They Live

They Live is a 1988 American satirical science fiction action horror film written and directed by John Carpenter. The film stars Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster. It follows a nameless drifter (called "John Nada" in the credits) who discovers the ruling class are in fact aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to spend money, breed, and accept the status quo with subliminal messages in mass media.

At release it was number one in the box office, but sales soon suffered, though the film was nominated for two Saturn Awards. The film has since garnered a large cult following. The film has had a lasting impact on street art, particularly that of Shepard Fairey; its quotations have entered the popular culture, and it makes appearances on all-time lists for best fight scenes.

Plot

An unemployed drifter named John Nada (Roddy Piper) finds construction work in Los Angeles and befriends fellow construction worker Frank Armitage (Keith David), who leads him to a local shantytown soup kitchen. There, Nada encounters strange activity around the church: a blind preacher (Raymond St. Jacques) loudly chastising others to wake up, a police helicopter scouts them overhead, and a drifter (George Buck Flower) complains that his TV signal is continually interrupted by a man warning everyone about those in power. Nada discovers the nearby church is a front. The choir heard outside is an audio recording and the building is filled with scientific equipment and cardboard boxes. Nada finds a box hidden in the wall, but flees when the preacher notices him. That night, the police attack and bulldoze the shantytown. Nada returns in the morning to find the church empty, but with the hidden boxes still in the wall. He takes one of the boxes and in an alley, he opens the box and finds it filled with sunglasses. Taking a pair, he hides the box in a garbage can.