They Live (1988, John Carpenter)

"There is a signal broadcast every second of every day through our television sets, even when the set is turned off... They want us drugged... We have been lulled into a trance. They have made us indifferent to ourselves, to others. We are focused only on our own gain"

John Carpenter is a cult director favourite of mine who (only second to David Cronenberg) is probably the best of the horror directors to emerge from the '70s and thrive in the '80s. With amazing films such as Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape From New York, The Thing and many others under his belt.

Coming off the massive box-office failure that was Big Trouble in Little China back in 1986 (which later became an absolute cult favourite, mostly thanks to VHS sales) Carpenter set out to make his next film into a political statement. The target... Reaganism.

Originally based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson and the comic Nada, the film opens with a blue collar American known simply as Nada (played by wrestler Roddy Piper) who's looking for work. Keeping in mind this film was released only one year after the 1987 stock market crash, it was highly relatable to the working class upon it's release.

When Nada eventually does find work at a construction sight, he befriends fellow worker Frank (played by the always entertaining Keith David from The Thing) who brings him to a depression era looking shanty town for food and shelter where he meets Gilbert, the leader of the shanty.

It's hear that Nada first encounters an odd television broadcast on a TV set which gives everyone a headache and notices a blind preacher mouthing the exact words being spoken on the pirated broadcast. The preacher is then lead back into the church across the road by non other than Gilbert which of course arrises Nada's suspicion.

Later one evening the authority comes down hard like storm troopers with bulldozers, eradicating the entire shanty for further "enhancement" of the city and for some reason completely cleared out the church. Needless to say, the next morning when all has been cleared, Nada checks out the church and discovers a hidden box of sunglasses... this is where the fun starts.

Upon looking through these glasses, Nada now sees the world in black and white, without the injection of colourisation which we live in. Rather than the colourful advertisements we're constantly bombarded with day-to-day, we see the subliminal messages which are constantly being fed to us in order to control us. It is here where Shepard Fairey drew inspiration from his famous clothing line 'Obey'.

On top of all this, the glasses also reveal that some of 'us' are actually aliens (which Carpenter designed to look like corrupted humanoids) living amongst us and controlling us, passing as authority and the elite.  This of course freaks out Nada and he eventually finds Frank to show him his new discovery, thus leading to one of the longest and most bad ass and realistic brawls in cinema history, which was fashioned on the fight scene from The Quiet Man. Once Frank also sees the world through these glasses, they set out on a mission to find out where THEY came from and why.

This film on the surface may seem like a semi '80s Sci-Fi/Action film, infused with the atomic B-film aesthetic from the 1950s. But don't be fooled, the message here is clear, Carpenter is undoubtedly pointing the finger at (or rather giving the finger to) the Reagan administration with it's high rise of unemployment, yet sudden surge in consumerism.

This was the new age, the 1980s, the rise of the new conservatives and the yuppie scene of wall street which paved the way for the new alt-right Trumpazoids which dominate America today. It's safe to say this film is more relevant now than it was upon it's release back in 1988.

Besides the fact that this film is a political wake up call, it's also one of Carpenter's most entertaining films (which is saying a lot) and as per his previous filmography, it packs a kick-ass soundtrack. Be sure to check this one out, you won't be disappointed.

Click here for the trailer and here for the awesome realisation scene

Rating: A-