The Faculty

The Faculty
Promotional poster
Directed by	Robert Rodriguez
Produced by	Elizabeth Avellan Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein
Screenplay by	Kevin Williamson
Story by	David Wechter Bruce Kimmel
Starring	Jordana Brewster Clea DuVall Laura Harris Josh Hartnett Shawn Hatosy Salma Hayek Famke Janssen Piper Laurie Chris McDonald Bebe Neuwirth Robert Patrick Usher Raymond Jon Stewart Daniel Von Bargen Elijah Wood
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Cinematography	Enrique Chediak
Editing by	Robert Rodríguez
Studio	Los Hooligans Productions
Distributed by	Dimension Films
Release date(s)	December 25, 1998 (1998-12-25)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$40,283,321

The Faculty is a 1998 science fiction horror film written by Kevin Williamson (Scream and its sequel) and directed by Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn). The film stars Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Laurie, Famke Janssen, Usher Raymond, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart.

Plot

At Herrington High School, faculty and staff are being taken over by alien parasites. A ragtag group of students form a resistance cell: Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett) is a loner repeating his senior year because he did not care about graduating, whose parents travel constantly so as to 'get away from their big bastard mistake' - he sells, among other illegal items, a cocaine-like drug of his own creation to his fellow students; Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), is a jock who decides during his senior year to quit the football team and focus on his academics; Stan's girlfriend Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster) is the vindictive editor in chief of the student paper; Casey Connor (Elijah Wood) is an outcast and photographer for the paper with a crush on Delilah; Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell (Clea DuVall) is a gothic outcast and literary buff who despite her claims as a lesbian has feelings for Stan; and Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris) is the new girl at school, who came from Atlanta to live with relatives because her parents died in a car crash. She befriends Stokes and has a crush on Zeke.

The aliens who take over the school do so by injecting a parasitic organism into the ear, which takes over the brain and creates what appears to be a different version of the person - one that desires to spread the parasite as much as it can. The faculty sends the entire student body to the nurse one by one for ear inspections, where they are taken over. Casey figures this out and soon warns the other five. During the meeting in Mr. Furlong's (Jon Stewart) class, he enters the room and acts suspicious, leading to an altercation which ultimately ends up with attempts to infect Zeke with the alien, but Zeke pulls out a pen filled with his drug, and jams it into Furlong's eye, which then dries out the alien inside of him. It kills the alien organism as the drug is a diuretic and the aliens require excessive amounts of water to cope with life on Earth.

Thus, they all leave the school, which has become completely infected (only the six of them remain uninfected), and go to Zeke's house with a sample of the parasite. Stokes speculates that destroying the queen alien will kill all the parasites, without killing their victims. Soon, the group becomes suspicious of each other, each of them citing such actions as Stan's recent shift from football to academics and Casey's sudden courage as potential evidence that they are not who they say they are. They each take turns snorting the drug to prove that they have not been infected. When Delilah's turn comes, she snorts the drug and parasites crawl under her skin, revealing that she has already been infected. She then destroys most of Zeke's supply of the drug, as well as his equipment for producing it, before escaping. The remaining five, with what is left of the drug, go to the school, where the entire town is watching the school football game. They believe Principal Drake (Bebe Neuwirth) to be the queen and succeed in killing her, but the other hosts remain unaffected. The five send Stan to investigate the field, and Stokeley and Stan share their first kiss. Stan subsequently becomes infected when he goes onto the field. Because they ran out of their supply of the drug, Zeke and Casey decide to go to Zeke's car for more. Marybeth and Stokely wait inside the school gym for their return. While Casey serves as a decoy, Zeke goes to his car. There, he encounters Miss Burke (Famke Janssen). He seemingly kills her, but her now alien physiology allows her to survive what would otherwise be a fatal injury (decapitation).

Marybeth reveals herself to be the queen alien; she had escaped snorting the drug by biological trickery. She came to take over Earth as her own planet is dying. She chases Stokely and Casey. Stokely is badly injured, then infected and Zeke is knocked out in the locker room. Casey runs back to the gym area and tricks the alien into following him behind the now-closing bleachers. The machinery traps what used to be Marybeth. Casey jams the last of the drugs into Marybeth's eye, before being infected himself, killing her. With Marybeth dead, Casey's and the rest of the parasites die and the students and teachers return to normal. After this, the group shows big changes, including the faculty. Zeke applies his genius to schoolwork and joins the football team (and seems to be dating Miss Burke). Coach Joe Willis (Robert Patrick) is still coaching the football team. Stan and Stokely become a couple and share their second kiss while Delilah and Casey share their first kiss.

Casey is more accepted at school (with various papers talking about his extraterrestrial encounter, despite the official denial of the FBI), and Delilah is no longer vindictive. In the background of the final scene, students are seen bullying another student in the same way they picked on Casey. During the credits, it is seen that Mr. Furlong has survived, although missing an eye and some fingers on his right hand.

Cast

• Josh Hartnett as Zeke Tyler
• Elijah Wood as Casey Connor
• Jordana Brewster as Delilah Profitt
• Clea DuVall as Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell
• Laura Harris as Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
• Shawn Hatosy as Stan Rosado
• Jon Stewart as Professor Furlong
• Robert Patrick as Coach Joe Willis
• Famke Janssen as Miss Elizabeth Burke
• Piper Laurie as Mrs. Karen Olson
• Bebe Neuwirth as Principal Valerie Drake
• Salma Hayek as Nurse Rosa Harper
• Daniel von Bargen as John Tate
• Usher Raymond as Gabe Santora
• Christopher McDonald as John Connor
• Harry Knowles as Mr. Knowles
• Louis Black as Mr. Louis
• Jon Abrahams and Summer Phoenix as "Fuck you" boy and girl
• Danny Masterson and Wiley Wiggins as "Fucked-up" kids
• Duane Martin and Katherine Willis as Officers
• Kidada Jones (deleted scenes) as Venus

Reception

Reviews were mixed. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes tallied thirty-six reviews from critics (with nineteen listed as positive and seventeen listed as negative) to give 'The Faculty' a 53%, calling it a 'rip-off of other sci-fi thrillers'. Metacritic gave 'The Faculty' a score of 61.

The Faculty was viewed on 2,365 screens its opening weekend, debuting at #5 in the US, making $11,633,495. Its eventual domestic gross was $40,283,321.

Soundtrack

The Faculty: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	December 8, 1998
Genre	Industrial Britpop Alternative metal Alternative rock
Label	Sony
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link
Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) The Faculty (1998) Spy Kids (2001)

The score is composed by Marco Beltrami, who had previously scored the teen-slasher-horror film, Scream, as well as Mimic. Both Beltrami's score and songs by various artists used in the film were released as albums. The "music from the motion picture" album features songs by various indie and alternative rock groups.

1. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" - Class of '99
2. "The Kids Aren't Alright" - The Offspring
3. "I'm Eighteen" - Creed
4. "Helpless" - D Generation
5. "School's Out" - Soul Asylum
6. "Medication" - Garbage
7. "Haunting Me" - Stabbing Westward
8. "Maybe Someday" - Flick
9. "Resuscitation" - Sheryl Crow
10. "It's Over Now" - Neve
11. "Changes" - Shawn Mullins
12. "Stay Young" - Oasis
13. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" - Class of '99

Filming locations

The Faculty takes place in fictional Herrington, Ohio, but was shot in Austin, Dallas, and Lockhart, Texas.

DVD release

The Faculty was one of the few Robert Rodriguez films not to receive special treatment on DVD. Missing are traditional extras typical for a Robert Rodriguez DVD including "10 Minute Film School", audio commentary, and making-of featurettes.

Several scenes involving an additional character named Venus, played by Kidada Jones, were shown in previews but cut from the film.^{[citation needed]}

Blu-ray release

The Faculty was released in several countries on Blu-ray, excluding the United States.

The Faculty was released on Blu-ray in Canada on October 6, 2009 by Alliance, in Australia on September 1, 2011 by Reel, in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2011 by Lionsgate, in Germany on October 6, 2011 by Studio Canal and will be released on January 10, 2012 in France by Studio Canal..

Like the American DVD release, there are no special features on any of the Blu-ray releases. The Canadian release is presented in 1080i, a drop down from usual Blu-ray quality of 1080p.

It is unknown at this time if it will ever be released on Blu-ray in the United States. However, since both Canada and the United States are under the same region code of A, the United States audience can purchase the Canadian release from Canadian websites or stores and watch it at home.

External links

• The Faculty at the Internet Movie Database
• The Faculty at AllRovi
• The Faculty at Box Office Mojo
• The Faculty at Rotten Tomatoes