End Times at Ridgemont High

End Times at Ridgemont High (2015) is science fiction and fantasy author Ian Welke’s first young adult novel. A satirical mashup of the cosmic horror genre typified by H.P. Lovecraft, the movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Cameron Crowe’s 1980s coming of age dramedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the novel uses some of the more memorable situations and characters from the movie, putting them into a 21st-century, monster-infused setting. On top of simply trying to lose their virginity or maintain a slacker high, the high school students in the novel must battle otherworldly fiends—and often, their parents and friends who have been overtaken by the fiends’ near-omnipotent powers. At the same time, their struggles satirize everything from the deplorable state of the educational system to helicopter parenting. The novel follows several protagonists, with alternating chapters written from their many distinct points of view. Praised for its complexity and skillful mingling of many different moving parts, End Times at Ridgemont High was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel.

The small, coastal town of Ridgemont, California, is a beautiful, happy place where loving parents are over-involved in their children’s lives, teachers go out of their way to praise each student as special and unique, and where the future for Ridgemont High School graduates seems wide open and filled with possibilities.

However, there is something different about the town during the 2016-2017 school year. As always, the town’s elite residents politely lord their money over those less well off, but now the power base of the Chamber of Commerce has been shifting to something other than wealth. A new church has moved into the neighborhood—the mysterious Esoteric Order of Dagon, whose appeal is irresistible and whose members wear distinctive hoods.



The MacIntire family has always been solidly middle of the road, so it is not a surprise when, like their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. MacIntire convert and start going regularly to the newly built temple. Despite their attempts to interest their children, however, neither Evelyn nor her brother, Tim, is interested. Tim (an analog of Fast Times at Ridgemont High’s Brad Hamilton character) is a senior in high school who spends most of his time at his demeaning job in an attempt to save up money for college. Evelyn (based on the movie’s Stacy) is a freshman whose main concerns are boys and friend drama, not always in that order. Her biggest secret fear is that she won’t lose her virginity until she is in her 20s because of her parents’ unnecessary hovering.

Still, Evelyn can feel that something is not right. The changes start small but soon escalate. More and more kids are coming to school in uniforms modeled on the creepy hoods worn by the Esoteric Order of Dagon leadership. As always, changes to the curriculum are arbitrarily pushed down from a school board disconnected from the realities of teaching—except now, faculty members who don’t quickly adjust to the new requirements aren’t simply fired but vanish altogether. The general disorder and rule-breaking that is typical for high school have almost entirely disappeared, replaced with a spate of graphic, disturbing, and very strange graffiti vandalism.

Evelyn isn’t the only teenager aware of reality shifting. Burnout pothead Dean Bolek (a clear ringer for the movie’s iconic Jeff Spicoli) no longer finds his mellow in his favorite drug. Instead, he is plagued by visions of gelatinous, undulating ooze and terrifying tentacle monsters the size of buildings.



Buddies Chris Patkany and his friend Mike (versions of the movie’s slick Mike Damone and shy Mark Ratner) work at Marine World and are caught in a half-hearted love triangle with Evelyn. The possible awkwardness of this setup is left unresolved, after the boys helplessly witness in horror as something inexplicable electrocutes and then chars an Orca during their work hours.

Soon, Evelyn and the others must work together to figure out exactly who or what is behind whatever is happening. At every stage, they run the risk of being discovered by the members of the new cult—members that now include the school principal, their parents, other trusted adults, and even their fellow students. Soon, Ridgemont is facing a Cthulu-like end of days that is scheduled for June 2017, just after senior prom.

The novel’s climax involves the intrusion of the otherworldly beings who have been manipulating townspeople into their world, opening an interdimensional hole that ends up sucking in several minor characters. The ending is bleak and hopeless. The teenagers are unable to save the world; instead, all the survivors have to look forward to is the comfort of the same type of brainwashing that has already subsumed everyone else around them.