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They Live
EMAILPRINTMCA/Universal Pictures
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Ray Nelson (short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning)
John Carpenter
Directed by: John Carpenter
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 4, 1988
DVD: March 25, 1998
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R
Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower, and Peter Jason
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. THEY LIVE. A rugged loner (Piper) stumbles upon a terrifying discovery: goulish creatures are masquerading as humans while they lull the public into submission through subliminal advertising messages. Only specially made sunglasses make the deadly truth visible. (TheOfficialJohnCarpenter.com)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Halloween John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars John Carpenter's Vampires
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington
Has its share of underthought or overwrought moments. The tone keeps shifting radically. It has some silly lines, plot lapses and goofball action scenes. But you can forgive the movie everything because of the sheer nasty pizazz of its central concept. [4 Nov 1988]
Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
The looniest movie of the season and also one of the most engaging. [7 Nov 1988]
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
A fantastically subversive film, a nifty little confection pitting us vs them, the haves vs the have-nots.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)
Carpenter is trying for a satire of advertising and consumerism under late capitalism, and although the film is great fun at first--especially when depicting the world through Nada's glasses--it rarely rises above the intellectual level of a comic book.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
All in all, an entertaining (if ideologically incoherent) response to the valorization of greed in our midst, with lots of Rambo-esque violence thrown in, as well as an unusually protracted slugfest between ex-wrestler Roddy Piper and costar Keith David.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Live dies around the time Carpenter allows 10 minutes of gratuitous Piper-David eye-gouging, an apparent bone to wrestling fans. Forget the amusing premise; a full crate of magic glasses couldn't make this a bearable movie. [7 Nov 1988]
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
Mr. Carpenter has directed the film with B-movie bluntness, but with none of the requisite snap. And his screenplay (written under the pseudonym Frank Armitage) makes the principals sound even more tongue-tied than they have to. [4 Nov 1988, p.C8]
Washington Post Richard Harrington
The plot for They Live is full of black holes, the acting is wretched, the effects are second-rate. In fact, the whole thing is so preposterous it makes "V" look like "Masterpiece Theatre." [5 Nov 1988]
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Typical of some of the absurd moments in this film is a long drawn-out fist fight between the hero and Frank, who almost kill each other because Frank is too proud to try on the magic dark glasses. It is completely stupid. [5 Nov 1988]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ryan H. gave it a10:
This movie rocks. there is absolutely no reason not to watch it! it is funny, intense, and generally all around bad-ass.
John W. gave it a9:
It rocks!
little Pete gave it a 10:
The best movie quote of all time - "I came here to chew bubble gum and kick some ass. And I'm all out of bubble gum." for this quote alone the movie deserves a ten!
Karl Marx gave it a 9:
Yes it's cheap, and yes mutch of the story is stupid but for anyone wanting a simple understanding of Marx and false class consiousness must see this movie. I'll acredit the low score to "burn the commies" right wing section of the amecrican media.
"Non-Rowdy" Gilbert Mulroneycakes gave it a 7:
"I told you to put on the GLASSES!" Okay, so it doesn't make much sense in terms of the movie or anything. It was just scripted as "Piper hits your black chap in the face, puts glasses on him". They just didn't like each other very much. So they actually had a fight, with fists. And Piper throws a few rasslin' moves into the mix, so who's complaining? It's a neat film. Even if it isn't a great one, it's worth a look if you don't want anything too taxing.
