The Faculty is one of those horror movies that is the last of its kind. Released in late December 1998, no one associated with the production could’ve ever thought of the massacre four months later at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. There’s no way a movie like this could be filmed now and those associated with it have disturbing personal lives.
In many ways, the movie is a hodgepodge of science fiction and horror tropes that work just enough to be entertaining even if it’s not too original. Set in a fictional Ohio town of Herrington, most of the action is set at the high school which is a basic representation of the type in the late 1990s. Casey Connor (Elijah Wood) is the school nerd who is target of school bullying for his small stature and book smarts. One day as the star football Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy) questions whether he wants to stay on the team or choose a different path, the hotheaded Coach Willis (Robert Patrick) is approached by an unseen person.
Later that night, Willis who is acting different torments the principal Drake (Bebe Neuwirth) following a staff meeting and it’s discovered the motherly drama teacher Mrs. Olson (Piper Laurie) is in cahoots with Willis as she murders Drake with a pair of scissors. The next day at school, it’s the same as usual as Casey endures his usual bullying which is witnessed by a new student Marybeth Hutchinson (Laura Harris). Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett) is the school rebel who sells a drug substance he makes to students as well as porno tapes out of the trunk of his car. Zeke is a senior but he failed his previous senior year.
Stan tells his girlfriend, the precocious Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster) he wants to quit football to focus on his school studies but she doesn’t want him to because it doesn’t fit the status quo as she’s a cheerleader and editor of the school newspaper. Casey is her assistant who is underappreciated. Stan is also the crush of Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall), an introverted student who is often reading to avoid talking to other students. She’s spread a rumor that she is a lesbian so people will avoid her. (In real life, DuVall is a lesbian.)
The faculty themself have their own quirks. Mr. Furlong (Jon Stewart) is the geeky science teacher. Harper (Salma Hayek) is the quirky school nurse who is constantly sneezing from a cold or allergies. Elizabeth Burke (Famke Janssen) is a meek, timid English teacher. Mr. Tate (Daniel von Bargen) is the veteran social studies teacher who is riding out his last few years until he can retire as he shows little interest in teaching and pours booze in his coffee, which the other faculty and probably students know.
But both the faculty and students suspect something is up with Willis and Olson (who has changed her appearance) act to friendly to each other. When Stan goes and tells Willis he’s quitting even though they have a big game coming up the next day, Willis accepts it as something Stan is doing for his personal wellness. This surprises Stan as he is expected to be yelled at by the coach. Later when he is in the gym showers, Stan is approached by the elderly Mrs. Brummel (Susan Willis), whose hair and skin is falling off.
Yet when he goes to inform the faculty, they ignore it. Later while snooping in the faculty lounge, Delilah and Casey discover Brummel’s body in a closet. Yet they are discovered themselves by Willis and Olson after forcing a cephalopod-like parasite in Harper’s ear. They escape to go contact the police who respond only to be told by Drake, who appears to be live and well, the students probably mistook a resuscitation doll for Brummel who Drake says went home to rest.
By the next day, things have gotten stranger as most of the students and faculty/staff seem to act differently. Burke has changed her appearance from the conservative librarian to more of a hot sexy teacher look and she threatens Zeke to stop selling his ecstasy-like powdery substance to students. Tate is also more active and controlling of his students in his classroom. He’s also swapped out the coffee and booze for fresh drinking water, a lot too. Many other people are drinking water at a huge amount.
Casey thinks it has something to do with the cephalopod-like parasite he discovered at football field the previous day and took it to Furlong. However, when he gets Stan, Delilah, Stokely, Marybeth and Zeke to go see it in Furlong’s room, it’s gone from the aquarium. But Furlong gets physical with them as they discover he himself is infected with a parasite and wants to infect them. They wound him as Zeke learns his drug substance kills the parasite.
But as the day goes on to the night, they’re afraid it’s going to spread worldwide as the football team is also infecting players from the other team during tackles. There was a lot of criticism on the marketing as Usher Raymond was used in the movie poster as well as the trailer and TV commercials. Yet, his whole as Gabe is very minimum. Another character, Venus (Kikada Jones) was shown in the commercials and trailers but she only appears in one scene.
With so many characters, it’s a lot to squeeze into about 100 minutes of a story. This is one of those horror flicks like Thir13en Ghosts or The Cabin in the Woods which might have benefitted better if it was made into a series to focus more on the characters. And despite it’s title, the faculty characters themselves seem to function as ancillary characters at times. Maybe that’s intentional as most students view their teachers as not that important. Harry Knowles has a small role as a teacher who is in one and a half scenes.
The movie also works on the idea that many students feel there is something really wrong with their teachers as they’re from another planet or have evil intentions. It’s all fun back then. But I don’t think modern audiences may think it’s inappropriate for Zeke breaking off the blade handle of a paper cutter to attack Furlong slicing his fingers off. (During the end credits, Furlong is shown to have survived his injuries despite having his hand in a cast.) Nowadays, school shootings happen all the time. The last was just over a week ago in Minneapolis and teachers are often targeted as well as students.
The movie doesn’t exploit the violence. And I’m sure if it was made today, it would be more censored the way the 2013 version of Carrie was. The casting of Laurie seems to be a nice nod to the classic 1976 version. For what it’s worth, the movie’s violence is at a minimum even for an R rated movie. I’m sure this was a direct order from Disney, which owned Miramax Films at the time. I’m sure everyone breathed a sigh of relief months after this movie was released that it wasn’t too graphic.
I’m sure criticism of the violence in the first two Scream movies is what led for the tonal shift in the production. Kevin Williamson, who wrote those two movies, was brought in to rewrite the script that had initially been penned by David Wechter (of Midnight Madness fame) and Bruce Kimmel. It’s reported the success of Scream prompted Bob and Harvey Weinstein to put the script on the fast track with Williamson adding a lot to it.
The movie has elements of Robert A. Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters and Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers in it. Stokely comments how The Body Snatchers later made into the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers steals from Puppet Masters, which was made into a movie itself in 1994 starring Donald Sutherland. Yet, there’s also a nod to the John Hughes 1980s teen movies as all the characters seem to follow tropes. And there’s elements of The Thing as none of the characters know who to trust, especially after the learn Zeke is a science whiz at home.
The cephalopod creatures themselves seem to have a Lovecraftian vibe to them with their tentacles like Cthulhu. I also think the alien creatures hark back to the urban legend of the young women who gets impregnated with an octopus embryo when she goes swimming in the ocean. Then there’s the candiru, which is catfish found in the Amazon which is believed to swim into a man’s penis and getting stuck in their urethra. The idea of a parasite inside you still makes some people squirm, which was also the name of a 1976 horror movie about man-eating worms.
It’s not a great horror movie and wasn’t a big success at the box office even though it did make money. However, it’s fun to watch every now and again. The critics were on the fence with some liking it and others not. By 1998, there was another explosion of teen slasher horror movies and I think this was lumped into that category. You also can’t watch it without thinking of Body Snatchers or Puppet Masters.
As I wrote earlier, some of the cast and crew members have made news for the wrong reasons. Harvey Weinstein is in prison on sexual-assault convictions. So is Danny Masterson, who plays one of the students who purchases drugs from Zeke. Knowles, himself, who was the pioneers of online journalism and became a Internet personality, has retreated back into private life in the last 10 years after allegations of sexual assault and harassment have been made against him.
Then, there’s Duane Martin, who plays one of the police officers. He’s been topics of online criticism and allegations of physical domestic abuse following the divorce of his ex-wife Tisha Campbell in 2020. And the ending of the movie implies there might be some type of intimate relationship between Zeke and Burke. Even though Zeke is probably 18-19, the implication he’s going to be dating his teacher is icky, especially as crime stories of women teachers targeting their younger students is becoming more and more common.
Then, there’s the sad life of von Bargen. He had appeared in The Silence of the Lambs and had a recurring role on Seinfeld as well as a major role in Super Troopers. However, von Bargen had suffered from diabetes and the roles dried up by the end of the 2000s. He had to have a leg amputated and on Feb. 20, 2012 attempted suicide, telling people that he had no wife nor kids and couldn’t work as an actor anymore thus he had no life. He died three years later following an illness. He was 64.
However, there was something good that came out of the movie. At the time, the Weinsteins owned the movie rights to The Lord of the Rings. Wood was a big fan and had learned through Knowles an adaptation was in the works. Wood was able to speak with the Weinsteins to get an addition for what would later become his most iconic role as Frodo Baggins.
Reportedly, a remake of The Faculty is in the works with Rodriguez producing. I’m not sure how it will be. This movie, itself, seems almost forgotten as just another horror movie made by some actors before they got bigger. Patrick, himself, works best as Willis with that cold, hard gaze he’s known for. And there’s something funny how they give Stewart’s character a moustache and goatee, which is a trope in a movie whenever an actor plays a character who is secretly a bad guy.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 