Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12422 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
• Dubbed in: German, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
German\Spanish
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English German Spanish
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Trailer
The Making Of
Exclusive Audio Commentary By Director John Carpenter And Roddy Piper
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Norwegian\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish

Synopsis
John Nada (Roddy Piper) is a quiet loner, a drifter who gets work where ever he can find it. While working on a construction site in L.A. and sleeping in a vagrant community at night, John stumbles upon a secret society of alien beings who pose as wealthy and powerful people in human society. John joins a rebel group commited to exposing this conspiricy, and becomes their reluctant leader and the only hope of the human race. Wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper is outstanding as the unassuming hero, playing the role with understated shock at what he uncovers and stubborn courage when he confronts it. Director John Carpenter laces the film with his trademark blend of humour and horror, making aliens that are hideously arrogant, greedy, and easy to hate, while the humans are confused and desperate in their struggle against them. The world looks a little different at the end of THEY LIVE, and one will never look at billboards, money, or sunglasses the same way again. The film contains the longest, and perhaps most realistic, fist fight in film history. Paying homage to INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the film was based on the short story EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING by Ray Nelson.

Customer Reviews

David Fincher - remake this now!!
The premise which underpins this cult classic is "the ultra rich and well-healed have such contempt and disregard for everyone else, they must be from another planet". And in this strange little offering from the legendary John Carpenter, that's exactly what's going on.

If you think of the havoc that globalisation has wreaked, and the arrogant, destructive world domination sought by the Neoconservatives, you often wonder where this school of thought actually developed. (Although we've also cooked up Nazism during our patchy record as custodians of Planet Earth, so go figure).

This film proposes that the world is run by very creepy humanoids from another planet, who travel the universe making money, whilst having a total contempt for the indigenous species and causing poverty and inequality. The trick is that they look just like the rest of us, but with better haircuts, bigger houses, flashier cars, and smarter clothes. Their cover is blown when drifter Roddy Piper finds a box of sunglasses which when he puts on reveals the world as it really is. This scene is an absolute gem, and is one of the most erie I've ever seen.

To be honest, the idea behind the film is better than the actual execution, which pains me to say, because when Carpenter got it right, he really got it right. Maybe the budget wasn't there (who'd want to finance a film criticizing the might pay masters up on Mount Olympus eh?), but the film almost slopes along with a weird laidback detached quality, and never captures the stylized dystopia of previous efforts.

But as the markets crash around us, and capitalism tries to regroup and react and adapt, it will be the ones culpable for this fine mess that move on to the next fortune - maybe to another planet, whilst the rest of us pick up the pieces. The message in this film is so prescient it actually hurts that no-one is out there demanding this film either gets seen or remade.

So, despite the anti-capitalist message, can Hollywood do this science fiction fable justice and offer a real criticism of right wing corporate ideologies, with a David Fincher-directed head trip? He's touched on it already with Fight Club.

It'll probably make a lot of money.....

worth a look but didnt change my world
Rowdy roddy piper of world wrestling federation and world wrestling entertainment to a lesser degree stars in this sci fi film that has a portion of black comedy thrown in as well,john carpenter directs so with all of that this film cant be bad,can it?
The film starts off rather slow and sluggish and doesnt really have anything significant to say until maybe the 40th minute or so and then we are off with a very interesting storyline,once the character john,played by piper finds the sunglasses and realises that we are all zombies being conned by aliens who maintain the wealth and have subliminal messages in everything we take for granted then the film has a function.
The film is very much a social satire that is bang on the money when you think about it,i just wasnt blown away by the entire film,the famed streetfight lasting 5 minutes is indeed a real eye opener and some of pipers lines are gold but as a whole this isnt as good as i had hoped.

I wear my sunglasses at night
Another of John Carpenter's great successes, this film turns the paranoia of the 50's science fiction film on its head. Instead of outsiders coming and attempting to disrupt the status quo, in this film the status quo is the whole problem, as aliens have taken over right to the very top. Only Roddy Piper stands between them and continued domination of American society.
Piper makes for another of Carpenter's very likeable heroes, very much in the mould of Snake Plisskin, and the supporting cast is uniformially excellent.
A little gem of a movie.