Villian(s)  Mad scientists, zombies

Actor(s):  Robert Beltran, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Sharon Farrell

Brief Description  Night of the Comet is a 1984 American science fiction horror-comedy film written and directed by Thom Eberhardt. The movie is a celebrated cult classic famous for its stylized 1980s aesthetic, synth pop soundtrack, neon-tinged cinematography, and its subversion of classic "damsel in distress" horror tropes.

Plot:
The Earth passes through the tail of a rogue comet for the first time in 65 million years. While the world gathers to celebrate the rare astronomical event, the comet blankets the planet in deadly radiation. The next morning, anyone who was fully exposed to the comet has been instantly vaporized into piles of red carbon dust. Those who were partially exposed didn't die immediately—instead, they are slowly mutating into aggressive, flesh-eating zombies. The film follows two teenage sisters from California, Reggie Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart) and her cheerleader sister Sam (Kelli Maroney). They manage to survive the initial event simply because they happened to spend the night locked inside steel structures—Reggie in a movie theater projection booth and Sam in a backyard shed.

Upon emerging into a deserted, red-skied Los Angeles, the heavily armed "Valley girls" take control of their situation. They team up with a friendly truck driver named Hector Gomez (Robert Beltran) who also survived. As they navigate empty shopping malls and fight off hordes of cannibal zombies, they face an even greater threat: a rogue group of underground government scientists. The scientists, who knew the comet was dangerous, accidentally contaminated their own base. Now, they are hunting down healthy survivors to harvest their untainted blood in a desperate attempt to create a cure. The film's early use of strong, resourceful female protagonists who fight back with automatic weapons directly inspired Joss Whedon when he created the character of Buffy Summers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.