They Live, Again? John Carpenter Teases A Sequel To One Of His Cult Classics
Hello nerds!
John Carpenter seems to be falling in love with Hollywood all over again. Hot on the heels of the Halloween 2018 sequel to his beloved cult 1978 cult classic, the curmudgeonly director indicates another one of his creations could be getting a sequel of its very own.
In an interview with Den Of Geek, the legendary filmmaker was fielding a question about how he would approach a remake of They Live, given today’s political climate, and he gave a somewhat surprising response.
“Well, I’m not gonna tell you about that, because it might be closer to reality than you think. There was a feature film. It was a feature film called Resistance, written by, oh, the guy who did the Apes movies. Matt Reeves. But then he moved on. And so the sequel is, well, we’ll see. We’ll just have to see.”
Oooohhhhhh shit! While the classic They Live not being rebooted by The Batman director, Matt Reeves, is seriously amazing news, I never expected “sequel” talk.
In fact, outside of Halloween 2018 from Danny McBride & David Gordon Green, Carpenter hasn’t cared for any sequel or reboot of his films. Including The Rock's Big Trouble In Little China movie, that the director shit all over. I guess we can thank Michael Myers’ gargantuan box office haul for the change in Carpenter’s tune. But as great as a sequel could be, I don’t really think it’s necessary.
For those unaware, They Live tells the story of a drifter and a construction worker who discover aliens have taken over the planet, by way of brainwashing us into subservience. The film stars Roddy Piper and Keith David, and features what still stands to this day as, “The Greatest Fucking Fight Scene In Movie History”.
In short, that film is about as perfect as it can be, and to try and reboot it would be a terrible decision. There’s something about Carpenter’s films that are so evocative of the times they were made, rebooting them in the “modern” age, does not work.
Having said that, given the sort of Reagan-y vibes we’re experiencing in the world, maybe some more scathing satire is called for. Especially, if it involves aliens, a shitload of punching and some of the greatest one-liners this side of 1988.
However, there is still a 6-foot tall hole to fill in the film’s cast. There is not a person ALIVE who could possibly replace the late great Roderick Toombs aka Rowdy Roddy Piper.
So, good luck with that.
If you love monster movies, superheroes, bad TV, good comics and the 80s, be sure to check out the latest podcast.
Some wonderfully terrible 90s TV shows, Aquaman news, a look at 1988’s Night of the Demons, and the Season 4 finale of Better Call Saul with a gander towards Season 5. #HeisenbergRises
