Arrow Video Restores Director Nick Castle's The Last Starfighter For Blu-ray Release On Oct. 13

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K restoration — from the original 35mm camera negative — of director Nick Castle’s 1984 landmark sci-fi adventure, The Last Starfighter, lined up for release on Blu-ray on Oct. 13.

The year 1984 was a marvelous year for “below the radar” sci-fi films that would become, and we hate to use the word, “classics.”   Of course, there was the Hemdale Film Corporation production of director James Cameron’s The Terminator, which spawned a decades-long franchise.   It was released theatrically on the weekend before Halloween and … well, what can you say, amazing, brilliant, iconic (it’s a long list).  

A few weeks later, during the “dead period” just before Thanksgiving, Atlantic Releasing put out the limited budget masterpiece from writer/director Thom Eberhardt, Night of the Comet, starring Robert Beltran (who would go on to star as Star Trek: Voyager’s Commander Chakotay), Kelli Maroney (who got her start on the soap opera, Ryan’s Hope … and then came Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Chopping Mall … and more) and Catherine Mary Stewart, who also starred in (drum roll, please), The Last Starfighter.   Night of the Comet surprised everyone.

Kicking off this indie sci-fi cycle was the mid-July theatrical launch of The Last Starfighter, starring Lance Guest (Halloween II, Jaws: The Revenge, etc.), the aforementioned Catherine Mary Stewart (Weekend at Bernie’s, Reaper, etc.), Dan O'Herlihy (who was Oscar-nominated for Best Actor in 1954 for Robinson Crusoe, plus such films as RoboCop, 100 Rifles, Fail Safe, etc.) and Robert Preston as Centauri, in a role specifically written for him to mimic his 1962 performance as Harold Hill in The Music Man … this would be Preston’s last theatrical release.

Besides all three films being 1984 sci-fi gems, all three films had one other thing in common … they were all filmed in Los Angeles.

As to bonus goodies for The Last Starfighter, there are two commentary options — the first is an archival commentary featuring director Nick Castle (he teamed with John Carpenter on the script for Escape From New York … he would go to write and direct The Boy Who Could Fly and Tap), who is joined by production designer Ron Cobb (Conan the Barbarian, Leviathan); while the second is a newly-prepared commentary track featuring Mike White of “The Last Projection Booth” podcast.

Other bonuses include the four-part documentary titled Crossing the Frontier: The Making of The Last Starfighter, the featurette titled “Heroes of the Screen” and more to be added between now and the Oct. 13 street date.