THEY LIVE

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum".

Homeless drifter John (Roddy Piper) strolls into Los Angeles and immediately starts looking for work. He eventually finds a job on a construction site and is noticed during his first shift by co-worker Frank (Keith David), who offers to direct John to a local homeless shelter at the end of the day. The shelter is more of a small shanty town, where transients do their best to look out for one another, care for their families and generally get by on a daily basis.

Local to this community is a small church, where a blind preacher (Raymond St Jacques) warns anyone who'll listen about how the people at the top are brainwashing the lower classes and keeping them suppressed by selling notions of greed and consumerism to them. An interrupted TV broadcast backs this up, the bespectacled presenter claiming we are all being governed by a regime of false advertising and materialistic shallowness.

John doesn't read too much into any of this, until he wanders into the aforementioned church out of curiosity and overhears what sounds like the plans of an underground resistance group. That evening, the church is raided by bulldozers and riot police; John watches helplessly as the preacher and his closest are savagely beaten. Fearing he'll receive the same treatment, John does a runner.

However, he returns the following morning to inspect the now-derelict church. Finding a hidden compartment behind a false wall, he discovers a box containing several pairs of sunglasses. Perplexed, John takes these and stashes the box in a back-alley bin, after taking a sole pair of the glasses for his own usage.

Walking down the street a short while later, John is struck when he places the glasses on ... and sees the world in a different light. Suddenly advertisements for holidays and cosmetic products are replaced with their true intentions, posters on billboards simply reading "OBEY", "CONFORM" or "STAY ASLEEP". Furthermore, John soon discovers that the sunglasses - which make him see everything in a monochrome form - also reveal that certain members of the public are ... aliens!

Without these special sunglasses, the aliens look like humans. With them, they can be seen as the bug-eyed, skull-type beings they truly are. And we quickly learn that these aliens are controlling people via television transmissions, courtesy of their ownership of popular channel Cable 54.

Can John persuade his new friend Frank to get on board with him? Do they and the remaining resistance members have a chance of combating these brainwashing extra-terrestrials?

Filmed during the era of the Reagan administration, THEY LIVE is awash with satirical swipes at the Yuppie mentality which permeated society at the time. From early scenes of homeless folk watching more privileged people prosper via TV to the sly digs at advertising and the vacuous, materialistic conversations of consumers en masse, writer-director John Carpenter's screenplay (written under the pseudonym Frank Armitage, and based loosely on Ray Nelson's short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning") pokes fun at the image-is-everything, greed-is-good generation while exposing the heartless divide between America's rich and poor.

All of which makes THEY LIVE incredibly potent in today's troubled times. It's a theme that hasn't aged; on the contrary, it feels truer today than ever before.

This sophistication is extremely satisfying, albeit somewhat heavy-handed at times. But it would mean nought if THEY LIVE didn't also succeed as entertainment. But this is a Carpenter film so that's not a worry. True to form, the genre great (you don't need this information of course, but he's the genius behind ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN, THE THING etc) delivers on every level.

Wonderfully shot, warmly performed - yes, 1988 was a time when filmmakers still cared about relatable protagonists, and genuinely thrilling, this is rich with humour, tension and action. The 10-minute fist-fight between Piper and David is an obvious highpoint (making great use of Roddy's pro-wrestling skills) but there's so much more on offer here. Acerbic one-liners aplenty (the most iconic of which is the aforementioned "bubblegum" line), real human relationships, incredible stunts, shocking moments of power gone astray - the police brutality during the church seizure may have influenced the home invasions scene in MOTHER! methinks: this is concentrated, expert filmmaking with one eye on exploitation and the other on delivering a message.

Piper and David are excellent in their respective roles, providing a real heart in the midst of all this madness. Meg Foster turns up as a potential ally and brings further gravitas to proceedings.

All in all, THEY LIVE ages really well and stands the test of time as one of Carpenter's quintessential films.

THEY LIVE comes to UK blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal, who are treating this classic to releasing this in DVD, blu-ray and 4K UHD editions. We were sent a copy of the 2-disc blu-ray release for review purposes.

The film is presented uncut here in a new 4K restoration struck from the original camera negative, with colour grading having been approved of by cinematographer Gary B Kibbe.

A full 1080p HD transfer preserves the movie's original 2.35:1 ratio which is, by default, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The picture quality is superb. Colours have never popped off the screen so impressively, while the clarity and detail on offer really is remarkable. Clean but filmic, this is a brilliant prospect.

English audio is presented in choices of 2.0 or 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mixes. We also have the option of the latter mix in French and German dubbed variants. Each option is impressively spacious and consistent. Optional English subtitles for the Hard-of-Hearing are well-written and easy to read at all times (there are also optional French and German subtitles at hand, but these are not HoH-friendly).

The disc opens to a subtly animated main menu page. Pop-up menus include a scene selection option allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Disc one contains one significant bonus feature: a rip-roaring audio commentary track from Carpenter and Piper. This is a fascinating, jovial chat: the two fellows clearly have a friendship and share many a laugh while reminiscing over key scenes. Piper reveals that he used to be homeless, and then goes on to say he was accused of having his head digitally superimposed on to a pumped-up body during an early topless scene. Carpenter confirms that the budget of this "five or six week shoot" was $4 million. Locations and actors are discussed in keen detail, while elsewhere Carpenter touches upon the short story origins, explaining how and why he changed it rather radically. Oh, and THAT fight? There was two months of preparation involved. This is a brilliant listen.

And so, on to disc two.

Disc two hosts a fine array of extras. The first of which is an excellent 47-minute documentary entitled "Subversion", which takes many of the crew and gives them free reign to talk about how and why the film was made, it's themes, the production problems encountered during the shoot, and so on. Great stuff, which is presented in HD.

An 8-minute archival EPK is a spiffing addition to this set, primarily for its combination of behind-the-scenes footage and interview snippets from a young Carpenter. This is presented in window-boxed standard definition.

There follows a 3-minute profile on Carpenter which appears to be an extension from the EPK footage. But it's very welcome nevertheless.

Following suit is an era-specific 2-minute interview with Foster, which also features contributions from Carpenter explaining why he cast her and Piper gushing over how much he enjoyed working alongside her. Foster comes across as quite sedate but, as ever, is extremely watchable.

A 2-minute profile on Piper is more of the same, with the actor-turned-wrestler speaking enthusiastically about his role while relaxing topless on the shoot. Carpenter is present again, chipping in about how "real" his lead actor is.

Next is 2-and-a-half-minutes of the original fake-commercials-within-the-film which were shot by EPK producer Larry Sulkis. These result in an enjoyably fast-paced montage.

2 minutes of original TV spots are incredibly entertaining, capturing the film's tone perfectly despite their trim running times.

Fans of photo galleries will be delighted to learn of a generous 2 minute proffering in presence here.

"Woman of Mystery" is a later 5-minute interview with Foster originally filmed by Shout! Factory for their US blu-ray release. She's marginally more animated here, but is obviously one cool character. She speaks fondly and intelligently about the film. A nice touch is her recounting of how Carpenter had left a note for her when she arrived on the set: "When it stops being fun, we stop doing it".

Carpenter reappears for a 10-minute featurette entitled "Independent Thoughts" in which he offers more opinions on the film and what motivated him to make it (basically a lifelong love of science fiction). The political aspect is also covered in satisfying fashion.

David gets to give his own voice on the film in 11-minute "Man Vs Aliens" (another Shout! Factory original). He speaks about landing his part in THE THING (and offers his thoughts on how a sequel may have panned out), working with Carpenter, what THEY LIVE means to him, and being an actor in general.

THEY LIVE has aged extremely well as entertainment and its themes as prescient now as ever. Perhaps now more so than ever before. It looks fantastic here, and this set is loaded with extra content - all of which is great.

A must-have.

Review by Stuart Willis