by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
This month I wanted to dispense with the spelunking analogies, because we aren’t diving too far down the 20th century cavern. No need for rope or safety gear this time out good reader, because we only go back as far as 1998!
I can’t help myself, can I?
Ahh yes, the late ‘90s. So close to the end of the greatest decade in human artistic history. Forgive my ’90s bias, as these were my most formative years. I became a teenager and hit my 20s during the ‘90s, and if you knew me better, this probably wouldn’t pose as a great surprise. Directed by relative Hollywood newcomer Robert Rodriguez, The Faculty was released on the tail end of the teen slasher horror genre that Scream so graciously regenerated for the ’90s youth.
Just check the list of names that star or appear in this genre mashing 90s classic. I’m sure you will recognise a few: Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, John Stewart, Clea DuVall, Christopher McDonald, Salma Hayek, Usher, Bebe Neuwirth, Jason Patrick, Piper Laurie, Daniel von Bargen (Kruger from Seinfeld), Danny Masterson, and Shaun Hatosy.
I might not need to sell The Faculty more than this to a lot of you, because who doesn’t want to see this eclectic bunch act in a teen sci-fi/horror/comedy directed by the often maligned, but super talented Rodriguez? Who are you to resist it? But to be sure, let me sell it to you a little bit more. So please, oh sweet baby Jesus, please read on. But beware, spoilers ahead.
The basic premise is that aliens are taking over the planet via the back door. For this, they choose a random high school in Ohio, and a modern take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers begins. In an absolute positive way, all the tropes are on display with a typical American (as far as us across the ocean are concerned) high school hierarchy. There’s the hot girl, the goth girl, the nerdy boy, the football captain, the underachiever, and of course the new girl, among others.
The opening scene insists this is a pure horror film, but things start to get a bit funky when Casey Connor (Wood) finds a strange creature on the football field and takes to science teacher Mr. Furlong (Stewart). Thinking the species to be new, he organizes it to be sent to the university for further study. As the titular faculty are mostly jaded, burned out and disinterested (with a few exceptions) in their students, Casey and Delilah (Brewster) sneak into the faculty lounge to find a story but are forced to hide in a broom cupboard when two teachers enter the room. There, they witness them hold down the school nurse and infest her with the alien parasite.
So, after the police naturally dismiss the claim, Casey manages to get the other students on-board with the alien invasion theory. Perennial underachiever Zeke (Hartnett) manufactures and peddles a drug on school grounds, which happened to kill an alien specimen by accident. As was the trend at the time, The Faculty likes to use existing cinematic IP to drive its own plot forward, as it theorizes if the queen alien is killed, then the people who have been ‘snatched’ will then be freed and everything will be back to normal. The hunt for the queen begins.
So, leaving off here for you to discover the third act yourself, The Faculty is a firm recommend from me, mostly because Rodriguez directs the hell out of it, and it is much better than it deserves to be. The cast are all doing some really good work here too, and their on-screen chemistry makes me wish for something I never have before: a reboot! Overall, The Faculty is a lot of fun, and a great way to spend 90 minutes. I had an absolute blast watching it again after probably 15 years.
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