The Faculty

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.

Herrington High School in Ohio has the usual groups of disaffected youths – the jock, the goth, the geek, the prom-queen, the drop out etc. However they are not the only ones acting out of the ordinary – the teaching staff all seem to be acting out of the ordinary – drinking water, acting sinister. Geeky Casey has the idea that the staff have been infected, taken over by aliens using their bodies as hosts. Casey's theory spreads to a group of students who decide to take a stand.

Oh my God – an enjoyable and quite clever teen movie! Something must be wrong! The plot is basically a teen twist on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but is filled with clever references and jokes related to sci-fi. This makes it stand out from other teen movies in that it cleverly plays with the usual stereotypes and makes them feel fresh. The group itself is close to the usual group that learns to get along and accept each other (a la Breakfast Club) – except here they get along through drugs and the battle against aliens!

The director is better known for his big OTT action stuff but here he does a good job with a slow build up and a real feeling of paranoia. Of course it's not as good as the actual Body Snatchers but it still has a real good feeling of fear and tension. The effects are good but Rodriguez uses them sparingly for the most part helping the mood of uncertainty and fear.

The cast are all good. The teens play the stereotypes well but they are outshone by the adults who all get to ham it up in sinister roles. Many of the adults are wasted in minor roles – Hayek for one is barely in it, and MacDonald deserves more than a few minutes. Patrick is very good considering that it could have easily been his T2 role again – running in that distinctive way etc, but he is suitably sinister. Janssen is also good – transforming from a shy flower into her usual vamp. Cameos from Usher, Summer Phoenix and a seemingly pointless role for Harry Knowles (he's been bought!) don't spoil this.

Overall as a sci-fi horror it's pretty good if not great – there are better films around. But as a teen movie it is head and shoulders above the rest of this rather sorry genre and has enough tension, drama and references to be very enjoyable.

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).

Fun and Interesting characters and cool visual effects are the key to this Sci-Fi Thriller, which is largely based on 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'

I won't introduce the characters here, as the movie introduces (Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Jordana Brewster and Elijah Wood's characters) really well as the students at Herrington High, they each have their own individual personalities that evolve as events in the film unfold.

The Faculty is littered with top names like Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth and Salma Hayek who all begin to behave strangely, un-nerving the students.

A small pocket of students begin to believe in a conspiracy among the teachers and it's up to them to save the world from invasion.

Great performances from the cast (Josh Hartnett in particular), a fun script and a cleverly re-written story all conspire to make the Faculty a cracking 100 minutes of all out entertainment.

7/10

I remember first seeing this movie when I was young and I really liked it. I watched it again last night and nothing has changed. The idea is a fresh new twist on a common story and it has a great cast. Probably the best cast of any sci-fi horror that comes to mind.Its entertaining but not that scary.

This movie is about a group of students that attend high school. Everything goes along as normal until one day they start noticing their teachers acting very strange. After witnessing the teachers attack another teacher they reason the teachers have been taken over by aliens and the students are next.

This movie was actually pretty good even the monster that looked pretty cheesy didn't take anything away from this. Definitely a fun movie and entertaining watch.