The film was a minor success at the time of its release, debuting #1 at the North American box office. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film follows an unnamed drifter who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media. They Live (titled onscreen as John Carpenter's They Live) is a 1988 American science fiction action film written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story 'Eight O'Clock in the Morning' by Ray Nelson.
