1988’s They Live delivers plenty of B-move action and fun, but it also offers some biting social commentary that turns it into a sleeper of a sci fi film.
What Is It?
This 80s sci fi/horror film focuses on a drifter (Roddy Piper) who shows up in Los Angeles looking for work (we never learn his actual name, but he is referred to as Nada). He takes a job at a construction site and hooks up with another worker (Frank Armitage played by Keith David who had previously worked with Carpenter on The Thing) who brings him to a local shantytown where he can stay for the time being. Nada notices some strange activities in the church across the street (secret meetings covered by choir singing played on a tape recorder) then watches aghast as the police raid the church then destroy the shantytown. He also comes into possession of a strange pair of sunglasses and when he puts them on he gets a glimpse of a different world than the one others see. On billboards and on television screens he sees hidden messages issuing commands like “Obey”, “Consume”, “Marry and Reproduce”, “No Independent Thought”, etc. He also sees that quite a number of people on the streets are really skull-headed aliens in disguise. As he learns more, he finds out that these aliens are controlling our world by establishing a privileged class among other humans who are colaborating with them and by transmitting the subliminal signals that control the minds of the rest of the population to keep them docile. He finds out that a signal from the TV Station Cable 54 is the source of the deception (at least locally) and seeks out Frank, as well as a woman working at the station, to help him destroy the antenna and reveal the truth about the aliens.
Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Crew: John Carpenter (Writer/Director/Composer)
Original Release: 1988
Legacy:
They Live is an action movie through and through, but it also captures and comments on the zeitgeist of the 1980s while using the sci fi genre to deliver some intelligent observations in a film that manages to rise above its B-movie limitations.
A Closer Look:
For all practical purposes, They Live is John Carpenter’s take on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, though without retreading on the territory the classic 1956 movie already covered. He found inspiration from the short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson (as well as the comic book story “Nada” from Alien Encounters), but made the final film very much his own. Whereas in the Body Snatchers people were replaced by emotionless automatons generated from alien seed pods, in this movie the aliens turn people into docile servants through manipulation and consumerism. From this angle, the movie delivers a commentary on the 80s similar to what Body Snatchers did for the 50s (even though the producers of that film insist it had no underlying messages). Whereas Body Snatchers keyed off the shallow conformity that the American ideal of suburban life offered in that decade, They Live takes aim (much more overtly) at the Regan era, the “me first” decade, and the threat posed by the corporations that have come to dominate and control our way of life. Carpenter makes no qualms about the fact that he is delivering a scathing satire on his contemporary world as he focuses on the underside of the 80s and suggests a society at the point of severe deterioration.
But even though They Live offers some social commentary, it is still very much an action film and a B-movie. Interspersed with Kafkaesque, Orwellian imagery of a world controlled by alien-directed subliminal commands, we also get the standard action scenes you expect from this type of movie with the lead characters blowing away aliens and spouting off Schwarzenegger-like quips. Sometimes these work (like the “bubblegum” line, more on that below), sometimes they just fall flat, but at least the action-movie angle never derails the film. And despite the limited budget, that helps to make it more of a crowd-pleaser. Sci fi fans may yearn for a deeper dive into the alien invasion story and its implications, but that is all there in the subtext and helps the film stand up to multiple viewings.
They Live did not pull in a blockbuster tally at the Box Office when it was released (though not too shabby as it made back about four times its $3 million budget), and it has since gone on to be considered a cult classic. It certainly gives us an enjoyable sci fi/horror film that rises above its B-Movie roots and asks you to use your brain at least a little bit between the shoot-outs and explosions. And it stands out as a gem from its era that is worth revisiting.
Should It Be Rebooted?
There were talks of a reboot around 2010-11 with John Carpenter onboard as executive producer and Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Batman) writing the script. That later shifted to more of a direct adaptation of “8 O’Clock in the Morning”, but it has apparently fallen off the radar since then. The original film is such a cult classic with perfect performances by Roddy Piper and Keith David, that it almost seems like sacrilege to reboot it. But considering the current political climate, there is a lot you could do with the concept these days. A sequel set thirty-plus years later might be worth exploring (just please avoid the CGI overload), or this could possibly be fleshed out to a television series. If done right, revisiting this property might just work.
Interesting Facts:
The classic line “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum” was not in the original script and Roddy Piper is the one who came up with it. He had kept a notebook with verbal quips he could use in his wrestling career, and this is one that he jotted down. When Carpenter saw it, he agreed to let Piper use the line in the film.
The infamous fight scene between Nada and Frank was originally supposed to only last about twenty seconds. But they rehearsed it in the backyard of John Carpenter’s production office with Piper and David deciding to turn it into a real fight. They only pulled their punches when striking the face or the groin, and Carpenter decided to include the full fight sequence in the film which ended up lasting five minutes and twenty seconds.
Where Can You Watch It?
The movie has been released on DVD and Blu-ray/UHD, both of which are readily available. You can rent or buy it VOD from sellers like Amazon.com, and it is available for streaming on Peacock and Starz.
