'90s Trash?: The Faculty (1998)

 Are you ready for some '90s?!?  This is The Faculty, a 1998 Film that seems to have been Cast with a Dart Board.  The Plot involves Teachers in a School turning into strange monsters.  Can a Breakfast Club-style group save the day?  If you want an idea of how '90s it is, it was based on a Script by Kevin Williamson.  Literally just reading that name makes me want to turn on some Nirvana and do some Head Banging.  My neck says 'no' to that though.  Anyhow, this Film sure has alot of people in it together that you might not expect.  Robert Patrick and Jon Stewart- sure.  Piper Laurie and Salma Hayek- yep.  Famke Jansen and Elijah Wood- why not?!?  There's also a Harry Knowles Cameo, but I don't know if people talk about him these days.  There's also Danny Masterson in a small Role, who is a definite no-no.  This is a Robert Rodriquez Film, but it does feel a bit different than his more personal fare.  It was *supposed* to be a Williamson-Directed Film, but he did something else instead.  Do you remember this from your childhood/adulthood?  Does it stand up still?  Does it work for people that weren't alive in 1998?  To find out, read on... 

In Ohio, a Coach is super-angry.  This is his normal behavior, which I guess was okay in 1998?

That night, he's attacked by...something and then acts different.  How so?

Well, he tries to kill the Principal, for one.

He gets help from another Teacher (Laurie) and they proceed to try and infect the rest of The Faculty...

On Campus, one of the misfit kids (Wood) finds a strange creature in a puddle.  He shows it to the Science Teacher (Stewart) and it bites him.

Oh well- that won't lead to anything.

Him and another Student (Jordana Brewster) see them attack and convert Hayek, but when the Police are called, the evidence is missing.

Also don't get used to seeing Hayek anymore, as she's a non-factor in this Movie from hereon out.  Bye!

The Crew- which consists of Nerdy Wood, 'Lesbian' DuVall, Dealer Hartnett, Former Jock Hatosy, Popular Brewster and New Student Harris.

They see the evidence first hand when they are confronted by Stewart.

They barely fend him off before stabbing him in the eye.

The pen is actually full of drugs that Hartnett makes, which seems to be the key to stopping them.

They figure out that the drug dries you out, which can take out the water-based alien parasites.

We get an 'inspired' Scene of them all testing each other, which leads to one of them revealing that they had been infected for quite a while!

The climax involves them trying to stop the Alien Queen (since it will then kill the rest of the aliens...for some reason).

As you can see, it's easier said than done!

Wood manages to stop the Queen using his best ability- the ability to run away!

In the aftermath, nobody believes their claims (since the truly-dead Teachers are missing and the aliens dissolved), but everyone has hooked up.

Cue the '90s Cover Song and we're out.

A fun, if not-so-original tale.  The Film wears its obvious references on its sleeve.  Characters discuss how this situation is like The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  Helping me connect things, DuVall also says that the Book is a rip-off of Heinlen's 'The Puppet Masters.'  Is it?  The latter came first, but are they 100% similar?  In any event, we also get the aforementioned Testing Scene from The Thing to boot.  Given how many Cover Songs are on the Soundtrack, lack of true originality is not on the Menu.  That said, you can still enjoy the attempts to ground this crazy tale of teens using drugs to kill alien parasites.  All of the Characters get an arc.  That probably goes to the original Writers (credited for the Story) and was no doubt punched up by Williamson.  The Acting won't blow you away, but everyone does a good job.  DuVall has a fairly-ironic role here as she's playing a straight girl pretending to be a lesbian to keep boys at bay.  In real life, she's actually a lesbian (having come out in 2016), so that's a weird coincidence, no?  The Film uses a good amount of Practical Effects, which is good.  The CGI isn't terrible, but some effects aren't great by modern standards.  For the time, they probably looked damn cool though.  If you don't expect something completely-unique, but rather a riff on familiar ideas, The Faculty can be fun.  The first part is a bit slow in the build-up though, so bear that in mind.  If you remember it vaguely, give it a rewatch.  It's important to see all of the little things, unlike our Heroes, who somehow miss this happening right in front of them!

Next up, I get back on track covering that Train Film that a technical issue stopped.  Time to run it again!  Stay tuned...