When They Live came out, I was fourteen and I saw it with friends in the theater. In Canada, the film was rated AA (Adult Accompaniment), which meant anyone over fourteen could see it if they came with an adult- though theaters pretty much just let anyone over fourteen in regardless. So, I’ll admit, there is the tinge of nostalgia revisiting this one.

(Re-watching, I kind of get the feeling the rating system was much laxer in the 80s.)

They Live is an odd film in the John Carpenter cannon. It doesn’t reach the heights of The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China or In the Mouth of Madness in terms of quality or execution. But despite its B-movie veneer, its simple, yet undeniably powerful anti-consumerist images have ingrained themselves into pop culture in a way that only a handful of films achieve.

(Case in point: last week, I saw one of the young people was working checkout at my local supermarket was wearing a hoodie that read “OBEY” on the front. Most likely, the hoodie came from the popular Obey Clothing company, whose founder openly admits to appropriating its themes from They Live into his designs.)

They Live is loosely based on the short story “Eight O’ Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson. In it, a down-on-his-luck working joe named Nada (Roddy Piper) takes shelter in a homeless community in Los Angeles while waiting for his first paycheck from his newly found construction job. While stalking about, Nada observes suspicious behaviour centered around a nearby church, and upon investigating, he stumbles upon a group of domestic terrorists whose goal is to reveal an unseen truth to the world with the help of…sunglasses.

That night, the church and neighbouring shanty are raided by the police in a clear abuse of force that does not distinguish between the innocent. Still curious, Nada, goes back the next day to where he previously found a hidden a cache of sunglasses and tries a pair on.

And for the first time, Nada sees the world as it really is, a place where the elites in society are, or are subservient to, a controlling group of aliens that, at least in black and white, resemble humans that have been skinned alive.

Unlike a filmmaker like George A. Romero, most John Carpenter’s films are not interested in making grand political or social statements. However, They Live makes both. Yet there is a playfulness about this film that intentionally juxtaposes the seriousness of its message. Sure, Nada and Frank (Keith David) have that moment where they ponder how things came to be and yes, the revolutionaries have their own thoughts as well, but at its core, They Live is just a fun action film. This, however, is not a knock-on Carpenter. He seems to trust that the images he produces speak for themselves. And they do. After all, what more needs to be said about a billboard using sex to market a Caribbean vacation after learning it subliminally reads “Marry and Reproduce”? Too much exposition in a film so blatantly ripe with social commentary would have only come across as needlessly preachy. (Sometimes, just showing the zombies ransacking a shopping mall is statement enough.)

Now I concede that Piper is a far cry from Carpenter’s go-to leading man, Kurt Russell, (I love Kurt Russell) but there is a certain working-class charm about him that makes Nada an oddly interesting protagonist. After all, who else could deliver that famous line about chewing bubble-gum and kicking ass. (Rumour is that Piper wrote the line himself- hoping one day to use it in WWF banter- but Carpenter liked it so much he let him use it in the movie instead.) But admittedly, Piper’s lack of acting experience often shows, which makes the addition of Keith David so welcome. David has floated around Hollywood for a long time, often as a voice actor, but his supporting role in this film gives the film a little extra heft when it is needed most.

Surprisingly, very little has changed in how I feel about They Live over the past thirty years. But then again, this is a film that still brings out the kid in me. Sure, They Live has its moments of camp, but it is hard to imagine anyone stretching out the film’s measly 3 million budget any better than Carpenter. And unlike its kindred-spirit, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live was profitable at the box office. (I still prefer Big Trouble.) In They Live, the science fiction, action, shock, and gore elements all make for great entertainment. Yes, I still chuckle knowing Nada’s no compromise- and very dated- reaction to learning the truth is mass murder. I still find that six-minute wrestling match between Piper and David over the sunglasses to be marvellous nonsense. And I still get a little chill when the aliens are shown in full colour for the first time. Sure, as an adult I take more offense to the film’s casual approach to slaughter. And yes, I really wish that Keith David was the lead instead of Roddy Piper, though I refuse to fault Carpenter for not doing the woke thing in 1988. In the 80s, Piper’s time as a wrestler gave him a certain B-List celebrity status and appeal that David could not match.

And if I’m going to rant, I might as well ask how Margret Foster’s eyes got to be that impossible shade of blue? (Those eyes might be the most alien thing in the film.)

Put simply, They Live has survived as a cult film for two reasons: the images of its “real” world delivers a powerful sub-text that has now become iconic, and Carpenter’s direction keeps the film, and its constant reveals, easy to digest. Truth is, They Live is the only Carpenter film I would ever like to see remade. Unlike a lot of other Carpenter films, I feel like a better film exists in the bones of this one. But also I wonder what the reimaged “real” could look like now. Would the aliens be subliminally sending out messages intended to divide Americans? I am guessing Mark Zuckerberg would be be on the alien team. How fun, and topical, would it be to see that?

Oh, someone, please…please…remake this film.