‘Night Of The Comet’ Remake Coming From ‘Southbound’ Director Roxanne Benjamin
Roxanne Benjamin, one of the directors of the indie horror anthology movieSouthboundand the filmmaker behind the upcomingBody at Brighton Rock, is set to direct aNight of the Cometremake for Orion Pictures. Watch the trailer for the original 1984 version and see some examples of Benjamin’s previous work below.
1984’sNight of the Comet, which was directed by Thom Eberhardt, has been cited by Joss Whedon as an influence on the creation of Buffy Summers inBuffy the Vampire Slayer. The story follows a group of teenagers who are shielded from the effects of a passing comet which turns some of Earth’s population into dust and the rest into zombies.Catherine Mary Stuart,Kelli Maroney, andRobert Beltranplay the lead roles.
Here’s the trailer:
I admittedly haven’t seen this film, but I understand why a remake is in the works: there’s a ton of potential in that premise. This new version could end up being one of the primary examples of how Hollywood can dig up slightly more obscure older material and remake it for contemporary audiences without enraging legions of fans who consider the original to be sacrosanct.
Roxanne Benjamin is an up-and-coming voice in the world of horror cinema. She produced theV/H/Smovies, wrote and directed a segment of the anthology movieSouthbound,and also wrote and directed the “Don’t Fall” segment ofthe all-female horror anthologyXX:
Additionally, Benjamin wrote and directed a short this year calledFinal Stop, which you can watch below:
It’s not immediately clear what her exact take onNight of the Cometwill be, butDeadlinesays her version “will skew horror-sci-fi rather than comedy,” so it seems like the carefree, sort of goofyLast Man on Earthvibe may be falling by the wayside here in favor of some more intense storytelling.
Benjamin, who’s obviously very tapped into the horror community, wasn’t pleased with Blumhouse producer Jason Blum’s recent comment about Hollywood’s lack of female directors (Blum subsequently apologized for his statement). Here are some tweets from Benjamin from around the time of Blum’s comment:
With the consolidation of media conglomerates, it’s a tough time out there for everyone in the film industry right now – but I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for a female director out there grinding every day just trying to get an opportunity to prove herself on a larger scale. Here’s hoping this remake will open even more doors for her very soon.
