search

They Live

They Live
If one of Carpenter’s back catalogue was crying out for a remake, it isn’t Halloween but rather They Live (★★★★☆). The film was was responding to the start of the US rust belt and Reagan-era consumerism, but its themes of working-class subjugation and omnipresent media control have only become more pressing. The allegory is framed in fabulously lurid B-movie terms: drifter Nada stumbles on a pair of shades that allow him to see that Earth has been infiltrated by Día de Muertos-faced aliens intent on milking humankind. Played by WWF wrestler Roddy Piper, Nada is deliberately stuck in the cornball idiom of the 80s action hero, with one-liners to match: “Brother, life’s a bitch … and she’s back in heat.” Carpenter’s own ornery attitude to the thankless task of the revolution is summed up in the sequence where, trying to get his partner to don the glasses, Nada street-brawls him for six straight minutes. The Fight Club of the 1980s. — Phil Hoad, The Guardian

They Live

Sun April 17, 2011, 7:00 only, Muenzinger Auditorium

U.S., 1988, Color/ B&W, 93 min, 35mm, 2.35:1, Rated R • official site

recommend

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Looking for a gift for a friend?
Buy a Frequent Patron Punch Card for $60 at any IFS show. With the punch card you can see ten films (a value of $90).

We Want Your Feedback

Cox & Kjølseth
: Filmmaker Alex Cox & Pablo Kjølseth discuss film topics from their own unique perspectives.

Z-briefs
: Pablo and Ana share Zoom-based briefs on what's currently playing at IFS

Search IFS schedules

Index of visiting artists

Mon Apr 1, 2024

Hot Shots! Part Deux

At Muenzinger Auditorium

Sat Apr 20, 2024

Super Mario Bros.

At Muenzinger Auditorium

more on 35mm...