‘CIVILIZATION’ STILL IN DECLINE

In 1981 it was punk. In 1987 it’s punk, heavy metal and Ozzy Osbourne. The link is film maker Penelope Spheeris, whose sked includes the September release of the punk Western “Dudes” and the pending production of both a documentary and a feature.

She’ll direct Osbourne in “Seeing Stars”--about a burned-out ‘70s rocker who borrows money from the Mob to pay for his comeback and gets tangled up in an adventure involving two super-straight girls. Filming begins in November.

How about directing the magnificent Oz? “I’m so excited about working with him that I can’t see straight. This guy is a genius.” She likened the film to “kind of like a rock ‘n’ roll Dudley Moore--as in ‘Arthur’--movie.”

But first she’ll shoot “Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years,” a follow-up of sorts to the first “Decline,” the 1981 docu that unleashed L.A.’s punk movement through live performances and interviews.

“This is another era,” she noted. “I’m trying to put it into the context of a decline. There’s such a controversy with religious groups and conservatives such as the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) speaking out against it.

“I think this film should be made at this time. It reveals a decline in our society, a retrograde.”

The film will delve into styles such as pure metal (like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath), glam (Motley Crue and Faster Pussycat) and speed metal (Megadeth’s).

She’s checking clubs looking for bands for “The Metal Years,” the first film from IRS World Media, the film-TV subsid of IRS Records. New Line Cinema will distribute.