They Live
THEY LIVE (18)
D: John Carpenter
Universal/Alive (Larry Franco)
US 1988
94 mins
Action/Science Fiction/Horror
W: Frank Armitage [based in the story "Eight O'Clock In
The Morning" by Ray Nelson]
DP: Gary B. Kibbe
Ed: Gib Jaffe & Frank E. Jiminez
Mus: John Carpenter & Alan Howarth
Roddy Piper (John Nada), Keith David (Frank Armitage), Meg
Foster (Holly Thompson), Peter Jason (Gilbert), Raymond St. Jacques (Street Preacher)
Is this the best ever film to feature a professional
wrestler in the leading role?
It's a fair claim.
1980's WWF star "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays drifter John
Nada, who discovers a batch of sunglasses which allow the wearer to see the world for what it really is- The world is overruled by a race of skeleton-faced alien zombies who hold all the
top positions and all the highest paid jobs, everyone else is controlled through advertising, subliminal messages and an intergalactic beacon.
It's a silly film, but enormous fun, in the same vein as
the director's previous film Big Trouble In Little China (qv). Piper and Keith David also feature in arguably the funniest (yet still realistic) fist fight in cinema history, worth watching
the film for alone.
A bonafide classic of cult science fiction
cinema.
7/10
