They Live

Many might argue that this is John Carpenter's best work, that might be true, and thats saying a lot since he has a very impressive catoluge of work, there's just something about this movie that rings close to home for many, if not from the alien perspective, you can surely see the implementations of a controlled social hierarchy like the ones of todays society in this movie. Directed by John Carpenter and released in 1988, They Live as become a cult classic, starring Roddy Piper, who was a well known pro wrestler from the 80's to 90's, in this movie he plays 'Nada' which means 'nothing' in spanish, that pretty much sets the tone for the vagabong character he plays. The movie explores the idea of aliens influencing and living amongst us in everyday life, unrecognisable unless seen through the lense's of special sunglasses, what also makes this movie very interesting is the way it portrays the very well known elite's agenda of control through such avenues as mainstream media, advertising and television. In 2013 Roddy Piper took to the social media site Twitter, proclaiming "They Live is a documentery!" which to me and many others is actually not a far fetched statement. The movie is based on a short story "Eight O'clock in the Morning," by Ray Nelson, the movie was made and released about twenty-five years after the original story whose main character, George Nada, dies at the end due to a heart attack at 8:00 in the morning, in the movie, the character George Nada, played by Roddy Piper, didn't die, but on July 30th, 2015, twenty-seven years after (They Live), Piper himself also died of a heart attack.

 "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum".

Iconic quote from the movie

Synopsis and trailer

Nada (Roddy Piper), a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens. 

Roddy Piper on Twitter about the movie.

They Live is a documentary!

— Rowdy Roddy Piper (@R_Roddy_Piper) January 23, 2015

After Piper died inside his Hollywood home, aged 61 on Friday 31 July 2015, the Director John Carpenter shared is condolences.

I'm devastated by the passing of my friend Roddy Piper. Great wrestler, underrated actor, dear friend. Rest in peace, Rod.

— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) July 31, 2015

One of the many mind provoking image's of what 'Nada' (Roddy Piper) can see before and after he puts on the special sunglasses in the movie is this one of money. 

  "You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong".
The movie's poster promotion text

Directed by: John Carpenter
Produced by: Larry Franco
Screenplay by: John Carpenter
Based on: "Eight O'Clock in the Morning"
by Ray Nelson
Starring: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Music by: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth
Cinematography: Gary B. Kibbe
Edited by: Gib Jaffe, Frank E. Jimenez

Running time: 1hr 34mins
Production company: Alive Films, Larry Franco Productions
Distributed by: Universal Pictures, Carolco Pictures
Release date: November 4, 1988