The Faculty

Each of the heroes represents a different high school type: popular babe (Jordana Brewster), picked-on geek (Elijah Wood), goth girl (Clea DuVall), sensitive jock (Shawn Hatosy), new kid in town (Laura Harris), and bad-boy rebel (Josh Hartnett). The plot isn't much--a basic kill-or-be-killed premise spiked with a healthy shot of paranoia--but Willliamson and Rodriguez do a great job of building the tension slowly but surely. The suspense set pieces are genuinely frightening, and the film pokes fun at itself without deflating its scares; Williamson is a master at shifting gears from comedy to horror quickly and adroitly. The young cast doesn't have a weak link among them (with special kudos to Wood, DuVall and heartthrob-in-the-making Hartnett), and Rodriguez gets maximum mileage from the titular faculty, which includes Jon Stewart, Piper Laurie, Salma Hayek, Bebe Neuwirth, and Robert Patrick of Terminator 2. Go to the head of the class, Mr. Williamson. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

• Not my style, but I'll admit I loved it: The 90s were an interesting time for the horror genre; the 90s started off on a down note for horror flicks, while there were plenty of one that were successful it seemed like there were more misses. The days of the franchises were all, but over as they finally ran out of steam and the audience weren't really responding to them as well. The filmmakers who shaped the genre in the 70s and 80s were now falling on tough times. New franchises started and most ended up going direct to video. But than Kevin Williamson came along and bought horror back big time. Like his work or not at one point this guy was the biggest thing in horror and really shook things up. Suddenly well known TV actors were now starring in horror flicks something that was never possible in the 80s and even some well known film stars did horror. While I prefer a cast of unknowns or cult actors, point is Williamson changed a lot in the genre.
  
  The Faculty is the typical horror flick from this point in the 90s; the stylized hey look at us we're so smart and cool era made famous by Kevin Williamson. At this point in his career Kevin Williamson was red hot. All the screenplays he wrote were huge hits and spawned several knock offs and his TV work like Dawson's Creek became the latest teen sensation. I'll confess Kevin Williamson's movies are sort of guilty pleasures. In particular they aren't my kind of horror, but I do enjoy watching his movies again his flicks are my guilty pleasures. He found a formula that worked and rode it out until the end.
  
  The Faculty is a high school version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and there are many references to the Body Snatcher movies and novel as well. I'm a sucker for the Body Snatcher movies I love them all and no many how many remakes come I'll watch them. Most people will cite Scream as Williamson's best work as a writer, but I'm going with The Faculty. All that made Scream so popular is here, but at times it felt a little forced where as The Faculty it doesn't seem so forced. I thought this was well written and with excellent if not clichéd characters, which I believe was intentional.
  
  Besides Invasion of the Body Snatchers there is also a homage to The Thing as well. If Scream was his homage to slasher flicks, The Faculty was Williamson's homage to Alien Invasion movies. The characters as stated are clichéd, but they work well actually and are all quite likeable. They are well developed and in some ways all add to the plot. Again most people will cite Scream as his best, but I have to go with The Faculty. In a sense all of Williamson's scripts are almost a rewrite of each other. They all follow the same formula, but they were all mostly well written.
  
  Robert Rodriguez is one of my favorite directors and he does an excellent job here. The pacing of the film is very well done. The plot or characters always move forward and honestly there is never really a dull moment. Something is always happening to keep the viewer hooked on the movie. The Faculty does lack the thrills and chills of the Body Snatcher movies, but there is some decent suspense and tension to be found. At this time in horror everything was very Hollywood stylized made for a new crowd and people like me were pretty much left out, but The Faculty is one of the very best from the Williamson era.
  
  The Faculty is a slight letdown is the sense I did expect more from Robert Rodriguez in the thrills and chills department, but that is actually the one real fault in the script. Everything is so hip and cool I suppose that is why it gets lost so for me that is the only flaw in the script. But there is some decent suspense and tension at times and probably better than most of these Hollywood horror flicks at the time, but I did expect more from Robert Rodriguez, but regardless he does do an excellent job at keeping the pace moving and always keeps the movie a lot of fun.
  
  About my only complaint is in the final act when we find out who the main alien is we see him or her out of human form. I don't know for me it just didn't work. The saying sometimes what you don't see is better and in this case I think that's true. For me the alien out of human form just didn't fully work. But it's not something that ruins the movie. The Faculty is still enjoyable, but I would have preferred the alien to stay in human form.
  
  The Faculty is a product of it's time. Every element of 90s horror is here though a lot has changed since this type of flick is a thing of the past now. But despite my problem with the movies of this era, The Faculty is in my opinion one of the better flicks from that time. The casting is solid and all the actors provide solid performances. I actually liked all the characters and found myself rooting for them to survive.
  
  Who knew this would mark the end of the Kevin Williamson era? While it may not have lasted long it did revive the horror genre and start a new trend even if what in spawned was mostly lousy with some exceptions. After this, Williamson would fail at the box office as a writer and producer and his TV shows didn't make it out of their first season. Kind of weird how at one moment he's box office gold and TV ratings gold and the next moment everything is a flop. Overall The Faculty despite being Hollywood stylized is in my opinion a very enjoyable take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• who hasn't thought their teachers were aliens?: I remember seeing this movie when I was 15 and it creeped me out. Having seen it again recently, it's still good. It is clever, not too gory, and the suspense was perfectly built up. It was written by Kevin Williamson, who brought us Scream. Highlights in this movie for me were Elijah Wood's Casey, Bebe Neuwirth's Principal Drake and Josh Hartnett's Zeke. The rest of the cast is fairly amazing as well: Jon Stewart, Robert Patrick, Usher and even Piper Laurie (who starred in the original high-school horror movie Carrie). It is a little cliched at times, but moves at a pretty quick clip and when it was over I was not disappointed.
• EDGY SCI-FI FLICK...: This is a terrific sci-fi flick with an excellent cast. It is sort of an "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers" or "Puppet Masters" gone MTV. Set in a small town high school in the Midwest, all hell breaks loose when some of the teens notice that something is not quite right with some of the faculty. They engage in a bit of amateur sleuthing, and what they discover causes them to band together to fight a force that is not of this world.
  
  Well-directed by Robert Rodriguez, this film will keep the viewer riveted to the screen. With a good, edgy story line laced with humor and with solid performances given by the stellar cast, the film will hit its mark with those who enjoy well made sci-fi films.
• School is scary!: A very well achieved storie, the evil teachers and the students trying to save their lives, is awasome! not the tipical stupid teen movie, but, a lot more than hot girls and guys, is like the revenge of the teachers!!
• cursed teens vs spaced out teachers: Nothing like then sitting down and watching a school actually deteriorate inside out. hip teens realize their teachers are not from this side of the border. are the students doomed to repeat history. or are the teachers are gone where no one has gone before. only one way to find out.