![]() John stumbles upon a group of conspiracy freaks, and his curiosity about what they are up to leads him to discover a secret about the world that in turn freaks him out. He soon meets Frank Armitage (Keith David) who guides him to a transient encampment where he can stay. ![]() The aliens know seeing through their illusions could easily be taken for paranoia and dismissed.ĭown-on-his-luck John (Piper) gets into town hoping to find employment and does. Ideas about tearing away the illusions that conceal the true nature of the reality in which we dwell. The story is simple enough it is reminiscent of the themes in 1999’s The Matrix. The messages have a core theme that promotes an agenda designed to keep us distracted by selfish, self-centered materialism, worship of money, and blindly conforming without ever questioning anything. They act as constant reminders to submit to the status quo, conform and be good little consumers who go about our lives getting married and reproducing to create more slaves for the comfort of our invisible alien masters. These messages, are devised to subliminally send instructions to keep the general human population under control, and in a state similar to sleepwalking. ![]() It’s a world conquered and controlled by invading aliens that have managed to conceal their presence in plain sight by using a transmitter that hides their appearance along with the universal messages they have plastered everywhere you look. Piper portrays the role of an average working-class Joe, facetiously named “John Nada” layered mullet and all, who suddenly finds himself faced with a whole new reality. Surprisingly he does pretty well, (or it might be more accurate to say his noticeably lousy acting does not detract from the film in a harmful way it ends up being part of its appeal) Keith David was then, as he is now, a reliably excellent character actor that helps improve this film by his presence in it. After all, it featured WWF wrestling star “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as its leading man. Piper was an untested commodity in my mind and that of a lot of other fans at the time. I have to admit I was very skeptical going in before watching this movie. There is also a scene that depicts the main character perpetrating a random shooting just like the ones that are too often the headlines of the news today. Some of its scenes eerily predict the militarization of the police and the brutality they employ in their tactics as weapons in the class warfare currently waged on the working class and the poor by the wealthy and powerful. The film, based on the short story “Eight O’Clock In The Morning” by Ray Nelson, almost seems based on our current reality. The film achieved lasting results by using the devices of some cheap sunglasses and the simple effect of switching between color and black and white images to produce its dramatic impact. ![]() They Live’s low budget look adds to the film’s appeal. John Carpenter’s They Live is an excellent example of this phenomenon, a brilliant social satire that depicts one man’s battle against overwhelming odds with an enemy that most people don’t believe even exist. Movies like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) The Blob (1958), Death Race 2000 (1975), along with a bevy of others, are a part of the DNA of science fiction on film, which resonates with fans and sometimes even achieves classic cult status. Įxamples of low budget “B” movies that turned out better than expected litter the history of science fiction on film. | “Alien Raiders” Available On DVD February 17 From Warner Home Video | Press Releases (function(w,d,s,l,i).Almost thirty years ago, John Carpenter’s They Live eerily predicted the class warfare, the militarization of the police, and terror of random shootings that take place today.
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