Night of the Comet
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
40 free Night of the Comet trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Night of the Comet came out in 1984 on a tiny budget and turned into one of the decade's best-loved cult films. Two sisters from southern California wake up to find almost everyone gone, and instead of panicking they pick up some guns, try on new outfits and get on with it. That mix of end-of-the-world horror and teenage deadpan is why people still screen it and argue about it. This quiz covers the whole film: what happens on the night itself and the morning after, the survivors and the scientists, the cast and where their careers went next, and how its writer-director got it made. There are also questions on the reviews, the soundtrack and the film's influence on later television. People searching for Night of the Comet 2 should know that no sequel was ever made. A remake was announced in 2018, and the quiz covers what is known about it. It suits fans of 1980s horror and science fiction, and anyone who has just watched the film for the first time.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Night of the Comet, the survivors all spent the night inside rooms or containers lined with which material?
Steel
Steel is the link the Belmont sisters spot between their hiding places, and Hector Gomez fits the pattern too: he slept in the back of his truck.
Q 02What is left of most people on the morning after the comet passes in Night of the Comet?
Piles of red dust
Piles of red dust lie beside heaps of empty clothing wherever people stood watching the sky, while those who were only partly exposed turn into zombies.
Q 03Samantha Belmont of Night of the Comet was an early influence on which California teenager of 1990s television?
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers owes a debt to Sam: Joss Whedon set out to subvert the horror cliché of the little blonde girl who walks into a dark alley and gets killed.
Q 04Night of the Comet was among the first mainstream films to receive which MPAA rating, introduced in July 1984?
A PG-13
A PG-13 was brand new: the rating arrived after complaints that Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were too violent for a PG.
Q 05In Night of the Comet, Earth last passed through the comet's tail when which animals were wiped out?
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs died out 65 million years before the story begins, the last time Earth took this path, yet people still treat the comet's return as a party.
Q 06The comet in Night of the Comet arrives eleven days before which holiday, as crowds gather outside to celebrate?
Christmas
Christmas is close enough that the comet feels like part of the season, so large crowds stand outdoors to watch it, which is exactly what dooms them.
Q 07Michael Bowen, who plays Reggie's boyfriend Larry in Night of the Comet, later played Uncle Jack in which crime drama?
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad cast him as Jack Welker in 2012 and 2013, a part he based on the revolutionary-type people he knew while growing up in San Francisco.
Q 08Robert Beltran, who plays Hector in Night of the Comet, later played first officer Chakotay on which series?
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager kept him aboard from 1995 to 2001, and the role won him a Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series in 1997.
Q 09Night of the Comet's Dr. Carter was played by the father of which actress, his co-star in The Way of the Gun?
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis also acted with her father in Blueberry; Geoffrey Lewis was best known for his many films alongside Clint Eastwood, such as High Plains Drifter.
Q 10Night of the Comet's score was composed by David Campbell, the father of which alternative rock musician?
Beck
Beck is his son with Bibbe Hansen, and the two have worked together since: Campbell arranged the strings and brass on the album Morning Phase.
Q 11Reggie Belmont of Night of the Comet holds all but one of the high scores on which Atari arcade game?
Tempest
Tempest, Atari's 1981 tube shooter, came to designer Dave Theurer in a nightmare about monsters crawling out of a hole in the ground.
Q 12Where do the rival arcade initials DMK reappear in the final scene of Night of the Comet?
On a vanity plate
On a vanity plate: the sports car that nearly runs Sam down belongs to Danny Mason Keener, a survivor about her own age, who offers her a ride.
Q 13Where does Reggie Belmont spend the night of the comet with her boyfriend in Night of the Comet?
A projection booth
Q 21Scientist Audrey White fakes Samantha Belmont's death in Night of the Comet by injecting her with what?
A sedative
A sedative lets Audrey White pretend to carry out the order; she then turns on the last remaining scientist and waits for Hector to return.
Q 22Which symptom leads scientist Audrey White to judge Samantha exposed to the comet in Night of the Comet?
A rash
A rash is developing on Sam, so Audrey offers to dispose of her; instead she spares the teenager and briefs Hector before the rescue.
Q 23Why is the Belmont sisters' father away from home when the comet arrives in Night of the Comet?
Military duty
Military duty keeps him away, leaving Sam to clash with her stepmother Doris, who she knows is cheating on him.
A projection booth keeps her safe because the couple stay on after closing time; Larry steps outside the next morning and is killed by a zombie.
Q 14Reggie Belmont of Night of the Comet first mistakes the hazy morning-after sky for which California nuisance?
Smog
Smog is her first guess when she steps outside to look for Larry and sees the red sky, moments before she runs into a zombie.
Q 15After meeting her first zombie in Night of the Comet, Reggie Belmont escapes on what borrowed vehicle?
A motorcycle
A motorcycle belonging to her boyfriend Larry carries her home, where she finds that her younger sister Sam has survived too.
Q 16In Night of the Comet, the sisters race to what kind of building after hearing a voice that proves pre-recorded?
A radio station
A radio station is where they find only a tape of a disc jockey playing, but they meet another survivor there, Hector Gomez.
Q 17What do the dying scientists in Night of the Comet take from healthy survivors to keep their disease at bay?
Blood
Blood from untainted survivors buys the researchers time to hunt for a cure, and they leave their donors brain-dead on life support to collect it.
Q 18What oversight let the comet's contamination into the scientists' underground base in Night of the Comet?
Open ventilation
Open ventilation undid all their planning: the researchers had expected the comet's effects, but left the system open with the fans running.
Q 19In the closing scenes of Night of the Comet, what finally washes away the comet's deadly residue?
Rain
Rain clears the air, and the survivors form a makeshift family: Reggie pairs up with Hector and they act as parents to two rescued children.
Q 20Where is the scientists' underground installation hidden in Night of the Comet?
Out in the desert
Out in the desert, the researchers pick up Sam's voice when she speaks into a live microphone, which is how they learn the sisters exist.
Q 24Which Canadian actress, a former Days of Our Lives regular, plays Reggie Belmont in Night of the Comet?
Catherine Mary Stewart
Catherine Mary Stewart grew up in Edmonton and went to London to study dance, where she passed the audition for her first film, The Apple.
Q 25The actress who plays Reggie in Night of the Comet starred the same year in which arcade-themed space adventure?
The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter cast her as Maggie Gordon, girlfriend of a trailer-park teenager recruited by aliens after he tops the high score on a video game.
Q 26Which former Ryan's Hope actress plays the younger Belmont sister, Samantha, in Night of the Comet?
Kelli Maroney
Kelli Maroney had already played cheerleader Cindy Carr in Fast Times at Ridgemont High two years earlier.
Q 27The actress who plays Samantha in Night of the Comet later faced killer security robots in which 1986 horror film?
Chopping Mall
Chopping Mall traps its teenage shop workers inside a shopping centre after dark with three high-tech guard machines that have turned maniacal.
Q 28Which actress auditioned for Night of the Comet shortly before landing the lead in A Nightmare on Elm Street?
Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp already knew Elm Street's casting director, Annette Benson, who had earlier brought her in to read for the comet film.
Q 29Which former Andy Warhol superstar plays disillusioned scientist Audrey White in Night of the Comet?
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov danced with the Exploding Plastic Inevitable and played Hanoi Hannah in Chelsea Girls before becoming a cult star in Roger Corman films.
Q 30Night of the Comet reunited two stars of which 1982 Paul Bartel black comedy about a murderous married couple?
Eating Raoul
Eating Raoul gave Robert Beltran his breakthrough as the title character, two years before he and its leading lady met again as Hector and Audrey.