The movie is a bit of a hash, and Carpenter didn't have much of a budget to play with. The underlying ideas and themes, however, are powerful stuff. I feel like they could have really expanded upon them. Sure, it may seem cheesy and didactic now, but when I first saw it, I loved it.
Don't look at that totally gratuitous, five minute long alley fight!
Never mind the deflating ending!
The best part, for me, comes after Rowdy Roddy Piper (I have no idea what his character's name is) discovers a box of sunglasses. He has no idea what they do, but he knows they're important. Cops trashed a homeless camp searching for them. He buries the box in a trash can, and slips a pair of the cool shades on.
Then he walks out into a street transformed.
What he beholds is not our usual world of slick advertising, with beautifully lit beautiful models surrounded by elegantly framed products.
Instead, he sees a stark world in black and white, filled with messages like:
Obey.
Marry and reproduce.
Stay asleep.
Consume.
Conform.
Watch TV.
Buy.
Roddy can't believe his eyes.
Then he sees a man buying a magazine, only this guy's face is stripped of the flesh, and has weird orb like eyes. It's a nightmare visage, skull like. And this horror reacts to Roddy's incredulous stare with indignation, and says, "What's your problem?"
Good ol' Roddy can't believe his eyes.
Without the glasses though, rich douchebag looks like a normal human being:
BAM!
It's wonderful stuff, poking fun at not only our own larger social foibles, but the empathy challenged psychopaths who often dominate corporate board rooms and slip into police forces despite psychological checks.
Those without empathy are the true reptilians in our society.
Keep your bubble gum supplies at hand, for They live... among us!
