News
That Pepsi Commercial Got a Perfect ‘They Live’ Makeover
Obey. Consume.
Social media was dominated last week by outrage over Pepsi’s latest advertisement, which starred Kendall Jenner and seemed to suggest that Pepsi, well, it basically fixes all of the world’s problems. Granted, it was far from the first time a soda ad promoted soda as the be-all, end-all cure for everything, but the ill-conceived ad rubbed a whole lot of people the wrong way.
But that’s capitalism for ya. When you’re wearing the right glasses, so to speak, you see every advertisement for what it really is. Of course, that’s the very thought that John Carpenter turned into a sci-fi/horror masterpiece with 1988’s They Live, a brilliant satire of unrestrained capitalism that late star Roddy Piper often described as a documentary – on some level, he wasn’t wrong!
YouTube user Free Market Socialist just gave the controversial Pepsi commercial the They Live-inspired makeover that it warranted. We shared his pitch perfect video on the Bloody Disgusting Twitter account and Facebook page over the weekend (not surprisingly, it was incredibly well received), but we wanted to spotlight it here on the site in case anyone missed it.
Put your glasses on and enjoy.
Movies
McDonald’s No-Clips Out of Reality with Unexpected ‘Backrooms’ Short Movie
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.

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