The comets are coming!! The comets are coming!!
And, somehow, more than forty years later, Night of the Comet is still one hell of a good time.
Science fiction gets satirized in writer/director Thom Eberhardt’s fantastic Night of the Comet. Released the same year as David Lynch’s Dune and 2010, this entry into the genre was – while the reviews were favorable – perhaps too smart for the average audience as it underperformed when it should have done exactly the opposite. Watching it again in 2026, now preserved on 4K and dressed up in a brand-new SteelBook, only reinforces how badly audiences slept on this thing.
Jumping on the Halley’s Comet bandwagon (as, in 1984, we were all obsessed with its return), Night of the Comet joins Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce and Doctor Who’s Attack of the Cybermen in turning our global fixation into cheesy entertainment. Yet, when compared to the other flicks of the era, this one should have been the smash hit.
In Eberhardt’s well-written script, a comet – one that, when it last zoomed by our planet, supposedly ended the reign of the dinosaurs – returns for another flyby. Two ass-kicking sisters, Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Samantha (Kelli Maroney), spend the night in steel-lined rooms as the comet spreads across the night sky. They come out in the morning to find nothing left but piles of empty clothes and some fine red dust. Yes, crowds of people have simply turned to red powder.
Others – the people only partly exposed to the comet’s tail – have been turned into flesh-eating zombies. At a radio station broadcasting an automated message, the sisters group up with another survivor, Hector (Robert Beltran), and fight off the military, a lot of zombies, and the end of the world.
With a soundtrack that includes Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” Night of the Comet is pure 1980s fun. No, it’s not for nostalgia’s sake only; there are some great sequences showing off the cleverness of the decade. In fact, with its two leading ladies, it remains a bit of a precursor to the female-led action flicks that would eventually become far more common. Even in the early ’80s, there was a faction of the movie-going public that wanted to see women with the smarts and the wit to save us from the end of the world … with machine guns.
And that element plays even better in 2026. Regina and Samantha aren’t treated like some grand statement the movie needs to stop and congratulate itself for making. They’re simply the heroes. They’re funny. They’re pissed off. They’re capable. They go shopping after the apocalypse because, hell, why wouldn’t they? Stewart and Maroney sell every ridiculous second of it, which is a big reason the movie continues to feel alive instead of embalmed in an ’80s nostalgia museum.
To be certain, this is a B-movie and, if you are really going to dig in and love it the way I do, you have to have a pretty good grasp on the genre. It’s low-budget and hokey as all hell but, man, when it gets to the grimy meat of the matter, the entertainment value makes this more than just a museum piece. Four decades haven’t dulled its attitude, its humor, or its wonderfully weird mixture of zombies, Valley Girls, science fiction, shopping malls, machine guns, and end-of-the-world absurdity.
This is pure popcorn fun, one kernel at a time.
Night of the Comet, with its least likely sisterhood of heroines, remains a terrifically witty, refreshingly unpretentious, and wonderfully zany piece of science fiction. The comet may have wiped out most of humanity, but it sure as hell couldn’t kill this movie.
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Limited Edition Steelbook
Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - August 4, 2026
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English
Video: Native 4K; Dolby Vision; HDR10
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A
The comet has returned, and this time it’s bringing a SteelBook with it. Scream Factory resurrects Thom Eberhardt’s gloriously goofy 1984 apocalypse with Night of the Comet arriving on 4K Ultra HD in a brand-new Limited Edition SteelBook.
Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney grab the machine guns, hit the mall, battle zombies, dodge some seriously questionable scientists, and remind us why surviving the end of civilization might actually be fun if you’ve got enough attitude and a killer ’80s soundtrack. Featuring a 4K scan of the original camera negative with Dolby Vision, multiple commentaries, interviews, and a Blu-ray copy of the film, this two-disc release puts one of the decade’s most lovable cult classics inside some seriously cool new metal. The world ended.
The Valley Girls survived. And Night of the Comet has never looked better.
VIDEO
Scream Factory’s 2160p presentation comes from a 4K scan of the original camera negative and is presented in the film’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Vision and HDR10. And this is where Night of the Comet gets to strut around the mall a little. The movie has always been colorful, but the 4K presentation gives those wonderfully exaggerated reds, purples, neon signs, sunsets, and deserted Los Angeles streets considerably more life without making the movie look like something shot yesterday.
Grain remains present, detail is strong, and textures in clothing, faces, storefronts, and all that post-apocalyptic debris benefit from the additional resolution. Most importantly, the movie retains its low-budget 1984 personality. This isn’t some scrubbed-to-death digital makeover. There are moments of softness inherent to the photography, but that’s part of the movie.
The Dolby Vision grading gives the nighttime material better depth while allowing those radioactive skies to pop like crazy. The movie still looks cheap because it was cheap, but now it looks like the best possible version of cheap, and I mean that as a compliment.
AUDIO
Audio comes courtesy of English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks, giving viewers the choice between a modestly expanded presentation and something closer to the film’s original sonic personality. The 5.1 mix isn’t going to rattle pictures off the wall, nor should it.
Instead, it spreads the soundtrack, gunfire, environmental effects, and general end-of-the-world mayhem comfortably around the room while keeping dialogue clean and anchored. The music is where the track really gets to have some fun because Night of the Comet without its wonderfully dated ’80s soundtrack simply wouldn’t be Night of the Comet.
There’s enough punch and separation to make the music lively without turning this scrappy B-movie into an Atmos-fueled blockbuster it was never designed to be. Purists will probably gravitate toward the 2.0 option, but both tracks serve the film well. English SDH subtitles are also included.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- There are several. See below for details
Special Features:
If you already own Scream Factory’s previous 4K Collector’s Edition, don’t expect the comet to drop a bunch of new supplements into your backyard. The SteelBook carries over the existing package. The 4K disc includes three separate audio commentaries: one with Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney, another with writer/director Thom Eberhardt, and a third with production designer John Muto.
The accompanying Blu-ray contains the same 4K scan and commentaries while housing the video supplements, including Valley Girls at the End of the World, an interview with Stewart and Maroney; The Last Man on Earth?, featuring Robert Beltran; and Curse of the Comet, an interview with makeup effects artist David B. Miller. The theatrical trailer and galleries of movie stills and behind-the-scenes photography round things out.
It’s a solid collection, especially for anyone coming to the release fresh, but longtime owners should understand what they’re buying: the real 2026 upgrade is that gorgeous new SteelBook rather than a new transfer or a pile of newly produced extras. Double dipping? Absolutely. But collectors have done considerably stupider things than double dip for Night of the Comet.
DISC ONE – 4K UHD
- 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative
- Presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
- Audio Commentary with Actors Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart
- Audio Commentary with Director Thom Eberhardt
- Audio Commentary with Production Designer John Muto
DISC TWO – BLU-RAY
- 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary with Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart
- Audio Commentary with Thom Eberhardt
- Audio Commentary with John Muto
- Valley Girls at the End of the World – Interview with Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart
- The Last Man on Earth? – Interview with Actor Robert Beltran
- Curse of the Comet – Interview with Makeup Effects Artist David B. Miller
- Theatrical Trailer
- Galleries – Movie Stills and Behind-the-Scenes Photos
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