They Live - Dark Lord's DVD Collection.

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

John Carpenter's
They Live

Year of Release - 1988
DVD Release - Momentum Pictures - 2002
Region 2 - PAL - Rated 18
Running Time - 90:15

Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster and Peter Jason.
Music: John Carpenter in association with Alan Howarth

John Carpenter met (former) WWF/WWE star "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at Wrestlemania III and became friends. So when the starring role in 1988's low-budget They Live was available, Carpenter chose Piper to play it. It was a risk, but it paid off. They Live was a box-office success and has become a cult classic.

SYNOPSIS

John Nada (Piper) is an unemployed labourer, arriving in Los Angeles to try to find work. Times are tough. The gap between rich and poor is widening. But life goes on.

Nada manages to find work at a construction site and meets Frank (David), who shows him "a place to stay". It's a kind of shanty-town across the street from a church. A blind priest (Raymond St. Jacques) and other volunteers, like Gilbert (Jason), keep the shanty-town going.

Nada gets to know Frank, who's become cynical with the world after being treated badly by his former employers. Nada is a lot more casual about life. "Live and let live" seems to be his motto.

While watching a bit of television, an odd transmisson is hacked onto the airwaves. A starnge man is making a speech about everyone being asleep and that everyone is living in an "altered state of consciousness". He talks about a movement being started by a group of scientists. The transmission is garbled and unclear, but he also talks about an elite group who are oppressing the poor. Nada is grows suspicious as he sees the bling priest across the road mouthing the speech at the same time, as if he had written it. The transmission is cut of and "regularly scheduled programming" resumes. Nada then sees Gilbert and the priest arguing and going into the church.

There are strange goings about at the church and, despite his better judgement, Nada decides to investigate. The next day, while the church holds choir practice, he sneaks into the church. He discovers that the choir is in fact a recording and there seems to be a small laboratory in the church. There are boxes stacked everywhere. He stumbles across a secret panel in a wall and finds bore boxes. He runs into the blind priest and makes himself scarce. He tells Frank, but he tells Nada to leave it alone. "I don't bother anybody and they don't bother me!"

That night, the shanty town and church is raided by an army of policemen. The squatters are beaten up and forced to flee, while the police destroy their homes. They seem to be looking for something or somebody. Nada manages to get away, not before he sees the blind priest and the guy from the television hack being beaten by the cops.

Nada returns in the morning. Some of the squatters are going through the rubble, trying to salvage what they can. Nada checks out the church, because he is certain that that's what the police were after. The place has been cleaned out. But Nada remembers the secret panel. He opens it and takes one of the boxes.

He goes into an alleyway into the city and opens the box. It's full of ... sunglasses? He takes one, hides the rest and walks down the street.

Nada puts on the glasses... Let's just say that Nada's world veiw changes. He begins to see the truth and he gets scared. He needs help. If he could just get Frank to put the sunglasses on, he would see the truth too...

VIDEO

They Live, like other John Carpenter films, was framed for 2.35:1 Panavision. This DVD has the opening titles/credits in approx 2.40:1 aspect, then inexplicably changes to approximately 2.10:1 or 2.15:1.

I don't know why that is. It seems that most of the European DVD transfers are the same. Could it be the European Master to blame? It's disappointing, really.

Having said that, though, the transfer looks great. It is clean and there isn't too much in the way of artefacts, grain or what-have-you. It's a very watchable transfer.

AUDIO

The audio tracks are in Dolby Surround 2.0 in English, German and Spanish.

John Carpenter's score ranges from slow blues to fast paced energetic music, all derived from the same theme. Classic John Carpenter movie music.

EXTRAS

Audio Commentary - John Carpenter and Roddy Piper

This is a fantastic commentary. It confirms that John Carpenter is one of the best filmmakers of all time and that Roddy Piper is as crazy as he was in the wrestling! This is a highly enjoyable and informative commentary.

Featurette - Making Of - 08:01

This featurette is a televison promo, thus it is hardly the in-depth examination of the making of They Live that one would like. However it is good to have and a welcome inclusion on the DVD nonetheless.

Easter Egg - Hidden Features - SPOILER

Highlight the "Making of" and press "Up". The alien's eyes will highlight. This will take you to a Hidden Features menu with the following: John Carpenter Profile (2:37), Roddy Piper Profile (2:01) and Meg Foster Profile (2:24). All of these are small featurettes and are pretty good.

Easter Egg - Photo - SPOILER

In the "Hidden Features" menu, press "Left" and Nada's sunglasses will highlight. Select it and you will see a picture of John Carpenter and Roddy Piper after the DVD Commentary recording session. A nice inclusion.

OVERALL

They Live could quite honestly be my favourite film of all time. It is easily my favourite John Carpenter film. Big call, but there are so many levels to this film that make it a classic.

They Live starts of with a slow pace, with the score reflecting the laid-back pace of the film. But gradually, as the film progresses and as Nada discovers more, the pace increases, culminating in an action-packed Final Act, with the typical Carpenter-style ending.

The film is a bit of a parable. The Recession was felt all around the world in 1988 when it came out and They Live was a bit of a wake-up call to the capitalist attitude of the 80's. But with Conservative Governments in many of the major powers of the world, with Capitalism and Privatisation well-and-truly on the agenda, They Live is as relevent today as it was 15 years ago.

But that's not to say that They Live is a boring Leftist soapbox of a film, bacause it isn't. It has it's fair share of Horror, Science Fiction and Action. With a star like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, how could it not have gritty action scenes with a touch of Comedy? The 10 minute fight scene where Nada tries to convince Frank to put on the Sunglasses is an absolute classic.

I have to give credit to Meg Foster who plays the pivotal role of Cable TV Station employee, Holly. One hell of a 3-Dimensional character, executed brilliantly by Foster, of the likes rarely seen for supporting female roles in movies today.

And, of course, a "big-up" to George "Buck" Flower. Look him up in the IMDb and you see characters like "Homeless Man", "Drunk", Bum", "Drifter", "Vagrant". A truly underrated actor who also plays a pivotal role in the film.

The DVD is good, except for the lack of Theatrical Trailer and the slightly incorrect aspect ratio. There was a Region 1 release by Image that is Out Of Print that had both the correct aspect and trailer, but it was not in anamorphic widescreen. However in late 2003, Universal have re-released They Live in anamorphic widescreen, but it misses out on the excellent Commentary and the featurettes.

The Film:
The Disk: