The Faculty Information

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 rumours 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. 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 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. She is taking over Earth because her own planet is dying. Casey and Stokes flee into the pool where Stokes is injured and infected. Zeke and Casey flee into the locker room, where Zeke is knocked out. Casey takes the drug and tricks the queen into following him into the retracting bleachers, where he traps it and stabs the drug into its eye, killing it.

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 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

• Josh Hartnett as Zeke Tyler
• Elijah Wood as Casey Connor
• Clea DuVall as Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell
• Shawn Hatosy as Stan Rosado
• Jordana Brewster as Delilah Profitt
• Laura Harris as Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
• Usher as Gabe Santora
• Robert Patrick as Coach Joe Willis
• Famke Janssen as Miss Elizabeth Burke
• Piper Laurie as Mrs. Karen Olson
• Bebe Neuwirth as Principal Valerie Drake
• Jon Stewart as Professor Furlong
• Salma Hayek as Nurse Rosa Harper
• Daniel von Bargen as Mr. John Tate
• 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

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.

Reception

Reviews were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes tallied 49 reviews from critics (with 26 listed as positive and 23 listed as negative) to give The Faculty a 53% rating, 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

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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.

Blu-ray release

The Faculty was released in several countries on Blu-ray.

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, in France on January 10, 2012 by Studio Canal, and in the United States on July 31, 2012 by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

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.