They Live (1988)

This week, the dads tackle John Carpenter's sci-fi cult classic They Live (1988), and Steve discovers he's been living a lie. He thought he'd seen this Rowdy Roddy Piper vehicle but absolutely hadn't. While Nic picked this one for his love of Carpenter and childhood wrestling fandom, Steve gets his first taste of what happens when you put on those special sunglasses.

This isn't your typical alien invasion movie. They Live follows a nameless drifter who stumbles into downtown LA looking for work and discovers that subliminal messages are everywhere and wealthy elites are actually skull-faced aliens in disguise. Armed with truth-revealing sunglasses from a resistance movement, our everyman hero goes from construction worker to one-man alien-fighting machine faster than you can say "I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass."

The guys dive deep into what makes this work: Carpenter's signature synth score, the brilliant black-and-white "alien vision" sequences, and Piper's surprisingly solid acting chops. Steve argues the movie feels more like an incredible premise than a fully realized story, with too much world-building and not enough plot. Nic geeks out over the wrestling choreography in that legendarily long five-minute alley fight between Piper and Keith David.

Both dads recognize They Live as essential viewing. From the "Obey" imagery to that bubblegum one-liner, Carpenter created something genuinely unique that still sparks conversations about media manipulation and class warfare decades later.