The Faculty
When I was a child, about nine years old, the laws of watching DVD were certainly slack. I say DVD it was video. Back in those days, every Saturday my sister and I would go round to my father’s house, pick a video rental up and pop it on. One of those was this; The Faculty. Now, the reason I am telling you this is because I guess there is some sentimental value with me and this movie. As a nine year old, getting to watch a high rated horror fest that has aliens, nakedness, swearing and drugs, you can understand that the thrill is still high.
That being said, I can see its faults and this is why I am addressing it now. And before you say anything, yes, I watched worse horror flick as a kid than The Faculty. Or than I do now.
The Faculty stars a baby faced Elijah Wood as geek photographer Casey. Bullied and forgotten about by everyone including his Dad, things go from bad to worse when Casey discovers his teachers are starting to behave strangely. The coach is more intimidating; the nice shy teacher has become a bitch and the injured or dead are coming back to life. It turns out that an alien invasion has hit their school and Casey, along with a band of misfits, will battle to save their friends and indeed, the earth.
Why Is It Bad?
<----Just look at that movie poster. Just look. How many times have you seen that movie poster? The Faculty is one of those predictable teen horror flicks has every stereotype. There’s a jock, a bitch, a goth, a shy girl, a druggie and a geek who must come together despite their differences in order to survive. Sound familiar, well it is. It is every teenage fright fest ever made ever. It’s not an incredibly strong one either adding nothing to whatever genre it is putting on. That includes the science fiction element of the movie in which every trope is exhausted. It’s a little too familiar and predictable for it to ever make any waves in the movie road. It even has Clea DuVall who populated a lot of the late nineties to early naughties movies.
Why Is It Good?
Because there is enough here to keep you going. And who doesn’t want to see teachers stabbed in the eye? If you don’t like a movie where teachers are the bad guys and get beaten up because of it, then you had a great school life. There are some genuinely enjoyable moments in The Faculty and its comedy. After all, the highlight is that the only way these aliens will be stopped is with a homemade cocaine that is snorted through pens. This means that all of our main characters spend the action high because it’s the only test between human and alien parasites. There is hilarity and there is horror.
Shockingly, this movie is done by Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) who manages to splice his movie with some greatness. But The Faculty isn’t going to make a splash, and it isn’t going to take over the world. It isn’t strange and it isn’t out of this world. But The Faculty is entertaining enough for you to pop it on, you are going to have pleasant evening. You can cling on to it, suck it out of it and live happily.
TTFN
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