THEY LIVE (1988) review: "I'm here to chew bubblegum..."

THEY LIVE is a 1988 film starring Roddy Piper and Keith David, written and directed by John Carpenter. The film travels with Nada, a mononymous drifter who discovers that aliens have disguised themselves in society as the upper class attempting to manipulate the population into conformity and admiring the status quo, with Nada there to stop them.

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They Live is arguably not horror, leaning towards science fiction, but what it is – that’s a different story. A recurring theme within the horror category, satire is used to great effect within this John Carpenter classic, the dread being generated from the wonder of aliens controlling our society, disguised as humans. Silly yet extremely disturbing hilarity ensues.

The cast of They Live honestly isn't impeccable, casting a wrestler as your lead man John Nada doesn't call for a mind bending performance, what he does bring however is strangely an Everyman feel on the basis of his non-descript look but also bringing the physique to seriously do damage to the “aliens” that are out there. Now veteran actor Keith David makes a beloved appearance also as Nada’s sidekick, Frank. Watching him in this you just get the feeling that he’s hamming it up and to great effect, he stands perfectly besides Nada to challenge some of his motives but to follow him where ever he leads. Their meeting is one of the most exaggerated, lengthy yet incredible fight scenes of all time within film, they seriously have a fist fight that goes on for longer than 5 minutes. The rest of the cast honestly isn’t worth mentioning to a great extent, they do their jobs but don’t provide anything special.

Written by John Carpenter, the script delivers a generic structure but with the satirical twist on consumerism that is what makes it really memorable and also carrying his script with his own directorial flair, surely taking what was written in the script as one line describing the fight between Frank and Nada and extending that into this elaborately choreographed fight sequence that will forever stick in your mind as a defining moment of his later career. Without that tongue-in-cheek attitude to themes as simplistic as violence and consumerism, They Live might have sufficed as nothing more than forgettable. It’s that idea of being able to see into that otherworldly setting consisting of nothing more than “OBEY. CONSUME. THIS IS YOUR GOD,” that creates that unsettling tone that there is more to society than what we may think. The exaggerated fight scene albeit likely unintentional, could serve to parody the violence seen within American culture also being exaggerated within the time period and to this very day. The bite is what keeps it from fading into obscurity. Direction is competent as you’d expect from Carpenter who had already by this point crafted his name as one of the masters of horror with Halloween and The Thing as well as proving his muscle in other genres with films like Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York, the look that he crafted for the consumerist dystopia is chilling, the black and white style with the bold text on billboards and aliens aplenty. It is bold to say the least.

Score is always an interesting thing when it comes to Carpenter’s films as he does it himself, this time with frequent collaborator Alan Howarth. From the very beginning after that title screen fades into the film with that distinct bass line playing away, you know you’re in for a good time. It drills into the monotony that is drifting with our lead traversing train tracks, slums and abandoned areas. At key points within the film such as action sequences the score plays a big part, but it displays intelligence to know when not to utilise sound and music to further increase the impact of a scene, such as yet again that elongated fight scene to highlight the meeting between Frank and Nada. There is nothing but the soundscape of the city in the background, cars passing by and blasting their horns, the sounds of people commuting to really rub in the fact that they’re beating each other down in a grubby back street within the cityscape that is New York. It reinforces that with this scene they as characters are somewhat hitting the bottom of the barrel.

Overall, They Live is a mish-mash of genres, action, comedy, horror, sci-fi, it is how it combines all of these elements to satirise consumerism and American culture is what makes it that little bit more special. There are the one-liners that the lead spits to accentuate the comedy of a scene and to show his badassery such as the infamous “bubble gum” line, the next minute then mowing down what could actually be innocent people. Are they really aliens? It’s unsettling either way, knowing that Nada could be killing innocents or cleansing the world of aliens hidden in our society. It’s this conflicting emotion and themes is what rises They Live from trashy sci-fi horror comedy to classic satire of what was then present in culture and is still as relevant today. Relevance through time is a hallmark of a great film, but not to give it too much credit, it still has some of those trashy elements thrown in for good measure.

FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) review: "Welcome to Fright Night! For real!"

FRIGHT NIGHT is a 1985 film starring William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowall, written and directed by Tom Holland. The film follows the tried and tested tale of a boy with a nightly neighbour as he tries to uncover his neighbour's secret while simultaneously no one believes him. Is he really a vampire? You should be able to guess that from the title.

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Fright Night is another overlooked cult horror gem from the '80s with its campy tone, reinvigoration of old and tired clichés to craft something new and exciting, all done with a coating of satire. What more could you want from a vampire movie?

The cast works to this films charm, some of the acting being bizarrely hit and miss albeit mostly from supporting characters (like the rather peculiar Evil Ed.) William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon and especially Roddy McDowall all do their jobs good however, the unsuspecting and naive boy, the menacing vampire and the TV horror show host who is roped in to save the day at the last minute. Roddy McDowall, whenever he is on-screen he simply just steals the show. In his introduction, you see him hosting the titular TV show, Fright Night, with all of the little tributes and homage to Universal and Hammer horror films that you would expect. He is just great.

Written by Tom Holland, who clearly has a love for classic horror, he litters Fright Night with all of the little aforementioned tributes to what inspired it whilst also taking what burned out those movies and satirising them or putting them into a new perspective that can only be described as endearing. The whole initial scenario of the late night horror movie marathon on TV oozes a nostalgic feel and even when the film builds into the third act's visceral and very well done special effects bonanza, it still manages to retain a sense of innocence about it that other comedy-horror films can lack. The dialogue is obviously hammy but you get the sense that it wasn't aiming to be special, just an enjoyable romp to take you back to the days of mindless and campy horror, replicating Peter Cushing into Peter Vincent.

Direction again by Tom Holland is done well enough, the film is very much competently made. There is nothing astounding about it, it's again what it looks back to and looks forward to that makes it. There are some slight stylised scenes that again pay tribute to the history of horror and a very peculiar scene involving vampires on roller skates does have a tendency to stick with you, not in a matter of horror but as a reminder as to how bizarre this film can get.

The score by Brad Fiedel, who is most likely more well-known for his work on the Terminator franchise is well done, primarily the theme which accentuates the menacing yet child-like tone that is carried onto the films entirety. The theme also serves for Peter Vincent’s “Fright Night” marathon, proving that the score is stuck within its era, never to leave the ‘80s.

Special effects as previously mentioned deserve another mention, the final act of the film builds into a special effects massacre revolving around decaying vampires in the sunlight. The team behind this deserves applause as it is among the best I've seen for the time period, with the majority of the special effects team going sadly uncredited by the film.

Overall, Fright Night is another must see for fans of campy ‘80s horror and is still worth seeing for those who aren't as it relies as heavily on comedy as it does horror, the fountain of references peppered through the film’s runtime is to be behold. Fans of the Universal horror films from the ‘30s and ‘40s as well as the Hammer horror of the ‘50s and ‘60s will surely be pleased by what is in store for them, a goody bag of horror, a trick or treat minus the trick as there’s nothing to deceive here.