THE FACULTY (1998)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
In 1996 SCREAM showed that a single film could function both as a
genuine genre piece and as a parody of the genre. That film also
brought something of a renaissance for teenage slasher horror films.
Many believed that its screenwriter Kevin Williamson could repeat
the same accomplishment with his next project. Because of such high
expectations THE FACULTY, 1998 science fiction thriller directed by
Robert Rodriguez, was widely perceived as a disappointment.
The plot is set in Harrington High, typical school in one of Ohio's
middle-class neighbourhoods. There are six students who, for whole
variety of reasons, don't seem to fit into the school's mainstream.
Delilah Profitt (played by Jordana Brewster) is a school paper
reporter who tries to be as obnoxious to other people as possible. Her
boyfriend Stan Rosado (played by Shawn Hatosy) is a sports jock
who recently decided to earn his grades through studying. Zeke
Tyler (played by Josh Hartnett) repeated a school year only to have
an extra opportunity to sell home-made mind-altering drugs to
fellow students. Stokely Mitchell (played by Clea DuVall) is a
introverted loner rumoured to be lesbian. Marybeth Louise
Hutchinson (played by Laura Harris) has recently arrived from South
and desperately tries to find new friends. Casey Connor (played by
Elijah Wood) is a computer geek who accidentally discovers peculiar-
looking organism at the school. Casey's discovery coincides with the
sudden and unexplained behaviour change among many teachers.
All that is followed by the series of violent incidents and six students,
come to the terrifying conclusion - the teachers at the school are
being taken over by mind-controlling alien organisms. Knowing that
they can't rely on sceptic authorities, six youths decide to join their
resources and try to deal with the problem themselves.
The shortest description of THE FACULTY is "a modern-day
version/parody of INVASION OF BODY SNATCHERS set in high
school". This is the short, but not entirely accurate description. Kevin
Williamson took basic concept from 1956 science-fiction classic, but
the real source of inspiration came from the 1980s films about
American adolescents trying to cope with the challenges of high
school. Concept of mind-controlling parasite aliens is just a way for
Williamson to show how rebellious and individualistic youths must
always face the world of adulthood and conformism. Williamson
does it by introducing the set of characters that firmly belong to 1980s
teen movie cliches; by the end of the film each of those characters
would go through serious transformation.
THE FACULTY is good as a parable, but somewhat lacking as a
genre movie. Director Robert Rodriguez makes few innovative and
impressive action scenes, but, near the end of the film his talent is
replaced by few cheesy and over-the-top special effects. Thankfully,
audience probably wouldn't care much for those strictly technical
imperfections. Williamson's script paid much more attention to
characters - his protagonist might look cliched, but they are
portrayed as real human beings and the audience would care about
what happens to them. This is the lesson well-learned from classics
like ALIENS or PREDATOR. Mostly young cast does their roles very
well but that can't be said of their older colleagues. For example,
Robert Patrick is slightly over-the-top as jingoistic coach.
The ending of the film is also very good because it defies usual genre
conventions. There Williamson shows that he conceived THE
FACULTY as intelligent and serious film. But this seriousness was
perhaps too much for the taste and expectations of average American
audience in late 1990s and that explains why this film failed to
become another SCREAM. On the other hand, those viewers who
don't expect trend-setting event movie are going to be rewarded with
less spectacular but nevertheless entertaining mix of genres.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on August 12th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society
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