FILM · 1984 · USA
Night of the Comet
24 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
24 Interesting Facts About Night of the Comet
Interesting Facts (17)
- #001
The movie theater shown at the beginning of the film is the historic El Rey Theatre at 5515 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90036.
- #002
The scenes of an empty Los Angeles were shot in the morning on normal working days. The footage of the desolate city was filmed quickly while traffic was stopped with traffic lights.
- #003
Throughout the filming, people kept asking Thom Eberhardt about DMK, so Thom Eberhardt felt obliged to have DMK appear at the end of the film as Danny Mason Keener.
- #004
The album Samantha tosses over her shoulder is the soundtrack to Valley Girl (1983), briefly one of the most sought-after albums of the 1980s.
- #005
The radio station set was built in an abandoned warehouse.
- #006
The photos of Hector's family are actually photos of various family members of writer/director Thom Eberhardt's wife.
- #007
Writer/director Thom Eberhardt's car can be seen at a traffic light in the montage of a deserted Los Angeles.
- #008
While writing the screenplay, Thom Eberhardt asked teenagers what they would do if they survived the end of the world.
- #009
Production designer John Muto used what he described as a "comic book" sensibility for the film's overall look. Characters were given specific colors; the villains were in blue and gray, while the sisters were in brighter colors. Regina's colors were deeper than Samantha's to reflect that Regina was more intellectual than Samantha, and Samantha was more of a wild child than Regina. For example, Samantha's cheerleader outfit is mauve and turquoise.
- #010
The think tank set was built with miniatures and forced perspective.
- #011
Brick dust was used to represent the dust that transforms people and animals exposed to the comet's tail. The scientists in the bunker call the dust "calcium dust."
- #012
The waving clown in the first deserted shots of downtown Los Angeles is the same clown Pee-Wee Herman locks his bike to in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) before it is stolen.
- #013
In an earlier draft of the screenplay, Samantha Belmont had died.
- #014
Hector Gomez was expected to suffer a major emotional breakdown when he returns to his family's home.
- #015
There is a brief shot of LL Cool J on the microphone in the crowd scenes at the beginning.
- #016
The store scene was shot at night.
- #017
Makeup artist David B. Miller took on his first supervising role on this film.
Production Story (1)
- #018
When Samantha initially argues with her stepmother Doris, actress Sharon Farrell actually slapped Kelli Maroney. Maroney felt she wasn't getting the right reaction from Farrell's fake slaps and asked Farrell to really slap her so she could get a genuine response; she also didn't want to use up too many takes and wanted to finish the scene because the budget was low.
Behind the Scenes (2)
- #019
The two police officers seen while Samantha rides her motorcycle in her nightmare were actually location police working on the film who stopped traffic so the shoot could take place.
- #020
Catherine Mary Stewart did most of her own stunts except for riding the motorcycle in Los Angeles. The long shots of Stewart on the motorcycle show a female stunt double, while Stewart's close-ups were done by placing the motorcycle on top of a flatbed truck.
Characters & Cast (2)
- #021
Kelli Maroney improvised the Uzi line when the gun actually jammed. Director Thom Eberhardt told the cast to react to unexpected events in character because time and budget were limited and they had to avoid reshoots.
- #022
During his audition for the role of Willy, Ivan E. Roth pulled out a propeller gun.
Deeper Meaning (2)
- #023
Director Thom Eberhardt recalled that he received praise for the creative decision to depict Kelli Maroney's character emerging from the elevator by focusing on her feet rather than using a conventional full-body or upper-body shot. Eberhardt told the Projection Booth podcast that this actually came about because time ran out to shoot the scene on location. Because the actress could not make it to the pickups, a member of the production crew wore the character's sneakers, and since there was no real elevator available for the shoot, it was filmed in a few screen close-ups with the doors manually pulled apart by stagehands to simulate their opening. Using the shoes to represent the whole character is an example of the literary and visual device of metaphor.
- #024
The opening narration suggests that the comet killed the dinosaurs on its last visit to Earth. The film came out 4 years after the theory that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs was first proposed, a theory that most likely inspired the inclusion of the dinosaurs being killed by a comet in this film.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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