Movies-TV

Where exactly is the horror/sci-fi genre headed to?

Why is it year after year we have to have horror movies with teenage stars? When was the last time we saw an actual original film that mixed comedy with horror and science fiction as The Faculty tried to? I believe it was 14 years ago to a movie called Re-Animator. That same year, two other imaginitive horror films called Day of the Dead and The Return of the Living Dead were also released. Why is it we can't have horror films as good as those three? Instead, we get an imitation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Puppetmasters with a cast of young stars. While the acting was better than usual, nothing else was. It just seemed highly improbable that an entire town that was infected could not find six teenagers that weren't. This movie had some mildly suspenseful scenes, but overall lacked imagination, and definitely laughs.

Body Snatcher Movie

This genre movie (they've been making movies like this for 50 years now, in fact at one point one of the characters reminds the lead that "Invasion of the body snatchers" was based on Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters") about an alien life form invading an "average" town. However, there is a huge cast of known actors (Bebe Neuwirth [Cheers], Piper Laurie [Carrie], Robert Patrick [Terminator 2, The X-Files], Salma Hayek [From Dusk Til Dawn], comedian Jon Stewart, Famke Janssen, Usher... I guess for some reason they all wanted to be part of an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers vehicle.The movie does have a lot of (high school) atmosphere, but of course all the time struggles against the cliches that it started out with.Average.

Directionless, with little real interest.

This movie doesn't really deserve to be seen. It trades on the popular interest in aliens of any kind, combined with the always-ready backdrop of a high school environment, with the underdog yet genius school kids pulling the trump card against their teachers. The storyline is very weak, with little external development, which lends to the movie an 'empty' air that is not filled by any amount of attempted drama in the lighting or soundtrack.

Watching 'The Faculty' is a strange experience, neither remotely frightening nor absorbing, the cast flit through their roles rapidly and do not entice the viewer into the action. As a take-off of 'The Terminator' or 'Alien' it is faulted and unconvincing, and fails dreadfully in any way to hold water as a serious movie of any kind. The only people who could justifiably watch this would be sold-out aficionados of Elijah Wood, of which I am sure there are many. His performance, such as it can be given the material he has to work with, is excellent, as is that of the rest of the younger cast (particularly DuVall and Hartnett), but if Mr Wood or Mr Hartnett don't up your heart-o-meter whenever you see them on screen, then don't give this movie any of your valuable time.

Wonderful ,absoulutly awesome!

"The Faculty" is one of those movies that GREATLY surprised me from first viewing, and still does. What's funny, and frankly remarkable, is that I always passed on the opportunity to see this wonderful film. I always just kind of said "That looks like a movie I'd enjoy." Yet saying this I never got it. Well thankfully one day I go it, and I put it in not really knowing what to fully expect. When it went off I got that same feeling of full satisfaction and entertainment that Scream left me with. The Faculty, like "Scream", is easily one of the best horror films ever, and it definitely shows. I just love how it's so aware of it's genre, and how it doesn't try and provide us with something new, while at the same time bringing originality and bringing something indeed new to it. The acting is great, the pacing, the timing, the suspense build up, the writing, the twists, are all so clever, and brilliant, and fully keeps you entertained and in to the story. I love how it gives us these "breakfast club" like characters because they all are really well written and conceived and so interesting. I will say the opening isn't really well done, and seemed to me, to be a little to much of a "Scream" opening as opposed to a "The Faculty" opening. Nevertheless even though I found "Scream" to be better, The Faculty is definitely one of the best of it's kind, and one of my personal favorite movies. Overall even if you don't like these kinds of movies, I honestly feel "The Faculty" is one that anybody can enjoy, so therefore I strongly recommend "The Faculty".

Great little movie

I was pretty impressed by the story line and the whole time I was glued to the screen not wanting to miss a secon of it. The cast had good chemistry and the acting was pretty impresive as well for actors in that age group. I strongly suggest you watch this movie if your feeling let down by the substandard movie like Disturbing behavior and urban legend. Noteworthy performance by the actors who played Stokely, Zeke and Stan. John Stewart had anice little role in the movie as well.

excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Oh my gosh. I love the Faculty. It is the greatest movie ever. I love it. Shawn makes it more than perfect. He is so hot and he is such a great actor. I love him to death. I've seen every moive he has been in. Even it is just a small part. Ok back to the review. The movie is fun, exciting, scary. has a bit of laughs. It is the best. Go see it.

KICK ASS!!!!!!!!!

pretty awesome considering the plot is mostly just a new version of body snatchers with a few monsters from aliens tossed in.. this is one of the best alien rip-offs made yet. because it takes a known setting and uses it or maximum tension . the first half was pretty formulatic but amazingly enough the film unlike any other alien rip-off had me in suspense at the end.the message here is if you are going to stop an alien invasion you must work together with other people.even people who you hate because put it this way would you rather be enslaved by an alien race or work together with your enemy to save humanity. also its always the unexpected people who end up saving the world so basically treat everyone nicely because you never know who's going to save the world. of the cast the teachers are pretty funky with robert patrick as the football coach gleefully chewing the scenery and bebe neuwirth (Lilith from cheers) who the cast of Cheers and Frasier was right she is an alien. and daniel von bargain (or as we all know him mr. kruger George's boss on Seinfeld who in one episode was airbrushed out of his own picture and replaced with a cartoon drawing of him) and jon stewart(what the hell is he doing here?) of the hero teens elijah wood is good as the nerdy loner(who ultimately must save everyone with the help of the other tenns). the rest of the teens are good clea duvall and the other people who's names i cannot remember. also but in the intrest of saving time and space i will just say that it is pretty obvious who among them(if any of them)is an intruderTo summerize if you like this kind of thing see it for it is better then the idiotic garbage that most movies like this are.and i did not like the scream movies. i found them to be pretty stupid well oh right the first one was good but the sequel was incredibly stupid.and easily predictable. this movie is better then the screams but only because of the subplot about drugs. i found it very ironic that before the previews there was a commercial about staying away from drugs and then this movie came on in which the only way to tell if the heroes are human or not is to sniff drugs. now that's original! and that my friend is what i thought was nice and original. it's not often someone comes up with an oiginal twist to this kind of often used plot device. name me one other movie in which drugs was actually used in a positive light. they saved the day! it should also be noted that drugs is what kills the aliens therefore they will kill you. BEWARE OF THOSE AROUND YOU and try not to pick on other people so much and try not to be so self-absorbed because you will notice that the hero of the movie was very observant and not so into himself so that he could figure out the alien's master plan. so once it gets going this film kicks ass! giving me suspense i never thought i would get from this often predictable genre.

The Faculty!!

It is the best Sci Fi Horror movie I have ever seen I was very pleased with the picture and sound and Elijah Woods acting
was outstanding I would give the movie 20 stars if I could:):):):)

Fun, fun, fun.... Better then I had expected

I gave this a 7/10This film was far better then I had expected it to be. One of the key reasons I forked out the money some $25 when it first came out on DVD and bought myself a copy.One of the few films that stands up to repeat viewing. It doesn't take itself seriously, nor does it claim to be anything other then what it is. It's a fun film with a mix of action, sci-fi, and some horror thtown in for good measure.I liked the actors in this too Clea Duvall was wonderful as the goth girl Stokely and Elijah Wood as the nerd of the group, but neither overdo their part, nor do they unplay it. It just works and the whole ensemble of young actors are fun to watch.I'd say give this movie a try. It's fun

this movie blew me away!!

oh my gosh!!! you people have to see this movie! it is soooooo suspenceful!! you never know what will happen next!! you have to pay attention, or you won't get the whole movie!! it is the best movie that i have ever seen!!! after you have seen this movie, you will fall in love with it. josh hartnett is also a huge hunk!! but justin timberlake is still hot too!!! buy this movie!! MICHELE M.

Best Thriller Of The 90's

I'm quite an 80's music & movies buff, but The Faculty has to be the best thriller yet, it has a highly detailed screenplay, along with that *true* thriller feeling, combined with suspense (the first time you watched Freddy Kruger as a child). The storyline is competent & scientific, which makes it appealing to people of all ages.

fun

This is one of those films(unlike "I Know What You Did Last Summer")that ages well. Watching it again,you realize that the film really knew what it's specific audience wants. The films of the teen slasher genre at the time started to liven up thanks to great witty dialogue,rather good acting,and keen observations on how teens felt and spoke. This film has all of those essential ingredients and succeeds. First,the direction is exciting,well paced,and fresh. Second,the actors(such as Josh Hartnett,Clea Duvall,and Elijah Wood)are all at their best bringing a little extra to what could've been simple stereotypes. But,the dialogue and observations of our teen 90's "breakfast club" is what is winning when it comes to this film. The visual effects are excellent,but the style is what makes the film pop. So kudos to Robert Rodriguez for the directing,Kevin Williamson for the scripting,and the cast who brought the film to life. ****/*****

should be a classic of some kind

I love this movie so worth getting shipped here, it's got everything except tear jerking moments (thankfully). It makes you hate people, laugh and jump once in a while. To me this is like the scream of invasion movies.

Schools out.....of their minds!

The Faculty is your run of the mill alien movie , which has nothing new or different in it. The story is about a bunch of kids who realise that the school is being taken over by a bunch of Squid like aliens masqarading as teachers and pupils. While quite entertaining The Faculty is hardly memorable. 7 out of 10

Why your teachers being alien monsters is a bad thing, boys and girls

"The Faculty" is one of those movies where you want to reduce it to simple cinematic equation history, such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." But that is really too simplistic an approach. Not since "The Rock" have I seen a film that references as many other films as "The Faculty" (comedy homages in the tradition of "Airplane" do not count). When you watch this film see how many times you suddenly say to yourself, "Oh, yeah, just like in 'The Thing.'" Clearly, screenwriter Kevin Williamson ("Scream") is back to his old tricks, this time in the field of science fiction rather than teenage splatter flicks, aided and abetted by director Robert Rodriuez ("From Dusk Till Dawn").


The premise of the film is that the old school kid fantasy about teachers being alien monsters comes true at Herrington High in Ohio. The faculty are only first on the alien agenda for possession. Next are the police, the students, their parents, the folks in town, the visiting football team, and, by the end of the month, the entire world. All that stand in the way are the fellowship of the high school student stereotypes: there is Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), the Stephen King nerd; Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster), the campus queen; Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall), the goth girl with the encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction films whom everyone thinks is a lesbian; Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), the sensitive jock who wants to be more than a quarterback; Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris), the new girl in school; and Zeke Wells (Josh Hartnett), the big man on campus when it comes to drugs.


Actually, "The Faculty" ends ups being one of the most subversive films in history because the big lesson here is that mind altering drugs can save the world (that just cannot be right, people). But it is hard to focus on a "message" in a film like this where the only real question is how are these kids going to save the world and which on the infected people is hosting the queen? That last one is where Williamson proves he was paying attention to story construction because there are plenty of clues that set up the big payoff, which is usually a sign of competency when considering a film like this. Otherwise the big joke in the film is that the adults are having a lot more fun being monsters than the kids are trying to save the earth. Robert Patrick plays Coach Willis with maniacal glee while Piper Laurie goes for underplayed creepiness. Famke Janssen goes from mouse to lioness, Bebe Neuwirth gets to work on her chilling smile, and even Jon Stewart has his eye-popping moment. Only Salma Hayek is really wasted, given nothing more to do than blow her nose.


The end result is a decent science fiction horror film, which is a pretty good deal. We are clearly in a world where a competent film in this genre qualifies as an above average effort. But "The Faculty" embraces both the history of the genre and the stereotypical characters running around in it trying to save the world. The idea of an unpretentious exploitation film just sounds strange. For me, the two scenes that capture the essence of this film are the suspenseful sequence where the gang tries to figure out who amongst them cannot be trusted and the bit where the new and improved football team gleefully beats up on their out of town opponents at the big game on Friday night. "The Faculty" plays well in both ballparks. The only serious complaint is that this film was apparently so well crafted by Williamson and Rodriguez that there are no deleted scenes; all this DVD offers in the way of extras is the trailer. That is a downer.

Bonus Question: Since this film is scripted by Kevin Williamson can it be read as an allegorical twist on "Dawson's Creek"? Sure, why not? It just gets a bit complicated, because if Casey is Dawson and Zeke is Pacey, then Stan has to be Jack (the football part, but not the gay part, unless you want to go back to the very beginning in which case he can be Cliff). That means Delilah is Joey (but with Abby's attitude), but then we have to decide if Marybeth the new girl in town or Stokely the girl with a bad reputation is Jen. Since that can work out either way your decision can be based on whether you are trying to work this out in terms of the high school years on "Dawson's Creek" with Andie or the college years with Audrey.

It's worth renting or seeing on cable, but don't waste your $20 buying the DVD

The Faculty (1998) although not original or scary, it still is worth to rent or see on cable. The movie is basically Invasion of the Body Snatchers and John Carpenter's The Thing rolled into one...Students in a small town realize that their faculty members are acting very strange. They are all well-behaved, calm, and can't get enough of water! Enter the standard genre type characters: Casey (Elijah Wood) is the average Stephen King geek who is deeply in love with Delilah (Jordana Brewster), the pretty bitchy cheerleader whose dating star quaterback Stan (Shawn Hatosy). Now Stan wants to quit football and hit the books for college. This catches the attention of the anti-social/rebel Stokley (Clea DuVall), whose had a thing for Stan for a while now. Zeke (Josh Hartnett) is a drug dealer who steals the heart of new girl Marybeth (Laura Harris). After the group of outcasts find out that aliens are taking over the bodies of the whole school and town, they decide that they must band together and fight the ever-growing aliens. Mayhem and drugs ensue.The only intersting thing about this story is that drugs actually kill off the alien invaders! An extremely entertaining scene is where we find our group at Zeke's house and they all have to take drugs in order to tell who's human or not. It's funny and all until one of the group turns out to be an alien. As I said earlier, the story is basically a rehash of Invasion of the Body Snatchers for today's teens.This film didn't have enough gore in it. But when it did, it wasn't too bad. The final confrontation between Casey and the alien queen is pretty violent but has very little suspense. Decapitations, stabbings, and shootings make most of the violence.Bottom line: it's worth renting or seeing on cable, but don't waste your $20 buying the DVD. I give The Faculty a C- (6 out of 10).

The Faculty!

The Faculty is a great Sci-Fi Horror film that has a great all-star cast which includes Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Elijah Wood, Salma Hayek, Jon Stewart, Daniel von Bargen, Christopher McDonald, Piper Laurie, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Summer Phoenix, Usher Raymond, and Shawn Hatosy! The acting by all of these actors is very good. Robert Patrick is really excellent in this film. I thought that his performance was simply amazing! Arguably his best role! Jon Stewart also has a very good part. Daniel von Bargen, and Christopher McDonald also have very good performances. I really liked Clea DuVall in this picture! As for the other stuff, the suspense is incredible. You never know what is going to happen next! The special effects are great. The movie is filmed great. The music is good by Marco Beltrami. The film is very interesting and exciting and the movie really keeps you entertained! If you like Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Elijah Wood, Salma Hayek, Jon Stewart, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, and the rest of the cast in the film, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, and interesting films then I strongly recommend that you see this film today!Movie Nuttball's NOTE:If you like alien movies and/or the subject of aliens I also recommend the following films: The Thing from another World, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Horror Express, The UFO Incident, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, John Carpenter's The Thing, Krull, Time Walker, My Science Project, Howard the Duck, John Carpenter's Starman, John Carpenter's They Live, Mac and Me, Explorers, Invaders from Mars, Alien Seed, Total Recall, The Abyss, Communion, Suburban Commando, Fire in the Sky, The Arrival, Mars Attacks! Men in Black I & 2, Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, Xtro 3: Watch the Skies, Battlefield Earth: A Saga for the year 3000, Impostor, Stargate, The Puppet Masters, John Carpenter's Village of the Damned, Independence Day, Life Form, The X-Files: Fight the Future, Mission to Mars, Evolution, Signs, Silent Warnings, Alien Hunter, Spaceballs, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Predator & Predator 2, AVP: Alien Vs. Predator, The entire Star Wars saga (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi (Original and Special Editions!), The Phantom Menace, & Attack of the Clones), the entire Star Trek movie saga (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, The Undiscovered Country, Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, & Nemesis) and Stephen King's IT

GREAT MOVIE

I just saw The Faculty, in 2001. I wish I had known about this movie sooner. It was fantastic. I thought it was going to be overly scary but it wasn't and it wasn't underly scary either. It was perfect. It's funny and scary. Josh Hartnett who plays the character of Zeke, is HOTT! Even if you don't like horror, watch it because of him, becuz he's so damn hott!

I liked it

I had 3 chances to see this in the movie theater but I passed them up (as did most of my friends) because of the tommy hillfigure ads on TV featuring the actors from this movie. Plus it has Usher in it -- who I do not like, at all. About a week ago I was at a sleep over and we rented this film, I must admit it is a good movie. Despite it's selling out to Tommy Hillfigure, Pepsi, Apple Computers, and Adidas this movie has a good plot line. And on an even better note, Usher is bearly in this movie! It's a "breakfast club" for the 90s. If your a teenager, no matter how cynical you are, you'll like this movie... Trust me...

The aliens are amongst us but they are not who you think.

This showcases the talents of a young cast and some adult faces that are now better known for other films.The basic premise is straight from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". In this case they invaders are parasites from a planet where they lived in water. Initially, it is only the Faculty that are affected but then it spreads. The FX are adequate. This film is much along the lines of "Scream", but for Sci-Fi.This is amusing enough and will pass the time pleasantly.