Remember finding that pair of sunglasses near the dumpster and putting them on. Hey, how come everything looks different and that’s not a person?
They Live is the story of a vagabond name Nada (Roddy Piper). He wonders around looking for employment and comes up empty handed everytime. However, his luck changes when he meets Frank (Keith David).
He gets Nada employment as a construction worker. Nada’s world is looking up until he stumbles across a counter culture movement. Later, their field office is destroyed but not without some remnants. The box left near the office has cheap sunglasses. He puts them on and the Earth that he knows is unraveled.
They Live was based on Ray Nelson’s short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning”. It was brilliantly adapted by Frank Armitage (aka John Carpenter). Carpenter’s script captured key elements of the Reagan Administration and fear of an impending apocalypse. He captured an endless recession, hopelessness, and illegal immigration (all be it intergalactic in this case).
It rings true today more so than in 1988. Since then, viewers have seen the L.A. Riots, Hurricane Katrina, and civil unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson as cubes on a larger iceberg.
His masterpiece is highlighted by the star crossed pairing of WWF Wrestler, Roddy Piper and Keith David. Piper brought magic to his role as a working class bad-ass. David’s role was atypical of most black actors in this genre. His part would usually be Nada instead of Frank.
Carpenter is brilliant in challenging the norms of sci-fi and horror. He takes what scares us and makes us love it (The Thing-1983). However, he takes daily life and makes us scream in horror (Halloween-1978).
Grab yourself some cheap sunglasses and enjoy this sci-fi masterpiece.
(This review was originally written on August 13, 2015)
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