They Live (1988)
Reviewed by Geno McGahee - November 30, 2007

They Live stars “Rowdy” Roddy Piper of WWE/WWF fame, as “Nada,” an unemployed man, looking for work, and comes across a construction company that hires him. That’s where he meets Frank (Keith David), and they become buddies, and work together topless to show off their muscles, I guess, but if you got it, flaunt it.

They also live in the same homeless/low income community, where they get free meals, and live amongst other poor people, like a drifter played by George “Buck” Flower (Cheerleader Camp, Wishmaster), who always delivers and is no different here. He is hilarious as the foul-mouthed homeless man.

As Nada becomes aware of his surroundings, he realizes that there is something wrong…and the church where many of the people gather seems to be at the center of it. Curious, he investigates and realizes that the church is a front with a recording of music blaring, but nothing really going on. The ever-clumsy Nada ends up tripping and breaking through a wall, where he discovers a bunch of boxes, and decides to steal one and discovery what all the secrecy is all about.

The contents of the box were unremarkable and Nada seems disappointed. The only thing in the box are sunglasses…a lot of sunglasses. He throws them in a trash can, but keeps one pair. When he puts them on, the fun begins. By putting on the shades, the world is exposed. The subliminal advertising is out in the open, and the alien monsters that are masquerading as human beings appear as they are, which is in between robots and skeletons. Nada doesn’t know what to do, but begins by insulting the robot/skeleton/aliens, calling one of the older, female ones that she was “real fucking ugly.” Then he goes to a bank to “chew bubble gum and kick ass,” and begins killing them all. He kicked ass, as he promised and he did have a wad of hubba bubba in his mouth too. He said what he meant by God.

Eventually, he teams up with Frank and they align themselves with the movement to take these things out. There are a couple of surprises here and a lot of overacting from Roddy Piper, but the good outweigh the bad, and it is hard to find a bad movie that is “Written by John Carpenter.” Carpenter is mostly known for his Halloween franchise, and he writes and directs another winner here in “They Live.”

This movie is really a reflection of society…the government, and the advertisement industry. They do use subliminal advertising and the politicians are always hiding a darker side and hidden agenda. Although this film is overstated in those departments, the point is taken, and it is nice to see that this subject is addressed. Subliminal advertising…look into it!

If you are into conspiracy movies featuring zombie-like monsters this movie is for you and it's for me for sure. I really liked this film. Way to go Hot Rod! (Note: "Hot Rod" is what he has called himself for years, not a nickname that I have for him.)