The faculty

Year of release : 1998

Run time : 1h47m

Genre : Horror / Sci Fi / Teen

Cast : Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Clea DuVall, Jordana Brewster, Laura Harris, Shawn Hatosy, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Salma Hayek, Usher, Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Laurie

Director : Robert Rodriguez

The movie opens with an angry coach who after he trashes the bench, is approached by an unseen person.

The teachers have a meeting where they discuss the school's budget. The principal tells the history teacher there'll be no trips outside Ohio for him and his students, and the drama teacher is told no money will go to her class, as the school attracts only sports fans and they'll have to invest in the sports class.

Going back for her keys at the end of the meeting, the principal is attacked by the coach. She manages to escape him but she's stabb3d by the drama teacher.

Next morning we are introduced to Zeke, who sells home made dr@gs by himself, to students; the school photographer Casey, who is bullied by everyone; Delilah, the popular annoying girl who is a b1tch to everyone (I honestly hated this character); Stokely, another girl who gets bullied, mostly by Dalilah, and who is in love with Stan; Stan, one of the school popular kids,who is dating Dalilah, and who is sick of playing football in the school's team, and wants out; and Marybeth who is a new student.

In the teacher's lounge, the coach drinks a lot of water, while the principal is missing. He is very nice to the drama teacher.

After eating his lunch on the field, Casey finds something on the football field, taking it to the science teacher, who when looking at it, finds out water brings it back to life, and in water, it can multiply.

 

Stan tells the coach he quits the team, and the coach is very nice, unlike his usual self.

Trying to take a shower, Stan is approached by the old teacher who's skin is falling apart, telling him "they want everyone". The drama teacher tells him the old teacher has cancer and is on medication. Casey sees the coach standing in the middle of the sprinkles on the field, being soaking wet.

Zeke has a few run-ins with the literature teacher who is very shy, and he is being quite rude to her. The next time he sees her, she pulls a 180, and gives him a piece of her mind.

Delilah and Casey go through the teacher's lounge to find a page one story for their school paper, and while in there, the drama teacher and the coach get in, who drink a lot of water. The nurse comes in, and they attack her, spitting an alien parasite into her ear.

The two students who hid in the closet just in time, see all this, and find the teacher who supposedly has cancer, stuck in there!

They ran away just when they were about to be discovered, and Casey comes to school with his parents.

His parents are convinced by the principal who made a comeback, that everything is fine and Casey is on dr@gs, so they ground him.

After this, the teachers start calling all the students, one by one to the nursery, and when they come out they don't act like themselves.

I personally enjoyed the movie.This was one of my favorite movies 20 years ago ,I have it on original videotape. The movie has a twist at the end, when you realize the villain was always hiding in plain sight. There are quite a few characters, all with their quirks, standing out from the others.

The actors were great. This is the only movie I saw Famke Janssen playing a meek, shy, woman, as all the movies I saw her in (and I saw her in many) she played the opposite.

The soundtrack by Marco Beltrami was good.

The visual effects and the creature features still look good today.

The movie grossed 63.2 million dollars against a budget of 15 million.

The movie received positive reviews, and was graded a B by Cinema Score audiences.

The movie was in the works since 1990, when the script was written but had no buyers.

Rating : Worth a watch !