Some time ago, when I played Saints Row IV, there was a scene where Roddy Piper and Keith David were fighting in an alley in a pretty humorous way. I had no idea what the scene was, until I watched this movie. Now it all makes perfect sense. Another John Carpenter movie, as if three this year weren’t enough. Thankfully, it’s a good one. Probably one of his most loved of all time. And that movie is the satirical sci-fi horror classic, They Live.
The movie follows a drifter by the name of John Nada, who comes to a town finding work, but instead, he manages to find something even bigger. A pair of sunglasses. Not just any sunglasses, mind you. These ones are special. The sunglasses he has allows him to see the world for what it truly is. A black and white world where all of the advertisements on the wall read “Obey” or “Consume” or “Reproduce”. Not only does it show that, but when looking at a person of extreme wealth or power, it reveals them to actually be aliens who wish to take over the world through mind control through advertisements. It’s just like real life. Now Nada must save the world from the aliens with the help of Frank, his co-worker, played by legendary Keith David. So, the movie does sound pretty silly, and it is. But that’s what I love about these kinds of horror movies.
They Live is’t exactly an over-the-top gore fest like most silly horror movies. Instead, They Live tries to give a message about society as a whole. It tells us how people are just being controlled by media, advertising, and those with wealth and power, and how we just think, “Yeah, I’ll believe this. Why not.”. I mean, satire doesn’t always have to be funny. This isn’t South Park. This is They Live. The movie always manages to give some sort of message when describing the world around Nada. He knows that the aliens have more power over the humans and being the only one who can see them, he tries to do his hardest to try and destroy them before they can completely take over the world. But if you want REAL silly, just watch the fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David. That was one of the greatest fights in movie history, and it goes on for six minutes.
The aliens in this movie are pretty unique. I’m getting a sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel from it. Aliens come into our own society and disguise themselves as aliens in order to take over the world through all sorts of ads. Their appearances are pretty creepy too. They’re all black and white and have skull-like faces. Some people may not like the black and white color, but I think it has a little bit of charm to it. It reminds me of those old B horror movies that you’d see a lot of in the 50s and 60s. Especially since alien movies were getting real popular around that time. If you think They Live was a great movie in the 80s, it would have gotten so much love if it was in the 50s… Probably, since the language and violence would probably piss a few people off in that inoffensive age of Hollywood.
They Live is such a timeless classic. It is (Debatably) John Carpenter’s best movie. It has the social commentary that one would enjoy seeing, the great horror that you’d expect from John Carpenter, and it even has some great one liners by Roddy Piper. Consider this review in memory of him. Bless that crazy scotsman. They Live is a movie that, surprisingly, holds up even more than it did in the 80s. If a satirical movie manages to hold up even more in the future than it did when it came out years before, then it’s good. The Truman Show taught me that. It’s even more true about reality TV now than before, but Truman Show isn’t horror, so I will never talk about it on here. Anyway, They Live. Great horror movie and greatest satirical horror movie (Or was it the only one…. I don’t know). Also, go watch They Still Live, the sequel… When it comes out in 2018. Take care,
Up next on October Movie Marathon: The final movie
The movie follows a drifter by the name of John Nada, who comes to a town finding work, but instead, he manages to find something even bigger. A pair of sunglasses. Not just any sunglasses, mind you. These ones are special. The sunglasses he has allows him to see the world for what it truly is. A black and white world where all of the advertisements on the wall read “Obey” or “Consume” or “Reproduce”. Not only does it show that, but when looking at a person of extreme wealth or power, it reveals them to actually be aliens who wish to take over the world through mind control through advertisements. It’s just like real life. Now Nada must save the world from the aliens with the help of Frank, his co-worker, played by legendary Keith David. So, the movie does sound pretty silly, and it is. But that’s what I love about these kinds of horror movies.
They Live is’t exactly an over-the-top gore fest like most silly horror movies. Instead, They Live tries to give a message about society as a whole. It tells us how people are just being controlled by media, advertising, and those with wealth and power, and how we just think, “Yeah, I’ll believe this. Why not.”. I mean, satire doesn’t always have to be funny. This isn’t South Park. This is They Live. The movie always manages to give some sort of message when describing the world around Nada. He knows that the aliens have more power over the humans and being the only one who can see them, he tries to do his hardest to try and destroy them before they can completely take over the world. But if you want REAL silly, just watch the fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David. That was one of the greatest fights in movie history, and it goes on for six minutes.
The aliens in this movie are pretty unique. I’m getting a sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel from it. Aliens come into our own society and disguise themselves as aliens in order to take over the world through all sorts of ads. Their appearances are pretty creepy too. They’re all black and white and have skull-like faces. Some people may not like the black and white color, but I think it has a little bit of charm to it. It reminds me of those old B horror movies that you’d see a lot of in the 50s and 60s. Especially since alien movies were getting real popular around that time. If you think They Live was a great movie in the 80s, it would have gotten so much love if it was in the 50s… Probably, since the language and violence would probably piss a few people off in that inoffensive age of Hollywood.
They Live is such a timeless classic. It is (Debatably) John Carpenter’s best movie. It has the social commentary that one would enjoy seeing, the great horror that you’d expect from John Carpenter, and it even has some great one liners by Roddy Piper. Consider this review in memory of him. Bless that crazy scotsman. They Live is a movie that, surprisingly, holds up even more than it did in the 80s. If a satirical movie manages to hold up even more in the future than it did when it came out years before, then it’s good. The Truman Show taught me that. It’s even more true about reality TV now than before, but Truman Show isn’t horror, so I will never talk about it on here. Anyway, They Live. Great horror movie and greatest satirical horror movie (Or was it the only one…. I don’t know). Also, go watch They Still Live, the sequel… When it comes out in 2018. Take care,
Up next on October Movie Marathon: The final movie