The Faculty

In my experience, it is one of the easiest genres to crossover with another, and The Faculty took the resurgent interest in teen slashers and spliced it with science fiction. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien, Event Horizon, and Predator predate this film by years, and we have seen countless more recently, proving that this is one of those mixtures that has staying power.

Science-fiction horror is not a niche subgenre. It is one that tends to add a layer of explanation to the unfolding horrors. In The Faculty, we are treated to a slow, creeping body invasion story, with the unknown process afflicting the titular group first before spreading downward to the student body. The story is focused on Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), the awkward and constantly bullied photographer for the school’s newspaper, and Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett), a perennial drug user on his second try at his senior year, who spends his time selling an ecstasy-like drug hidden in ballpoint pens he keeps on hand. The pair act as foils to one another and end up forming one of the most engaging friendships.

As was the case for 90s slasher films versus their 80s predecessors, The Faculty features an ensemble cast of well-known stars and up-and-comers (with Hartnett being the latter, as this is his second film and third major project). The core characters include Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster), the paper’s editor-in-chief and head cheerleader, who has layers. We are also treated to her boyfriend, Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), who is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life beyond football. As academics elude him, he tries to prove that he can hack it. Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall), an outcast who presents herself as a butch lesbian so that her fellow classmates will simply leave her alone. We are introduced to the newest transfer student, Marybeth Hutchinson, the naïve ingenue, as she works to settle into high school. One additional character on this side with some importance is Gabe (Usher), who was presented on much of the promotional material despite his relatively minor supporting role.

On the flip side, The Faculty would have been derelict in its duty if it had not devoted a substantive portion of its story to said characters. As a result, this film is populated with a slew of well-known, established actors who looked to be having the time of their lives. The movie actually opens with the introduction of most of the students in the background while focused on Coach Joe Willis (Robert Patrick), before transitioning to a late-night staff meeting, focused on Principal Valerie Drake (Bebe Neuwirth), Mrs. Brummel (Piper Laurie), Mr. John Tate (Daniel von Bargen), and Mrs. Karen Olson (Susan Willis). During this meeting, she informs her staff members that the budget is not being directed toward their departments, but rather toward the football team.

The remaining members of the faculty include Miss Elizabeth Burke (Famke Janssen), Nurse Rosa Harper (Salma Hayek), and Professor Edward Furlong (Jon Stewart). All of them are veteran actors with countless films and television series under their belts, all but treating this film as a passing of the torch from one generation to the next. One by one, they’re taken over, and each undergoes a massive change in appearance, personality, and the way they treat their students.

Since the teachers are targeted first, the students appear out of their depth in face-to-face confrontations with them. Still, they are actually contending with the aliens that have invaded. The Head Alien acts as a Hive Queen, capable of controlling those she infects with parasites to do her bidding. While the exact reasons her planet began to die are never truly discussed, we do learn a bit about her, such as the fact that her planet was primarily an ocean and that she is an aquatic-based entity. Unlike Signs, water is her strength. Had she attacked a coastal town, her efforts might have been a bit more successful. Yet, who could have anticipated that the drug Zeke has been peddling could act as a deterrent? It provided enough cover for the students to attempt to fight back for the middle of the movie, well into the climax.

The Faculty is a comfort film. It offers a compelling mystery on first watch, but knowing how it ends does not undermine the path it took to get there. While it might be inordinately obvious who the villain is for some, that is the case with all stories. Just because a breadcrumb trail exists does not mean it’s a bad thing. I call this film a comfort because it is one of the few horror films where the characters you enjoy watching don’t die. Obviously, when confronted with a horror film, that is the general path they’ll take – characters are introduced and discarded throughout the film’s runtime. Yet, I can recall sitting in the theater for one horror film after another, dissatisfied that a character I thought would make it… didn’t. It’s refreshing to see a film take a different tactic with its characters.

Stokely is a self-induced outcast who obfuscates being a lesbian specifically so that she doesn’t have to speak to anybody else. Still, over time, she opens up to reveal her crush on Stan without sacrificing the core aspects of her character.

Even Zeke, the main character and the obvious delinquent of the group, is shown to be smart and athletically inclined. Yet, he is dedicated to his criminal activities, likely in a bid to get his parents, always off on some adventure, to pay attention to him.

While it never got a sequel, The Faculty is not burdened by that. Perhaps it was even bolstered by it. After all, what would one expect from a film directed by Robert Rodriguez based on a script from Kevin Williamson, if not a cult following?