They Live

Well before we get to Nazi horror week, we thought we'd deliver on a real classic. John Carpenter's "They Live". This 1988 film stars "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David(Requiem for a Dream, The Thing). This movie is all about exposing the gruesome underbelly of the government and society for its truly disfigured face. Roddy Piper's character who in the credits is listed simply as "Nada" is a hard working average joe who like a lot of people wants to earn a decent living. After coming upon some mystic sunglasses he puts them on to discover the veil which has been cast over society and the ugly side underneath it all. The world is not how we see it. Not all human beings are human.

Now I'm a huge John Carpenter fan, but this is the very first time I've seen this movie so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The one thing I've always liked about Carpenter's films is that his intro's are usually not explained, so there is usually a bunch of events that happen at the beginning of the film but you're left wondering "Why? How? WTF?". Now for those of you who need to know every detail, everything explained then you may not like that, but if you can just sit back and watch this movie for what it is then you should enjoy it.

What did I like about this movie?

This movie is packed with action, from the beginning of the movie right to the very end, it's actually more of an action movie I'd say then Horror, but the two mix very well.

The acting isn't spectacular but for what this movie is, you won't hate it. The script writing makes the acting a little bit better. Nada isn't a big talker but when he does its the kind of cheesy one liners that make these movies enjoyable.  Does anyone remember Duke Nukem?

John Carpenter does his own music for all of his movies, in this movie its a jazzy blues style and it suits the movie pretty well, especially while....... Chewing bubblegum and kicking ass.

So  what did I not like so much?

Keith David's character of Frank isn't really necessary, I mean yeah he kicks ass alongside Roddy Piper but the two of them are so similar and so he's a bit lost.

The special effects in this movie are decent, but some of the aliens in the film just look so outrageously fake that its laughable. You can tell one of them is wearing a mask because when he starts speaking the mouth doesn't move but the jawline behind the mask does. You can also tell some of them are dummies, when they get shot they don't look real and look more like puppets on strings.

The one female character played by Meg Foster in this movie is also pretty useless. There is no romance in this movie whatsoever and who she turns out to be in the end has you scratching your head,

Who will like this movie?

Any fan of John Carpenter should like this movie, in particular those who like "Assault on Precinct 13". This movie relates closest to that one and the style is very similar. Also if you're a fan of 80's action films then this will be a nice addition to your collection.

I give this movie 3/5 Duke Nukem's 

And now the trailer: