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The Faculty

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For the 1996 TV series, see The Faculty (TV series). For other uses, see Faculty.
The Faculty
Promotional poster
Directed byRobert Rodriguez
Screenplay byKevin Williamson
Story byDavid Wechter
Bruce Kimmel
Produced byElizabeth Avellan
Bob Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
StarringJordana Brewster
Clea DuVall
Laura Harris
Josh Hartnett
Shawn Hatosy
Elijah Wood
Usher Raymond
CinematographyEnrique Chediak
Edited byRobert Rodriguez
Music byMarco Beltrami
Production
company
Distributed byDimension Films
Release date
  • December 25, 1998 (1998-12-25)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million
Box office$40,283,321

The Faculty is a 1998 science fiction horror film written by Kevin Williamson (Scream 1 and 2) and directed by Robert Rodriguez (Desperado and 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

On a school night at Herrington High School, a few teachers, the head football coach and the principal leave after just having a discussion about the school's budget. Principal Drake (Bebe Neuwirth) having left her keys decides to go back for them. In her office she is confronted by the coach (Robert Patrick) who attacks her with a pencil. Drake flees to the main school doors and bumps into the drama teacher Mrs. Olsen (Piper Laurie) whom she pleads with to help her escape. Seeing the coach running towards her, Drake makes it outside and shuts the doors with Mrs. Olsen's help. After locking the coach in the school, Mrs. Olsen attacks Drake with a pair of scissors seemingly killing her.

The next day the main characters meet with Casey Connor (Elijah Wood) a photographer for the Herrington High School newspaper who is constantly picked on and has a crush on Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster) (the paper's editor and head cheerleader). Delilah's boyfriend, Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), quits the school's football team to pursue more academic ambitions, which angers Delilah into breaking up with him. Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett), a student repeating his senior year who sells, among other illegal items, a cocaine-like drug of his own make, is confronted by Miss Elizabeth Burke (Famke Janssen), who expresses concern for him over his illegal activities. Southern belle Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris), a new girl in school, attempts to befriend self-styled outcast Stokely "Stokes" Mitchell (Clea DuVall), who has deliberately spread rumors she is a lesbian even though she has a crush on Stan. Marybeth, on the other hand, develops a crush on Zeke.

While eating lunch on the football field, Casey notices a strange creature on the field. He takes it to Professor Furlong (Jon Stewart), where the specimen is examined and believed to be a new species of cephalopod-specific parasite called a mesozoan. Delilah takes Casey into the teacher's lounge to find a story for the front page, where they hide in a closet and witness the coach and the drama teacher assault the school nurse (Salma Hayek) by forcing one of the creatures into her ear, as well as finding the body of Mrs. Brummel. Casey and Delilah flee and Casey calls the cops. Principal Drake claims nothing is wrong and that Casey is seeking attention.

The next day, Casey tells the others that he believes the teachers are being controlled by aliens, and goes to show them the creature he found, which is gone. When confronting Furlong about the creature, he gets defensive and attempts to infect them. Zeke cuts off Furlong's fingers before taking a pen full of his homemade drugs and injecting it into Furlong's eye, seemingly killing him.

Realizing Casey is right and with the whole school potentially infected, even the football team and Stan's friend Gabe (Usher Raymond), Zeke takes everyone to his house where he performs experiments with a captured alien creature and realizes that it needs water to survive and can be killed by his drugs because it is a diuretic. Zeke makes everyone take some of his drug to prove they're human, but Delilah reveals herself to be infected and destroys Zeke's lab and most of his drug supply before escaping.

Acting on Stokes' speculation that killing the queen alien would revert everyone to normal, the group returns to the school, where their football team is playing a game and infecting opposing players. Believing Principal Drake to be the queen, they isolate her in the gym and kill her. Stan goes outside to see if it worked, but is infected by the coach. With none of the drug left, Zeke realizes he still has some in his car and goes with Casey to get it. Casey leads the infected students away from Zeke, who encounters Miss Burke in the parking lot and seemingly kills her when he makes his escape.

Casey returns to the gym, where Marybeth reveals herself to be the queen, having faked taking the test earlier. Casey and Stokes flee into the pool where Stokes is injured and infected. Zeke and Casey flee into the locker room, where Marybeth reverts to her human disguise (this time naked) and reveals that she is taking over Earth because her own planet is dying. Zeke is knocked out. Casey takes the drug and tricks Marybeth into following him into the retracting bleachers. Casey traps Marybeth and stabs the drug into her eye, killing her.

One month later, everyone has returned to normal. Stan and Stokes begin dating, and Zeke takes Stan's place on the football team (while Miss Burke affectionately watches him practice). Casey begins dating Delilah, and has become a local hero. Meanwhile, Professor Furlong is adjusting to life with one eye and missing fingers.

Cast

Production

In 1990, David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel wrote their first draft of the script and sent it out, but there were no buyers. It wasn't until after the success of Scream that Miramax bought the script and rushed it into production. Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein brought in Kevin Williamson to do rewrites, keeping the basic story, but rewriting the dialogue and adding new characters to make it more "hip". Originally, Williamson was set to direct the film, but he chose not to so he could direct his self-penned script Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The Weinsteins brought in Robert Rodriguez to direct the film instead.[1]

Reception

Reviews were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes tallied 50 reviews from critics (with 27 listed as positive and 23 listed as negative) to give The Faculty a 54% rating, calling it a "rip-off of other sci-fi thrillers".[2] Metacritic gave The Faculty a score of 61.[3]

The Faculty was viewed on 2,365 screens its opening weekend, debuting at #5 in the US, making $11,633,495.[4] Its eventual domestic gross was $40,283,321.[5]

Soundtrack

Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link

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[6] 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.

Home Media

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]

The Faculty was released in several countries on Blu-ray, including Canada on October 6, 2009 by Alliance,[7] in Australia on September 1, 2011 by Reel,[8] in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2011 by Lionsgate,[9] in Germany on October 6, 2011 by Studio Canal,[10] in France on January 10, 2012 by Studio Canal,[11] and in the United States on July 31, 2012 by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.[12]

References

  1. ^ Goldstein, Patrick. "The Faculty". LA Times. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  2. ^ "The Faculty - Consensus: Rip-off of other sci-fi thrillers". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  3. ^ MS. (1998-12-25). "The Faculty: Generally favorable reviews". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  4. ^ "'Patch Adams' Just What Holiday Ordered". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  5. ^ "The Faculty (1998)". Boxofficemojo.com. 1999-05-21. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  6. ^ Other reviews by David A. Koran (2001-06-23). "The Faculty (2000) Soundtrack". Soundtrack.net. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  7. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/7524/
  8. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/28540/
  9. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/27849/
  10. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/26829/
  11. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/33527/
  12. ^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Faculty-Blu-ray/44819/
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