November 1999

The Faculty
Reviewed by Doug Schneider
DVD Format

Overall Enjoyment:
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Starring Famke Janssen, Salma Hayek, Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Usher Raymond, Jon Stewart, Elijah Wood

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Theatrical Release: 1998
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen

Robert Rodriguez is a talented director. His $7000 El Mariachi is now the stuff of Hollywood legend. El Mariachi was never supposed to be seen in the theaters. Instead, it was funded by Rodriguez himself to showcase his talent to Hollywood so he could get a job. When they saw what he did they immediately bought the film and signed Rodriguez to a contract. Given the production cost, I would imagine there was a certain amount of disbelief since the quality of that movie is surprisingly high. Of course, eager to make a buck, the Hollywood execs gave El Mariachi a small-scale theater run that resulted in wild praise from critics and viewers. For his real Hollywood debut, Rodriguez obtained a much bigger budget, modified the El Mariachi script and delivered Desperado starring Antonio Banderas and the then unknown Salma Hayek. With Rodriguez in charge of the script, cameras and editing he delivered a high-octane action film that is one of my favorites in the genre. Unfortunately, Rodriguez seems most comfortable working with his own stories. He directed Quentin Tarantino’s script for From Dusk Til Dawn which resulted in a convoluted mess. He also dabbled with three other directors with moderate success in the ambitious Four Rooms. The Faculty, with a screenplay by Kevin Williamson (Scream and Scream 2), is a better picture than Dawn, but still not up to the standard of which Rodriguez is capable.

The premise to The Faculty is that aliens first inhabit the body of the local high school’s football coach and then proceed to take over the rest of the school’s faculty. Sound far- fetched? Remember, this is Hollywood fantasy so anything goes. The once drawn and tired teachers are suddenly lively, tougher and a whole lot sexier. Rodriguez has some fun with this aspect of the story and there are some funny turns by Nurse Harper (Salma Hayek) and Miss Burke (Famke Janssen), among others. A small group of students know something’s up and immediately band together to try to combat what’s happening. At this point, the aliens start spreading to the bodies of their fellow students.

The plot of The Faculty, of course, owes itself to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (a point that is mocked by the characters in the film); however, the producers can’t hope to come even close to making this mediocre story succeed in the same manner. Penned by Kevin Williamson, The Faculty seems like yet another attempt at a Scream sequel with his pop-culture humor and wink, wink, nudge, nudge inside the movie industry jokes. It’s been tried successfully in films like Scream and Scream 2, but is feeling old here. What makes this movie at least enjoyable is Rodriguez’ ability to bring excellent visuals to an even average scene. Combined with some skillful editing the movie retains a fast paced edge despite all the silliness.

With strong control over cinematography, editing and sound, Rodriguez has made films with outstanding technical details. Desperado is considered a reference grade DVD in terms of its picture and sound quality. The same can be said for The Faculty. The transfer is first rate with a pristine look and excellent color rendition. His films have a warm look with lots of red tones and shadows that transfer quite well here. The sound is outstanding and can certainly be used to demonstrate home theater systems to fine effect. It is definitely full range with excellent weight and impact in the bass region. Subwoofers will come into play often since it is quite deep and tight with authority. As well, the surround effects are used very skillfully, enveloping the listener at the right times and placing off-the-screen sound effects precisely. As for DVD extras, there aren’t any other than the obligatory theatrical trailer. That’s probably not a bad thing since this wasn’t a great movie worth exploring in greater detail.

The Faculty is not all that bad; in fact, it is good at times in a sort of nonsensical, entertaining way. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, but if you are in for some foolish fun that will show off your system and give you an hour and a half of brainless entertainment, you may want to consider renting it.

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