(Can I get a pair of those glasses? But one that can see through clothing? That’s all I want for Christmas…)
CAST: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George “Buck” Flowers, Peter Jason, Raymond St. Jacques.
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and rather special sunglasses straight ahead…
In our recent review of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (review # 275), we saw how the arrival of “spores” from outer space created plants which then cloned human beings in their sleep. The humans would then die, and their emotionless replicas assumed their identities - leading to a global pandemic of “body-snatching”. With the number of unaffected humans rapidly dwindling, a group of survivors must try to find a way to escape the invasion without losing their own humanity.
Our latest review, THEY LIVE, also deals with the idea of an alien invasion. The difference between this film and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, though, is that in this film, the aliens are not new arrivals. In fact, “they” have been among us for decades. Hence the title. From that point on, the parallels with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS are consistent: (1) a small group of people gradually becoming aware of the aliens in their midst; (2) the aliens discovering that they’ve been made; and (3) all hell breaking loose.
What is the key that triggers our heroes’ realization that there are some skull-faced creeps from another planet lurking among them? See, not only is the alien presence already established at the beginning of THEY LIVE, but so is the resistance against it. Our protagonist is George Nada (Roddy Piper), a noble drifter who arrives in Los Angeles trying to find work. Through a series of events not worth breaking down here because I need to get ready for a thang tonight, George stumbles across a box full of special sunglasses.
How is that supposed to tip him off that aliens have not only landed but are actually also grabbing that last pint of Mango Ice Cream you had your eye on from the chiller at the local Safeway? Well, these glasses aren’t just your average sunglasses. These puppies can do the following things: (1) reveal who is an alien and who isn’t; (2) reveal the subliminal messages behind magazine ads, billboards, and TV shows; and (3) see through clothing and reveal who is really hung like a horse and who is just stuffing his pants with a rolled-up sock.
Okay, I was kidding about that last part. Those are the sunglasses that I’m trying to invent. Wish me luck. Anyhow, once George takes a stroll through downtown L.A. wearing those babies, his outlook changes 180 degrees. To say the goddamned least. I mean, it can’t be easy discovering that the guy who’s rung up your booze at the local liquor store for the last three years is actually a Bug-Eyed Freak From Deep Space. Not to mention also the one you’ve actually been, you know, fucking six ways from Sunday. Just a tad disconcerting, in my book.
At any rate, George also discovers that all the magazine ads and billboards around the city actually say things like OBEY or STAY SLEEP or CONFORM or MARRY AND REPRODUCE or - my favorite - SLATHER BODY OIL ALL OVER YOURSELF AND ROLL AROUND IN A BATHTUB FULL OF M&Ms THEN HAVE SOMEONE EAT THEM OFF YOU. Okay, that last one was really my invention. But you should really try it sometime.
So… will George be able to warn his fellow human about the creatures around them who only look like they’re human? Will he be able to find more of those super-duper sunglasses? Will he join the underground resistance against the alien empire? Who else will take a stand with him? His construction buddy, Frank (Keith David)? The beautiful TV programmer named Holly (Meg Foster)? What does she know that George can use to overthrow the aliens? If this movie is correct, does that mean that 2 in 5 people are actually Skull-Faced Bug-Eyed Monsters From Mars?
I knew it was just a matter of time before the truth came out.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: While THEY LIVE has some parallels with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the former is far inferior to the latter. Of course, as with CRITTERS and GREMLINS, this is possibly due to THEY LIVE’s lower budget. I can only imagine what writer/director John Carpenter might have been able to pull of with more money in his corner. THEY LIVE has many intriguing ideas, some of which - humans “asleep” and unaware they’re being exploited - predate THE MATRIX. Unfortunately, Carpenter never really gets the opportunity to deliver more than a passable alien-invasion thriller.
The movie actually drags quite a bit, and is only sporadically enlivened by exciting chase/fight passages. But these scenes are kinetic enough to given an overall lift to the film. Unfortunately, for every exciting sequence, there are at least two interminable ones wherein we see George and Frank just ambling along with Carpenter’s inexplicably twangy and western-sounding score chirping in the background. While it makes some sense for this kind of music to be used in what is essentially a satire, it does get a bit exasperating.
The cast is at least proficient, with wrestler Roddy Piper making his screen debut. Piper isn’t really playing a real character, but more of pawn to kick off some humorous action scenes. But he certainly has screen presence and is one handsome man. Keith David as George’s reluctant partner Frank is appropriately gruff and incredulous in light of what he discovers. Meg Foster does what she’s required to do in her surprisingly limited role of Holly Thompson, the TV programmer who gradually comes to believe in George’s conspiracy theory.
In the end, THEY LIVE is a film whose promise is snuffed out by a low budget, but Carpenter still manages to deliver a reasonable amount of tension, scares, and humor. It could’ve been much better, but it also could’ve been much worse.
