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Of course the story told by this film (aliens land in small Mid-West town and start taking over the humans) is very familiar but it is still a great story and this film tells it as well as any of the others (and better than most). There is a lot of humour, many very good action scenes, and some really nail-biting suspense. But what really makes this film special are the main characters: a delightful group of funny and interesting students, who have to cope with the trials of high-school life as well as the demands of defending the Earth against an insidious alien invasion.

If you know the other films of Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn) you will find another film which displays the same wit and assured lightness of touch that makes this director's work such a pleasure.

Great Stuff!

Is a rough way of putting it. And never mind those Scream rip-offs or all those other cheap alien/creature-feature films from the 90's. This is a teen horror movie that gives you everything you'd want from a teen movie and everything you'd want from a creature feature, all in one. But what else is to be expected when you got Robert Rodriguez behind the lens? Any other director and this film would be tossed aside as just a teen body snatcher movie. But Robert Rodriguez shows here that he has the style to make it more than that.

Now, I've read the script to this movie before I even saw it and I kept thinking to myself, there has to be another draft of this, no way this could really work and be taken seriously... or as serious as you can take a movie like this. Yet not only was I surprised to see how much of the original script Rodriguez kept in, but I was even more surprised to see how well things actually played out. Sometimes I really love being wrong.

This film delivers, just as much as any other Rodriguez picture that calls back to the good old days of the Grindhouse and makes us forget that those movies weren't even close to par with these "tribute" films that somehow manage to surpass the movies they're tributing. You get everything you want and leave wishing you could spend more time in high school... or at least at this high school.

This film, to me, is the second in Rodriguez's own unofficial Sci-fi Grindhouse trilogy. Starting with From Dusk Till Dawn and ending with Planet Terror. Want to treat yourself to some fun? Watch all three back to back to back. You won't be disappointed.

7/10

This film fuses elements of the Breakfast Club with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Robert Rodrigues makes entertaining films, and does so consistently. The Faculty is no exception, though the formula is radically different from his standard approach. In place of large guns, spectacular stunt choreography and a silly soundtrack, Rodrigues made "The Faculty" with a classy ensemble cast and some awesome special effects. The script is also very good, featuring strong characterization and interesting dialog. All of these elements make The Faculty a very watchable film, and make up for the completely unoriginal and not very coherent plot.

The film begins as a paranoiac comedy about a typical high school where the students and faculty see each other as alien species. Ho hum. However, after about 20 minutes of set-up, the faculty really starts to become an alien species, as they are assimilated by water-loving parasites with very bad attitudes and a kind of group consciousness straight out of Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Star Trek's Borg. Six kids, very unlikely team-mates representing the archetypal teenage personalities of the postmodern world, team up to try to save the world, once they realize that the aliens can be driven off by, of all things, caffeine. Especially impressive are Elijah Wood, Piper Laurie, Robert Patrick, Josh Hartnett and Clea DuVall.

Like most of Rodrigues' films, The Faculty never loses its sense of humor, and pulls off its own absurdity with artful visualization and a tight, driving pace. Unlike many of Rodrigues' films, however, The Faculty is disposable - it's not really meant to be viewed more than once. See it if you're a Rodrigues fan, or somebody who enjoys the obscure but growing genre of horror-comedy.

Robert Rodriguez's spirited sci-fi/horror hybrid is one for the books, even if solely for rekindling the 'alien invasion' genre during the '90s. Taken over by alien parasites, this time it's high school teachers who can't be trusted anymore with a small group of students – amongst them soon-to-be famous faces of Josh Hartnett and Elijah Wood – discovering the terrifying truth. Kevin Williamson splendidly has his way with stereotypical teenagers in a clever script stuffed with titillating genre references. All performances are outstanding - particularly Robert Patrick eats up every scene he's in - and the K.N.B. Effects Group delivers some of their best work, mixing CGI with traditional monster mayhem. Even with its plot-twists revealed after a first time viewing, this one's worth revisiting.

Students suspect that their teachers are aliens after bizarre occurrences.

This is very much a film of the 1990s, especially the second half. That same teen horror subgenre that "Scream" mastered and "Disturbing Behavior" did well. Get a mix of teen idols, add a soundtrack, and boom, you have a film. This is no exception, with some of the biggest names of the time on the screen (now, about fifteen years later, it is interesting to see who is big and who is forgotten).

As far as being a "body snatcher" movie, it is pretty good. It is obviously aware of its past, as it overtly makes reference. But it also tries to steer clear of being a copy. Some references to past films are over the top, such as naming a character Edward Furlong. Really? Although not one of Robert Rodriguez's best films, it is still a nice trip down nostalgia lane. And it is probably not his worst (it may be time to stop with the "Spy Kids" and "Machete" sequels).