From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie The Faculty released in 1998.
Starring:
Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, and Robert Patrick
Directed by:
Robert Rodriguez
Genre:
Horror, Sci-Fi
Rating:
R
Budget:
$15,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb Rating is currently:
6.4
The Synopsis is:
Alien parasites take over the bodies of the faculty at Harrington High School in Ohio as an unlikely group students try to escape their clutches.
Story:
Originally titled 'The Feelers', David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel wrote their first draft of the script in 1990. After the success of Scream in 1996 and Scream 2 in 1997, Hollywood saw how lucrative character driven teen horror movies could be.
I Know What You Did Last Summer 1997, Urban Legend 1998, and Disturbing Behavior released in 1998 are just a few.
Teen horror was so hot that Miramax bought Wechter and Kimmel’s script and rushed it into production immediately, hiring Robert Rodriguez to direct.
Kevin Williamson rewrote it the script, keeping the basic story, adding dialogue and more characters to make it palatable for teen audiences.
The foundation of the story is based on the Breakfast Club, where we have the rude rebellious boy, the Gothic heavy eyeliner wearing chick, the snarky popular girl, the confused jock, and the puny nerd.
They updated to the group adding the dynamic of the plucky but shy new girl in town desperate to make new friends.
I think that it’s a pretty good formula and the most grounded part of the story even though they may be vastly stereotypical. Anyone in the audience can identify with at least one of the characters.
The tale is simple, lacking a whole lot of depth about backstories and explanations for many events that occur. Yet it still manages to keep the viewers attention by spending a great deal of time getting to know how these characters behave while un-peeling the plot slowly.
The film’s dialogue was written with a wicked humor and witty banter. An example of that is when Professor Furlong is being turned down by Nurse Rosa, he says “Maybe I should just put a pen in my eye” foreshadowing the method of his demise later in the film.
Besides that, there is great build up and mystery behind the strange events that are happening in the school. In fact, we're not sure that the takeover is an alien invasion until the big reveal at the end.
Pacing:
At an hour and 44 minutes, the pacing is pretty good. I don’t think I was ever bored while watching this film.
Challenge:
The challenge in this story is the invasion of water alien parasites on earth controlled by a queen. For whatever reason, The alien queen decides to start off her invasion at a small High School in Ohio. One of the protagonists hypothesized that it might be that the aliens want to invade using “the back door”.
She infects the faculty at the school with her spawn of replicating alien parasites. After acclimating the school’s students under the pretense of a mandatory ear inspection, they would spread out to their families and eventually take over the entire town.
In one scene, they go as far as having the students write down all of the members of their families in the guise of a history assignment in order for the aliens to know who to target next.
I thought that was brilliant. There were so many brilliant touches within this story!
I loved seeing the change in the faculty before and after the infection, they are all very passionate about their work wanting to have field trips to NYC, new computers, and a musical for the school.
After the infection, they are cold and part of the hive.
The Coach Joe Willis is the first victim in the story and it is through him that the film initially demonstrates the transformation the humans undertake while infected.
Originally, we see that the coach has a serious anger problem and completely out of control. And after, he calmly takes the news with a smile when his star quarterback quits football.
The Coach is much like the alien queen’s general overseeing the invasion and many of the faculty go to him for leadership.
Principal Valerie Drake is the next main faculty member that is highly revered because she has authority at the school. She isn’t a mean character before she becomes infected, but you get the sense that she is hated among the faculty for her no nonsense demeanor. But to be honest, she is trapped into giving all of the schools resources to the football team instead of academic programs and projects.
They only spend a few minutes with her and yet you learn all of this about her character, which is excellent storytelling.
In the beginning of the film, the means to which she is infected is very violent, with the assailants, Coach Joe and Mrs Olsen both dryly saying that they always wanted to hurt Principal Drake.
This subtly reveals that even though they are part of the hive, they retain some of themselves, memories, even emotions.
Principal Drake, Mrs Karen Olsen the drama teacher, and the english teacher Miss Elizabeth Burke, all undergo a makeover as well. It’s almost as if they now able to live out their subdued desires.
The film really spends a lot of time on showing these detail transformations and it’s just a lot of fun to watch these actors play with their characters.
The main baddie in the film is actually in disguise, as the very mild mannered new girl from Atlanta, Marybeth Louise Hutchinson, complete with a charming southern accent. She’s so sweet and adorable with a quirky sense of humor to boot.
She sets her sights on Zeke and Stokely, the two most rebellious teens. It's almost as if she can sense human emotions, the way she stalks them in the sweetest way possible until they finally give into her quiet observing presence.
She is amused by them and taunts them a little studying their weaknesses and establishing their trust. She even gets close enough to infect Zeke… I mean really close. But she doesn’t because I believe that he fascinates her… All of the outliers do and perhaps it is because she finds them to be a fun challenge, at least temporary. She is powerful enough to easily destroy them and she has the opportunity to do so many times during the film.
The beauty of her character is that there is really no big obvious tip offs to who she really is until she reveals it. She is suspected, but diverts it.
On multiple viewings you know why she does what she does and it all makes sense, but there are no winks to the audience and I appreciate that.
We are left to read between the lines, such as when Marybeth and Delilah face off during a test to see which of them is infected, Marybeth raises a brow. The brow, initially looks like a dare to the audience, but after the second viewing it looks as if she is giving a command.
The aliens are always one step ahead of our heroes because Marybeth is staying close to the group and sabotaging their plans.
I can’t tell you how much I love this villian. She’s smart, underestimated, and very, very threatening. I love her!
Empathy:
The film starts out focusing on Zeke, the ridiculously smart and charming loner bad boy doing his senior year over again. For extra money and a little fun, he sells his own concocted drug call Scat comprised of caffeine, aspirin, and other household ingredients from the trunk of his 1970 Pontiac GTO.
His drug is really important to the plot because it is a toxin to the aliens that dries them out. I noticed how immediately when Marybeth sees the pen vials of the drugs she amps up her flirting.
Stan is the star quarterback of the football team who is seeking a chance to be academic.
Stokely is a heterosexual girl pretending to be a lesbian to scare people off. She is established as the science fiction enthusiast who may have some insight into what’s going on and is the first people to notice something strange going on in the school.
Delilah is a very unlikable character to me. She really too smart in my opinion to be so shallow. It almost appears that she has experienced a character arch, by falling for the nerd in the end. But actually she hasn’t changed. That nerd has become the popular boy, who is now nationally praised. She becomes his trophy as she was the trophy for the captain of the football team at the beginning of the film.
At some point in the film she becomes infected and it’s uncertain. The film doesn’t make that obvious. It’s more like something you’d have to conclude on your own.
Casey is a good kid who makes all A’s, but I don’t know how he does when he gets utterly demolished at school every day. He has to eat lunch in the bleachers of the football field to get amy kind of peace of mind.
Poor Casey can’t seem to get a break even at home, because his parents are so uptight they don’t even trust him.
While in his room, the camera pans to photos of Delilah. I believe the aliens used this to their advantage by sending Delilah to ensnare him, much like Delilah from the bible.
Casey is the conduit for the audience to question what it sees. There are two instances of this, when the police question Casey about what he saw, and when the group of students confront the principal who they believe is the alien queen. He’s not sure about what’s real and the audience isn’t sure either.
But ultimately, Casey, the guy who outruns and outsmarts the alien to become the hero.
And although it takes 55 minutes into the film before all the students get together as a team, the energy really goes into overdrive after that and it is so much fun to watch.
All of the characters don’t get along, but they have to figure out how to make use of all of their different talents to get through this ordeal.
Technical:
The film was directed by Robert Rodriguez but it is unlike his style of film. However, you can feel his influence and cinematic creativity.
When Marybeth changes from monster to girl in the pool, it’s all done with shadows under the water. I thought that was a wonderful effect… the way it is so creepy and petrifying.
I can’t tell you how much I loved the creative shadowing when Marybeth walks around in her human form while her writhing shadow is of the monster.
The camera movement and angles were at many moments just simply amazing, just gorgeous. And at many moments unconventional driving home that uneasy feeling that is truly needed in a horror film.
Unfortunately there were one or two action scenes I couldn't tell what was going on. And the scene with Marybeth and the Scat test and the flashback of what the film proposes really happened was a little off kilter and didn’t quite match up aesthetically for me.
The sets and details within each scene were intensely detailed. Everything really felt lived in and realistic.
CGI was used a lot in the film, and some of the work doesn’t hold up with age. However, all of the scenes with practical effects and CGI mixed worked very well.
The alien queen monster was especially impressive save for a few full CGI moments. I thought it looked pretty good.
The score is composed by Marco Beltrami, who had previously scored Scream (1996) and the soundtrack was filled with lots of youthful rebellious rock to drive home the 90’s teen angst stamp.
Performances:
The performances were pretty awesome and the cast is just full of people who went on to become big names in Hollywood.
Josh Hartnett great as Zeke Tyler.
Elijah Wood was great as Casey Connor, he acts a lot with his eyes and it really sells his character’s innocence.
Robert Patrick played Coach Joe Willis excellently, hamming a bit for the camera, but that was what his character was all about. Go big or go home.
Jordana Brewster was good as Delilah Profitt. I may not have liked the character, but the actress was superb.
Clea DuVall as Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell was perfect.
Laura Harris as Marybeth Louise Hutchinson was thoroughly entertaining. Wow. I just loved her in this.
Salma Hayek plays Nurse Rosa Harper delivering one of the funniest lines in the film about saving her sick days for when she doesn’t feel sick.
Christopher McDonald plays Casey’s disappointed and frustrated dad, Frank Connor.
There is a moment when Mr. Connor wishes Coach Willis good luck with the football game and Patrick shoots at McDonald with his hand which is a call back to the actor’s role as "Shooter" McGavin in the film Happy Gilmore (1996).
Bebe Neuwirth was delightful as Principal Valerie Drake and I wish we could have had more of her on screen.
Usher Raymond played Gabe Santora, the captain of the football team’s underling. This was Usher Raymond's film debut, but not his acting debut, He had been doing television long before.
Many people were disappointed that Usher had such a small supporting role in the film, when he was featured on a few of the posters and TV spots at the time as the marketers were trying to use his growing fame to get as more teens in the theaters.
We also have a fantastic performance from Piper Laurie. If you aren’t familiar with her she was the mom in Carrie released in 1976.
Other actors of note were Jon Stewart, Famke Janssen (pronounce Fam-ka Yen-sen), Danny Masterson, and Robert Rodriguez' even had his sister, Tina Rodriguez make an appearance.
Best:
There are so many memorable scenes for me, like the scat test. Even Though, there was a bit of a wonkiness about the scene, I still loved it and it stands out to me as one of those high tension moments when the film goes into overdrive.
I really love Marybeth’s big reveal as the alien queen and pretty much everything leading up to her demise. It was an amazing last quarter.
The ending:
The ending was pretty satisfying. What really sums it up is that during the final fight scene when Casey is running through the the football locker room there is a banner that says "The will to win comes from within" referring to the alien parasites living within the students.
However, Victory over the aliens comes from Casey’s inner strength as a survivor prevailing. He was perfect for this because at the beginning of the film, he spends most of his time facing off with bullies and many times just barely escaping them.
Channeling the Breakfast Club, the film fast forwards a month later, showing what became of the schoolmates and their transformations guiding them into an eventual adulthood.
Wish List:
I wish that there weren’t so many continuity issues. The biggest area, is who needs water and who didn’t. We never see Marybeth or Delilah drink water but everyone else is guzzling it down.
Also, a pen vile of Scat incapacitates Professor Furlong, but doesn’t really hurt Delilah at all except to reveal the parasites. I wish it were consistent.
Enjoyment:
Watching this film is like watching a film that is made by people who love movies and you can see lots of great details in the film and call backs to Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
We get the strongest T2 vibes from the actor Robert Patrick who played the T1000 Terminator in T2. In this film, one of the faculty is named Edward Furlong which is the name of the actor who played John Connor in T2.
Also too, there is a scene that mimics a chase scene in T2, when the Coach is chasing the Principal down the hall.
As well, Casey’s last name is Connor as a tribute to John Connor.
All of these little nods are so cute and they put a smile on my face.
Within the film you can see that the filmmakers were inspired many of the science fiction classics. Within the dialogue, they mention, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which had 3 movie incarnations by this time 1956, 1978, 2007. They also mention the book The puppet masters, which also had a parasite invasion.
It’s mostly marketed as a horror film, but in my opinion it isn’t. It has a few jump scares, a few gory scenes, but no truly horrifying moments. It’s more of a sci-fi thriller. And I think that is why it appeals to me.
The story doesn’t begin at the beginning of what happens, but somewhere at the start of what happens at the school. I have often wondered what lead to the events of the alien arriving at the school. Open up that can of worms. I understand that this couldn’t be included in the film to keep the story uncluttered, but I’ve always wondered about a prequel. I wouldn’t mind a prequel.
I actually enjoyed that we didn’t get a whole lot of alien backstory because that would have taken away from the focus of the story. But we do know that the aliens thrived in water. I always wondered why the alien queen didn’t begin her take over in the oceans on earth before invading the land, since the oceans were her natural habitat? It’s an interesting question and scenario for a sequel probably. News flash, the humans don’t win. This is why I don't write for Hollywood. LOL!
There is also a collection of moments when the film shows us where characters are breaking the rules. I am not sure if they are advocating it or frowning upon it, but it is there and I like the detail.
This film has been described as a version of The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And I would agree. It’s an odd pairing of movies, but it’s a formula that worked for me.
The one thing that I noticed about this film, that kinda stuck with me later are the many monologues geared toward tempting loners to be part of the collective. It’s the deeper layer into the story that leaves the viewer quite contemplative by the end of the film. Teen horror with a existential questions is highly unique.
Earlier, I mentioned Disturbing Behavior, which was released the same year only 5 months earlier covering the same concept of teens being mind controlled.
I think that although we all want to be accepted, loved and appreciated but we don’t want to sacrifice our humanity or individuality for it.
Films like this shows you the horror of that threat as our angsty teens fight to remain true to themselves in a way and not transform into a drone. It's a fear we all have, to lose our emotional humanity and the value our memories have to us. The way we behave is a unique broadcast of our hearts and minds.
I love films like these. With brilliant cinematic moments, fun practical effects and the great pacing. It’s one of my favorite horror movies.
My Rating:
8.6
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off.
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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