggie and Sam are able to take on a bleak world with zombies and do so competently. What’s exceptional about the film is that it doesn’t grandstand about how women can do anything they put their minds to. Reggie and Sam’s ability to handle their hellscape speaks for itself, it’s as if the patriarchal ideas of women being less than has never even occurred to them. They kick ass and just happen to be girls. Both theBuffyfilm and series leave on a likewise invigorating theme that women can be their own heroes. In the movie, Pike tells Buffy that she’snot like other girls. She responds with, “Yes, I am,” letting Pike and the audiences–men and women, boys and girls–know that Buffy is every woman; in every woman, there’s a warrior who can save the day. Theending of theBuffyseriesmay be one of the strongest endings to a series ever: Buffy and crew save the day, but have to destroy Sunnydale in the process. Though a lot has been lost, a lot has been gained. Buffy no longer solely bares the responsibility of warding off evil, now everyone woman can be a Slayer.
Who would have guessed that a movie that mostly went under the radar would have inspired one of the best characters in the history of television? If it wasn’t for Sam and Reggie showing just how strong women are decades ago, the world may have never known the Buffy that millions would go on to root for.
