They Live

A drifter finds a box of sunglasses that reveal the truth: the wealthy are aliens, the money says OBEY, the billboards say CONSUME, and the whole economy is a hypnotic broadcast.

Carpenter wrote it as a direct attack on Reaganomics and Madison Avenue, and he was completely open about it. The film's satire is not subtle and was not meant to be.

Roddy Piper, a professional wrestler, is the lead, and the six-minute alley fistfight over whether his friend will simply put on the glasses is one of the strangest and most beloved sequences in the genre.

The line about chewing gum and kicking ass was improvised by Piper from his wrestling promos.

It has been claimed by every part of the political spectrum, which infuriates Carpenter, who has said plainly what it is about.