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read from 41 public comments

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They Live

Name: They Live
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Thriller
Released: 1988-11-04
Duration: 93 min

You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong.

19881h 33mcritics 7.3/10

Science Fiction Action Thriller

A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.

starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George Buck Flower

FLICKFEEL

from 41 comments

COMMUNITY

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YOURS

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what the internet says

FUN

how good a time it was

MEANINGFUL

how much it moved you

Two separate readings, not parts of the score — the score says how much of it held you, these say what kind of watch it was.

Nobody has rated this on FlickFeel yet. This is public discussion of this title, read into a curve. It is not a rating and it never becomes one.

Read from 41 comments (38 from Metacritic, 3 from TMDB reviews) — 12 of them described how it moves.

Thin evidence — the shape below rests on 12 comments. The shaded band is how wide the uncertainty actually is, and it is drawn to scale.

Not enough people said when to name this shape. The line is what the evidence draws, not a finding.

Hover the curveDrag across the curve to see what people said at any point.

height: how intense it got, 0–100
gold above: how tender it felt. violet below — what it cost. Thick on both at once means it was doing both.
tension rail: how much was still unresolved
marks: single moments — a jump, a blow, chills, a laugh
grey haze: how sure we are — wider means fewer people described it

what critics said

Published reviews, not felt experience — a different question from the one above, and never mixed into the FlickFeel score.

Metascore

Tomatometer

86%

FlickFeel

“It’s an effective ploy, forcing us to confront certain basic facts about the state of the world around us without sounding preachy, and it articulates a decidedly working-class anger in response to social iniquity without sounding self-righteous. And it does all of this while retaining the surface appeal of its B-movie origins, frequently (and entertainingly) indulging in the seductive spectacle of ghouls and guns in combat—though always with ulterior motives.”
Callum Marsh, Slant Magazine · 100
“The terrors put forth by the film are at once specific to the era of its production and timeless in their direct connection to the American experience.”
Dominick Suzanne-Mayer, Consequence · 91
“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]”
Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times · 80
“They Live, Carpenter’s 1988 paranoid freakout, deserves to be thought of as a masterpiece, an artist’s defiant last grab at substance before losing the thread. It’s a cheesy but lovable movie.”
Joshua Rothkopf, Rolling Stone · 80
“All this colorful mayhem is mere warm-up to the great rabble-rousing catchphrase Nada delivers when he enters a bank, armed to the hilt: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I'm all out of bubblegum."...I love that line as much as anyone else, which is enough to make any cultist salivate like a dog in anticipation, but here's the thing: I wish a better actor than Roddy Piper had delivered it.”
Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club · 80

Scores from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, read 28 Aug 2026. Quotes belong to their publications and link to the full reviews.

what people actually wrote

Grouped by where it was written, because a considered review and a reaction typed an hour after the credits are different things. Every quote links to its source.

Metacritic39 read

“At running time 1 h 30 min this film expertly paced.”
badshapedabout 0–100% inread it ↗
“The ending of the film seems to emphasize the idiotic logic of the world of the film.”
eva3si0nabout 75–100% inread it ↗
“But many scenes are too long”
gracjanskiabout 33–66% inread it ↗
“There are some good tense scenes such as the climax scene.”
akshatmahajanabout 75–100% inread it ↗

TMDB3 read

“I have to admit up front to liking every single, John Carpenter movie. They are works of art in there unique style and quality. This is actually my favorite of all of them. There could be a criticism that this movie is didactic and sends some sort of clumsy political or philosophical message but I'd have to reply that you simply don't get it. Unlike the modern propensity for movies to try to hammer home some political point or perspective, the message here is only window dressing. The messag”
tmdb87069603read it ↗
“Life's a bitch and she's back on heat! They Live is directed by John Carpenter who also adapts the screenplay form the short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning written by Ray Nelson. It stars Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Music is by Alan Howarth (and Carpenter) and cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe. Unemployed drifter Nada (Piper) wanders into the city looking to find work, but upon finding a unique pair of sunglasses he sees a different world to everyone else. It's a world frequ”
John Chardread it ↗
“They Live is a great movie that delivers an exceptional story with a dystopian vibe that is both thrilling and terrifying. John Carpenter's screenplay was ahead of its time in terms of its social commentary on American capitalism and the class divide. The film's story explores how a small group of people has taken control of the world by using subliminal messaging and manipulation, making it a unique sci-fi tale that is still relevant today. I particularly loved how the film built tension and”
Nathanread it ↗

They Live

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