Monday, June 16, 2014

THEY LIVE 1988 (SHOUT FACTORY)

Reviewed this a while back, but now comes the Blu-ray from Shout.

One of John Carpenter's absolute best.

Roddy Piper is a homeless man named Nada who is looking for work in a large city and stumbles upon a pair of glasses that allows him to see that aliens have actually taken over. He can see the aliens and their subliminal messages when he wears the glasses.

These aliens, along with the wealthy elite of America have used our planet to grow and increase their power. Nada, after one of the longest fight scenes in movie history finally convinces hie friend Frank (Keith David) to put on the glasses. After that the two go on a quest to destroy the aliens an their hold on the world.

Piper and avid play off of each other very well and they make a formidable team. The ending is very well done with both protagonists dying, but not without success. Meg Foster is Holly, a woman who works for the aliens and whom Piper is drawn to for reasons I cannot figure out.

Piper has some memorable lines in this film. When he has first discovered the glasses and he puts them on, he goes into a store and a woman bumps into him and acts like a snob. Piper's character says "You know, you look like your head fell into the cheese dip back in 1957". This line and many others always makes me laugh.

The Blu-ray presentation from Shout is the best the film has ever looked and it sounds fantastic. The rest of the cast includes George "Buck" Flower andd Raymond St. Jacques.

Highly recommened.

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