October 10th
The Faculty (1998)
Dir. Robert Rodriguez
31 for 31 is a curated film program for the month of October. Conceived of as a compilation mixtape, the program explores the historical and cultural legacy of Horror cinema. Consider this my billet-doux to the genre.
While The Final Chapter showed that people were still hungry for Jason in 1984, the release of Part 9—Jesus Christ—The Final Friday, in ’93 made it clear that the ’80s were over and so were slashers. It’s like that scene in Boogie Nights where Little Bill eats a bullet on New Year’s Eve 1979, except this time it was (checks notes) Jason’s heart transforming into a demonic entity—Jesus Christ again. It was a new decade and the times were a-changing.
Horror was still hungover from the glam of the ‘80s, but that all changed when screenwriter Kevin Williamson wrote Scream. His fresh spin on the slasher formula was the hair of the dog needed to revitalize a genre that was still passed out on the couch. Blending pop-culture self-awareness with genuine adoration for Horror, it redefined scary movies for the ’90s. It also made a boatload of dough. Soon after, every executive in Tinseltown was knocking on Williamson’s door, eager to get an egg from the golden goose. What followed was a rash of Williamson flavored films. These worked out well for the most part—except for the poor sap who greenlit Teaching Mrs. Tingle—and we got a few Scream sequels, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and my tenth pick: The Faculty.
Loosely speaking, The Faculty is Scream meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Aliens have taken control of an Ohio town’s high school, and it’s up to the Breakfast Club to save the day. It’s a great premise, brought to frenetic life by Robert Rodriguez. Though not as beloved as its Wes Craven-helmed big brother, The Faculty has long remained a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. While not as clever or groundbreaking as Scream, it sure as shit is entertaining. Painfully cheesy at times, and so, so ’90s, The Faculty is an iconic film of that decade.
The Faculty is sloppy but is saved by virtue of its stacked cast. And I do mean stacked. Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Usher—it’s a galaxy of stars, and that’s just the student body. The teacher’s lounge is occupied by Robert Patrick, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, and Jon Stewart (!), who each get to ham it up big time as the body-snatched instructors. Even the smaller roles were given their due diligence, but I won’t spoil the surprises here. Half the fun of The Faculty is perpetually pointing like Rick Dalton whenever a random celebrity face appears onscreen. My only gripe is that they couldn't fit in ’90s stalwart Matthew Lilliard, because if The Faculty lacks anything: it's this.
Most “body snatcher” narratives before The Faculty were steeped in conspiratorial paranoia indicative of the Cold War. But by the time The Faculty released in 1998, the Berlin Wall had long fallen and a new metaphor was necessary. Instead, The Faculty uses aliens to address, well, alienation. The invading force offers a world devoid of cliques and bullying, so there is a poignancy to our heroes being the most ostracized members of the school. If any character would be in favor of becoming “Another Brick in the Wall” you’d think it would be Elijah Wood’s friendless Casey. Of course, this is all wrapped up in a story with a lot of hair gel, bad special effects, and drugs being the key to fighting the aliens. Nevertheless, a bleak subtext does exist underneath all that Tommy Hilfinger.
Perhaps it’s just warm nostalgia, or Josh Hartnett’s horrible haircut never failing to elicit a laugh, but despite slacking off, The Faculty manages to eke out a passing grade. Class dismissed.
Available on Amazon Prime (to rent)
