The Faculty Review

Written by: Chad Langen   

Kevin Williamson has done it again. His witty humor and passion for a young cast is once again combined in his genius formula to bring us his latest film which is a modern take on the horror classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. The setting is shifted to a small high school in Ohio where the students discover that their greatest suspicion may be true, their teachers really are from another planet! With the ability of spreading from person to person in a virus-like way, the queen alien must be found before there are no humans left.

I personally have never been a huge fan of creature features, let alone alien flicks. But considering Kevin Williamson was involved with the screenplay, I knew I could expect nothing but pure fun from this film. This was where I went right for once. The Faculty is a hell of a thrill ride, and much like guessing the killer in Scream I had loads of fun trying to guess the queen alien which is not as easy as you would think, especially when everyone in the film could easily be a prime suspect.

Kevin Williamson drops his film pal Wes Craven for this project and joins forces with Robert Rodriguez. This isn't a bad thing at all. Wes Craven had his run with Scream and Scream 2, and although he did a superior job with the two of those, sci fi has never been a factor of Wes Craven's. Robert Rodriguez on the other hand does an excellent job in keeping this film fast paced. Each scene that is shot builds tension and tension is always good.

There were a few flaws in the film that hit me like a brick in the face, however. One that agitated me most was the constant shots of all the students roaming the hallways and outside when they should be in class. Another was with the students actually believing that the teachers are aliens.How can anyone really believe aliens are amongst the faculty of their school? There is one scene in particular where a group of students are confronting another student about their suspicions and he seems to take it all in strangely well. This is kind of cheesy if you ask me. However, I can't really back this evidence up when there is an alien encounter involving the students and the teacher just moments later. Also, I never figured out why the students are so eager to make friends with those they hate. They should be worrying more about their water supply, which is constantly being consumed by the faculty. That is beside the point.

Moving onto some good factors, the alien effects were incredible and highly realistic. There's not a whole lot of kills or gore in the film, but it's never really needed. The creature effects make up for the lack of both elements in the end anyway. The talented cast is also a very positive outcome for the film. The film had an incredible cast lineup, which coming from a film directed by Robert Rodriquez should come as no surprise as he has a tendency of getting the best actors around.

This is a very entertaining film, which exceeded my highest expectations. It's a little poor in the believability department, but if you set that aside you'll have a hell of a time. The Faculty is a fun-filled thrill ride that I recommend to fans of creature features and horror fans in general.