The Faculty

The Faculty
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Rodriguez
Produced by	Elizabeth Avellan Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein
Screenplay by	Kevin Williamson
Story by	David Wechter Bruce Kimmel
Starring	Elijah Wood Jordana Brewster Clea DuVall Laura Harris Josh Hartnett Shawn Hatosy
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Cinematography	Enrique Chediak
Edited by	Robert Rodriguez
Production company	Dimension Films Los Hooligans Productions
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	December 25, 1998 (1998-12-25)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million[1]
Box office	$40.3 million (US)[1]

The Faculty is a 1998 American science fiction teen horror film written by Kevin Williamson, directed by Robert Rodriguez, and starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Laurie, Famke Janssen, Usher Raymond, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart.

The film was released on December 25, 1998, by Miramax Films through Dimension Films. It has a 54% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and grossed $40.3 million at the US box office.^[1]

Plot

One evening at Herrington High School in Ohio, several teachers and the principal leave after discussions about the school's budget. Having left her keys behind, Principal Valerie Drake (Bebe Neuwirth) returns to retrieve them. In her office, she is barred from leaving by Coach Willis (Robert Patrick), who becomes increasingly erratic. As she attempts to leave, Willis impulsively stabs a pencil through her hand. Valerie flees to the entrance, only to find the door chained up and drama teacher Mrs. Olsen (Piper Laurie) outside. She retrieves her keys and grabs a pair of scissors and escapes. Outside, Mrs. Olsen emotionlessly grabs the scissors and stabs Valerie.

The following morning, the film's protagonist students are introduced. Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), the dedicated but perpetually harassed photographer for the school newspaper, is the unappreciated assistant to spiteful Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster), the paper's editor-in-chief and head cheerleader. Delilah's mistreated boyfriend Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy) is contemplating quitting the football team to pursue academics. Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett) is an intelligent yet rebellious student repeating his senior year who sells, among other illegal items, a powdery ecstasy-like drug he manufactures and distributes; he is confronted by Miss Elizabeth Burke (Famke Janssen), who expresses concern for him over his illegal activities. Naive transfer student from Atlanta, Georgia, Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris), tries to befriend self-styled outcast Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall) despite the fact that Delilah has spread rumors that Stokely is a lesbian even though she has a crush on Stan; Marybeth, on the other hand, develops a crush on Zeke.

While eating lunch at the football field, Casey notices a strange creature in the grass. He takes it to Science teacher Mr. Furlong (Jon Stewart), where the specimen is examined and believed to be a new species of cephalopod-specific parasite called a mesozoan. Delilah takes Casey into the Teachers Lounge to find a story for the paper's front page, where they hide in a closet. They witness Coach Willis and Ms. Olsen assault the School Nurse, Ms. Harper (Salma Hayek) by forcing one of the creatures into her ear. They also find the body of Mrs. Brummel (Susan Willis). Casey and Delilah flee, and Casey calls the police. Principal Drake claims nothing is wrong and that Casey is seeking attention.

The next day, Casey tells Delilah, Stan and Stokely that he believes the teachers are being controlled by aliens. After Zeke and Marybeth enter the classroom and tease them about their theory, Mr. Furlong confronts them. Furlong suddenly becomes defensive and attempts to infect them. Zeke cuts off Furlong's fingers and injects his homemade drugs into Furlong's eye, apparently killing him. Zeke takes the five to his house, where he examines and experiments with Casey's specimen. He discovers that it needs water to survive and can be killed by his drugs because it is a diuretic. Zeke makes everyone take some of his drug to prove they are human and unaffected. Delilah is revealed as infected, and she destroys Zeke's lab and most of his drug supply before escaping.

Acting on Stokely's speculation that killing the alien queen will revert everyone to normal, the group returns to the school, where their football team is playing and infecting opposing players. Believing Principal Drake to be the queen, they isolate her in the gym and fatally shoot her. Stan goes outside and confronts the coach and the team to see if it worked but becomes infected. Zeke and Casey go to Zeke's car to retrieve more of Zeke's drugs. Casey leads infected students away from Zeke, who encounters Miss Burke in the parking lot and seemingly kills her when he makes his escape.

Back at the gym, Stokely becomes suspicious of Marybeth during a conversation about pretending to be what one isn't. Marybeth subsequently reveals herself to be the alien queen. Earlier on, she faked taking the drug. Casey and Stokely flee to the swimming pool where Stokely is injured and becomes infected. Zeke and Casey hide in the Locker Room, where Marybeth reverts to her human disguise, naked. She explains that she is taking over Earth because her own planet is dying. Marybeth transforms back into her true form and hurls Zeke across the room into the lockers, knocking him out. Casey seizes the drug and tricks the queen into following him into the retracting bleachers, thus trapping her. Casey then stabs the drug into the queen's eye. The queen infects Casey with her dying breath, but Casey almost immediately returns to normal upon the queen's death. Casey returns to the Locker Room and finds Stokely and Zeke alive.

One month later, everyone has returned to normal. Stan and Stokely begin dating, and Zeke takes Stan's place on the football team (while Miss Burke affectionately watches him practice). Mr. Furlong has miraculously survived the attack, now sporting an eyepatch and bandages on his hand. Casey begins dating Delilah and is considered a local hero.

Cast

Production

In 1990, David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel wrote their first draft of the script and sent it out, but there were no buyers. It wasn't until after the success of Scream that Miramax bought the script and rushed it into production. Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein brought in Kevin Williamson to do rewrites, keeping the basic story, but rewriting the dialogue and adding new characters to make it more "hip". Originally, Williamson was set to direct the film, but he chose not to so he could direct his self-penned script Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The Weinsteins brought in Robert Rodriguez to direct the film instead.^[3]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes tallied 50 reviews from critics (with 27 listed as positive and 23 listed as negative) to give The Faculty a 54% approval rating, calling it a "rip-off of other sci-fi thrillers".^[2] Metacritic gave The Faculty a score of 61/100 based on 19 reviews.^[4]

The Faculty was viewed on 2,365 screens its opening weekend, debuting at #5 in the US, making $11,633,495.^[5] Its eventual US gross was $40.3 million.^[1]

Influences

Aliya Whiteley wrote an essay, "Revisiting Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty", which identifies the film's influences:

Mix Invasion Of The Body Snatchers with The Thing. Throw in some Terminator, a spoonful of The Breakfast Club, and a pinch of The Stepford Wives, and you've got a big mess of a movie set in a school that’s being taken over by a conformist alien, one teacher at a time. You’ve got the very funny, occasionally scary, quite gory, and extremely entertaining 1998 Robert Rodriguez film called The Faculty.^[6]

Whiteley added, "It's all about examining the tropes of science fiction with a smart, funny angle. Half of the fun in this film is in identifying where you first came across a certain character's name or saw a particular special effect. For instance, there's a brilliant moment with a head on legs that I defy you to watch and not think of a certain John Carpenter film."^[6] Whitely concludes, "The Faculty is very definitely a big mess of a movie. But if you love all things sci-fi, it’s a good mess."^[6]

Keith Phipps described the nostalgic homage when he described the film as "a Kevin Williamson-scripted high-school variation on Invasion Of The Body Snatchers."^[7]

Soundtrack

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link

The score is composed by Marco Beltrami, who had previously scored the teen-slasher-horror film, Scream, as well as Mimic. Both Beltrami's score^[8] and songs by various artists used in the film were released as albums. The "music from the motion picture" album features songs by various indie and alternative rock groups.

1. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" - Class of '99
2. "The Kids Aren't Alright" - The Offspring
3. "I'm Eighteen" - Creed
4. "Helpless" - D Generation
5. "School's Out" - Soul Asylum
6. "Medication" - Garbage
7. "Haunting Me" - Stabbing Westward
8. "Maybe Someday" - Flick
9. "Resuscitation" - Sheryl Crow
10. "It's Over Now" - Neve
11. "Changes" - Shawn Mullins
12. "Stay Young" - Oasis
13. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" - Class of '99

Filming locations

The Faculty takes place in fictional Herrington, Ohio, but was shot in Austin, San Marcos, Dallas, and Lockhart, Texas.

Home media

The Faculty was one of the few Robert Rodriguez films not to receive special treatment on DVD. Missing are traditional extras typical for a Robert Rodriguez DVD including "10 Minute Film School", audio commentary, and making-of featurettes.

Several scenes involving an additional character named Venus, played by Kidada Jones, were shown in TV previews for the film, as well as Tommy Hilfiger commercials, but cut from the film. She is also visible in a scene in the theatrical version, standing next to Gabe (Usher) in Mr Furlong's (Jon Stewart) science class when they are looking at the "new species" in the aquarium.

The Faculty was released in several countries on Blu-ray, including Canada on October 6, 2009, by Alliance;^[9] in Australia on September 1, 2011, by Reel;^[10] in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2011, by Lionsgate,^[11] in Germany on October 6, 2011, by Studio Canal;^[12] in France on January 10, 2012, by Studio Canal;^[13] and in the United States on July 31, 2012, by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.^[14] Lionsgate re-issued the Blu-ray version in the United States on October 7, 2014 after Echo Bridge lost the rights to the Miramax films.^[15]

Nominations

The film was nominated for a total of eight awards, including an ALMA Award for director Robert Rodriguez, 2 Saturn Awards, 2 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and 3 Teen Choice Awards, but did not win any.

References

External links

• Official website
• The Faculty at the Internet Movie Database
• The Faculty at AllMovie
• The Faculty at Box Office Mojo
• The Faculty at Rotten Tomatoes