In 1988 John Carpenter teamed up with former wrestler Roddy
Piper to create a very manly, macho movie about aliens that are taking over the
world but can only be identified by wearing special goggles. The aliens look
like zombies and the overall story arch feels like a variation concept of “Invasion
of the Body Snatchers”. The movie is best known for a particular scene which I
will talk about later. Carpenter wrote and directed the film which turned out
to perhaps be the high mark for Roddy Piper’s acting career.
Nada (Roddy Piper) is a drifter who finds work at a
construction site, due to the fact that he had his own tools. He impresses some
of the other crew members, one being Frank (Keith David from “The Thing”) who
takes him to a homeless camp that is serviced by a soup kitchen. During the
night Nada is woken up by a blind preacher yelling for people to wake up. Nada
decides to check out the church and finds that it’s empty but has a recording
of a choir playing loudly. He also finds boxes filled with dozens of
sunglasses. He discovers that the sunglasses reveal that posters are covered
with commands to obey and conform. He also sees the aliens, who are in
positions of power and authority. It doesn’t take the aliens long to realize
that he can see them and thus the bloodshed begins, with Nada killing two cops
sent to arrest him. Eventually Nada finds Frank and attempts to make him try on
the glasses, which Frank refuses. And thus begins one of the best, longest
fight scenes in a movie. Ever. When Nada finally wins, Frank realizes that his
friend wasn’t crazy. Now the two go forth and try to find a way to disrupt the
radio signal that is blinding humanity from the truth….
Favorite moment – The fight scene! It even inspired on of
the best episodes of South Park, (Cripple Fight)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXFvq2ycilg
