The Faculty (1998) starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie directed by Robert Rodriguez Movie Review

The Faculty (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Piper Laurie and Robert Patrick in The Faculty (1998)

Horror High Class of 98

If I told you that the screenplay for "The Faculty" was written by Kevin Williamson you might know what to expect as Kevin Williamson wrote the screenplays for "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer". But whilst "The Faculty" once again takes us to high school and a collection of students who wouldn't look out of place in "The Breakfast Club" the horror this time isn't of the slasher variety but the body snatcher variety with aliens taking over teachers and students. On one hand "The Faculty" works, it is an entertaining Friday night horror movie with just enough humour and frights to be enjoyable but at the same time it is nothing new and other than some modern elements such as drugs plays out like a typical body snatching movie.

Herrington High is a typical high school where the locals live for Friday nights when the football team plays. But Herrington High soon becomes very untypical when something starts taking over the teacher's bodies and a few of the students notice this. As they try to work out what the heck is going on they must go on the run and find away of destroying what ever it is infecting the teachers and their fellow students.

Jordana Brewster and Elijah Wood in The Faculty (1998)

Basically take the scope of characters from "The Breakfast Club" and then put them in a horror movie which has the wit and frights which Kevin Williamson is so good at coming up with and you have "The Faculty". Yes I did mention "The Breakfast Club" in that sentence because are group of hero students include; a slacker, a nerd, a goth, a jock, a princess and also a newcomer, the outsider to this little group who has just arrived at the school. In a way it is entertaining that the characters in "The Faculty" seem to have been derived from "The Breakfast Club" and there are some fun scenes between them.

Aside from that little novelty well "The Faculty" is familiar and basically a 90s update on the body snatcher movie where people are infected by aliens and a group battle to stop it from having. It has various 90s elements from moments of nudity, some comically disgusting gore, drugs and some humour especially when it comes to slacker Zeke intimidating his teacher with an offer of condoms. But it is nothing really new and not only does it play out in a routine manner you can guess where the source of the trouble originates from, it doesn't take genius.

What is kind of surprising is the number of familiar faces who are in "The Faculty". From the student point of view there is Jordana Brewster, Josh Hartnett and Elijah Wood to name just a few and the teachers feature Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie and even Jon Stewart whose character is comically called Prof. Edward Furlong. In many ways the well known cast helps "The Faculty" because it allows for some in jokes and rarely a dull moment.

What this all boils down to is that "The Faculty" is basically Kevin Williamson updating the body snatcher horror for a 90s crowd. It is entertaining and a fun Friday night horror but it is nothing more than average.


LATEST REVIEWS