The Faculty
At this Ohio school, the teachers really want to get inside their student's head.
The Faculty is deliciously campy; full of sexy, creepy, and fantastically evil engaging and humorous personalities led by an outstanding cast that makes it a terrifyingly fun movie to watch.
At Herrington High School, things appear as typically normal as any high school would have you assume. There are students like Casey (Elijah Wood), a student who gets beat up and knocked around because he is defined as the geek of the school (hey, if you don't know it by now, it's the geeks who are truly cool and who know how to really get by in life); Stan (Shawn Hatosy), the quarterback who just wants to prove he's more than just a jock; Stokely ( Clea DuVall), the outsider and loner who's afraid of getting close and who secretly pines for Stan. Delilah (Jordana Brewster), head cheerleader and editor of the school's paper, is a pain in the butt, obnoxious, stuck up, and a belittler who is dating Stan because she looks good with him, who deep down does have a heart as seen by Casey who's got a crush on her. Marybeth ( Laura Harris) is the new girl with virgin eyes and cherry pie sweetness dripping all around her, who tries to work her way into fitting in. Zeke (Josh Hartnett), the slacker druggie of the school, is highly intelligent and if he could only put his brain wattage to better use, he'd be quite a success.
The Faculty consists of Coach Willis (Robert Patrick); Miss Burke (Famke Janssen); Principal Drake (Bebe Neuwirth); Mrs. Olson (Piper Laurie); Nurse Harper (Salma Hayek) and Professor Furlong (John Stewart) all up for promotions.
We find out within moments of the movie's opener that something is going terribly wrong with Coach Willis, something out of this world and evil has taken possession over his body. Then, it just gets worse as the evil lurks and seeks out its next faculty member. The plan is that once each faculty member is under the control of the aliens, it will work its way through the school until each student has been infected and, ultimately, the world.
The aliens didn't plan on two of the students finding out the truth and, now, once word has been spread to the unaffected group of misfit students that their school is being infested by aliens who use their bodies as hosts, they must get by their differences and work together to destroy this race before it takes over all their lives. Can they all be trusted and will they fight to save each other and not just themselves when it all starts to fall apart?
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, who'll tell you right there that you're going to be in for a thrilling escape ride, and written by Kevin Williamson, who gave us a mouth full of witty and wonderfully tasty dialog to have our heads spin as he did so masterfully in Scream & Scream 2.
The Faculty is in session and you don't want to miss the bell on this one! For it is the suburb acting of this great ensemble cast that makes this movie all the more entertaining and worthwhile to watch. Especially the acting of Robert Patrick, Beb Neuwirth, Piper Laurie and Famke Janssen, all exceptional! I loved the characters they portrayed, they took their roles and ran with them, and it was awesome! Neuwirth, and Laurie are not onscreen for long periods of time which, is a downer since their transformations are chilling to watch! R&B singer, Usher, is also in the movie and he plays Gabe, one of the football students undergoing a radical change especially while playing on the football field during a game.
I love the energy and the thrills of this movie. It is plain fun, and sure, it's silly and flaky at times, but that's what makes it so cool.
Written by: Lynda Dale MacLean
Reviewers Rating: 7
Reader's Rating: 9.39
Reader's Votes: 10
Added: 8-Feb-2004
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