A well ahead of it's time and clearly metaphoric flick. Though the 80s element is very strong and somewhat off-putting, reading between the lines makes this movie well worth your time and money. It must be one in a few that touches so deeply upon conformity in today's society and just as strongly passes it onto the viewer. Who can you really trust? Is what you see really infact what you see? If you want something material is it because you want it, or because someone else wants you to want it? Kind of conspiracy theory, I know, but disclude nothing.

The film begins by introdusing us to the main character Nada (wrestler Roddy Piper), a drifter who has no stable job or home. He lands a job at this construction site and makes acquaintances with another homeless worker called Frank (Keith David). Eventually they end up at this shelter that offers food and showers to those in need. The shelter is stationed right across a church. Due to a series of strange events Nada keeps an eye on the house of god and eventually finds out that they are running some kind of secret operation there, which is later attacked and destroyed by cops and swat teams. After that he discovers a box of sunglasses in an alley behind the church, takes a pair and hides the rest. Yet there's something very strange about these glasses... when he puts them on, advertising billboards turn into clear boards with commands such as 'obey' written in large black letters. 'Marry and Reproduce', "Consume', 'Do not think for yourself' and more. Soon he discovers that magazines, news papers and tv stations are the same. The worst arrives a bit later when he realises that not eveyone around him is human - some are aliens with strange skull type faces and bulging eyes (mostly authority figures like cops and people with an upper class social status). Yet when he takes the glasses off, eveything goes back to normal. After an alien killing spree he manages to collect himself and informs Frank of the tragic situation. Together they find out that there is a hidden organisation created by humans only whose purpose is to eliminate these wicked outer-galactic creatures. They are the manufacturers of the sunglasses.

The adventure continues from there in a successfully comic yet tragic way, as it depicts capitalism (especially in today's society) ludicrously well. Though it gives the viewers a couple of laughs, the message is conveyed perfectly; don't trust everything around you. Stay alert.

With 'They live', writer and director John Carpenter courageously pinpoints what many are afraid to see and admit.