The Faculty:
Six high school kids: Zeke, Casey, Stokely, Delilah, Marybeth Louise, and Stan, realize that the faculty at their high school are acitng strangely, and now some students, too. They soon discover a parisitic alien invasion, similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The students must try to stop the alien invasion, kill the alien queen, and save the world. The writing, in Williamson's style, is very similar to Scream, but instead of referencing horror films, they reference sci-fi films like Independence Day, Men in Black, and, of course, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The greatest thing in the writing is Williamson doesn't make the characters best friends. They are bitter enemies who become friends by banding together to stop this alien attack. The cast are fantastic. Elijah Wood (who would later be featured in Rodriguez's Sin City, star in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, and star in FX's US version of Australian TV show Wilfred) plays Casey. He is geeky, awkward, shy, and is constantly picked on. He is a photographer for the school paper, and has a huge crush on Delilah. He was the most relatable character to me, and him being a great actor added to that. He plays the role perfectly. He eventually becomes the hero of the film, which defies usual cliches, where the jock is the hero. Jordanna Brewster (who would later play Vin Diesel's sister in The Fast and the Furious) plays Delilah, who is bitchy, vindictive, and sometimes very mean. She can show a nicer side sometimes, and eventually starts to like Casey. She is also his superior in the newspaper, being a writer and editor. Shawn Hatosy plays Delilah's jock boyfriend Stan, who is the object of Stokely's affections. He quits the football team, and begins to notice something strange when the coach stops cussing team-mates out. He is a cool character, and he becomes like the co-hero. Clea DuVall plays Stokely, or "Stokes". She is a sci-fi book-reading, smart, ugly duckling character with a goth streak. She and Delilah hate each other with a passion, as Delilah tells people she's a lesbian. She becomes the main female hero of the film. Josh Hartnett plays Zeke, a drug-dealing, trouble-making punk character, who becomes the secondary hero of the film, above Stan, but below Casey. He starts to stop his "bad boy" persona towards the end of the film, shwoing his evolution into a better person. Laura Harris plays Marybeth Louise, a new kid from the South, who becomes the object of Zeke's affections. She is a sweet, caring, nice girl, who becomes the "nice girl" of the group. A young Usher plays Gabe, Stan's best friend and co-football player. He is a small background character, even though he was featured as one of the main characters on posters, in place of Marybeth, as he just started his rapping career, so he would get asses in theater seats. Robert Patrick and Piper Laurie play the football coach and one of the teachers, respectively, who are the first to be possessed by the alien threat. Famke Jansseen plays Miss Burke, an English teacher who becomes a sort-of love interest for Zeke. Bebe Neuwirth plays Principal Drake, who is possessed by the aliens, and becomes their leader. Salam Hayek plays Nurse Harper, a small role, she is not seen very much. Jon Stewart (pre-Daily Show) plays the cool science teacher: Professor Furlong, who believes the alien parasite is a new species, and discovers it duplicates itself when wet. Christopher McDonald makes a small cameo as Casey's dad, AintItCoolNews webmaster Harry Knowles plays a faculty member known as Mr. Knowles, and Texas newspaper publisher Louis Black (no relation to comedian Lewis Black) plays Mr. Black. (Why an Texan publisher? Well, this, like all of Rodriguez's films, was shot in his home-town of Austin, texas.) The action is great. The scenes with the aliens are edge-of-your-seat moments, and never knwoing if someone is infected is truly scary. It never is uneven though, it always feels like a fun, campy popcorn movie, which it is. Unfortunately, at only an hour and half, it's far too short. i wanted more, but, unfortunately the film didn't have sequels, which was probably better. Like Williamson's other wriing venture, the Scream series, I grew attached to these likeable characters, so in a sequel, like Scream 2, they might've pulled a dumb move like killing off a major character. I wouldn't want that to happen. Overall, The Faculty is a fun, edge-of-your-seat sci-fi romp that will leave you satisfied by the time the credits roll. 5/5 stars.
(Also, *SPOILERS!!!!* during the credits, it shows what happened to a character you thought to be dead.)
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