The Faculty (1998)

When Casey Connor, Herrington High School's newspaper photographer, witnesses the murder of a nurse and sees her alive again, she decides to investigate the bizarre happenings.

Director:

Robert Rodriguez

Writers:

David Wechter (story), Bruce Kimmel (story)

Stars:

Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris

11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jordana Brewster	...	Delilah Profitt
Clea DuVall	...	Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell
Laura Harris	...	Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
Josh Hartnett	...	Zeke Tyler
Shawn Hatosy	...	Stan Rosado
Salma Hayek	...	Nurse Rosa Harper
Famke Janssen	...	Miss Elizabeth Burke
Piper Laurie	...	Mrs. Karen Olson
Christopher McDonald	...	Mr. Frank Connor (as Chris McDonald)
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Principal Valerie Drake
Robert Patrick	...	Coach Joe Willis
Usher	...	Gabe Santora (as Usher Raymond)
Jon Stewart	...	Prof. Edward Furlong
Daniel von Bargen	...	Mr. John Tate
Elijah Wood	...	Casey Connor

Storyline

On the Harrington High School in Ohio, the newcomer Marybeth Louise Hutchinson tries to befriend the outcast Stokely 'Stokes' Mitchell. The quarterback Stan Rosado quits the football team and breaks off with his girlfriend Delilah Profitt, who is the editor of the school newspaper and head cheerleader. Zeke Tyler, who is repeating the senior year and sells drugs to the other students, has an argument with his teacher Elizabeth Burke. When the bullied Casey Connor finds a weird being on the football field, he brings it to his Professor Edward Furlong that finds that the unknown specimen lives in the water and has the ability of replicating. Later, Delilah brings Casey, who is the photographer of the newspaper and has a crush on her, to the faculty room to snoop around and find any evidence for a story, they need to hide in a closet when Coach Joe Willis and the teacher Karen Olson arrive. Delilah and Casey witness the coach and the teacher attacking Nurse Rosa Harper and they stumble ...

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Plot Keywords:

female rear nudity | breasts | campus politics | police roadblock | reference to sigourney weaver | 

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Taglines:

The students at Herrington high will not only question authority... they'll have to destroy it.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence/gore, strong language, drug use and some nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car Zeke drives is a 1970 Pontiac GTO.

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Goofs

(at around 12 mins) In the faculty lounge near the beginning of the film, when Mr. Tate has the line "Can we say retirement?," Mr. Furlong's green jacket can be seen next to him. However, at that point, Mr. Furlong is actually talking to Nurse Harper and her patient by the table. Furlong doesn't move next to Tate until later in the scene.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Coach Willis: You got to pick up the line. God damn it! Get off the fucking field you limp ass blow jobs!

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Crazy Credits

"Killer soundtrack available on..."

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Alternate Versions

Trailers include several scenes not present in the final theatrical release:

• Piper Laurie's character breaks the glass of a door;
• Casey tosses a chair at Mr. Furlong when he attacks the students in class;
• after Mr. Furlong's death, Casey looks out the window and Stokely asks the question "Isn't this usually the point where someone says 'let's get the hell out of here'?". Casey responds instead of Stan.
• Gabe says "This is some weird shit." But he only says, "This is some weird..."
• Coach Willis pops up behind Delilah in the faculty closet.
• One of the teacher's finger turns into a tentacle while holding a coffee cup.
• Coach Willis yelling: "There's no way to run!"
• Coach Willis locking a door or a gate and then saying: "Now We're gonna have some fun!"
• Gabe saying, "But I'm gone".
• Mr. Tate holding up Venus and sticking her to the wall & then saying: "Where are your friends?"
• Mr. Tate asking, "Can we see you for a minute?"
• Zeke saying, "I've always wanted to do that."

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Dumbest Alien Weaknesses (2016)

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Soundtracks

Guys and Dolls
Written by Frank Loesser
Courtesy of Frank Music Corp.

User Reviews

Campy, ridiculous, but entertaining high school version of Body Snatchers

This film fuses elements of the Breakfast Club with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Robert Rodrigues makes entertaining films, and does so consistently. The Faculty is no exception, though the formula is radically different from his standard approach. In place of large guns, spectacular stunt choreography and a silly soundtrack, Rodrigues made "The Faculty" with a classy ensemble cast and some awesome special effects. The script is also very good, featuring strong characterization and interesting dialog. All of these elements make The Faculty a very watchable film, and make up for the completely unoriginal and not very coherent plot.

The film begins as a paranoiac comedy about a typical high school where the students and faculty see each other as alien species. Ho hum. However, after about 20 minutes of set-up, the faculty really starts to become an alien species, as they are assimilated by water-loving parasites with very bad attitudes and a kind of group consciousness straight out of Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Star Trek's Borg. Six kids, very unlikely team-mates representing the archetypal teenage personalities of the postmodern world, team up to try to save the world, once they realize that the aliens can be driven off by, of all things, caffeine. Especially impressive are Elijah Wood, Piper Laurie, Robert Patrick, Josh Hartnett and Clea DuVall.

Like most of Rodrigues' films, The Faculty never loses its sense of humor, and pulls off its own absurdity with artful visualization and a tight, driving pace. Unlike many of Rodrigues' films, however, The Faculty is disposable - it's not really meant to be viewed more than once. See it if you're a Rodrigues fan, or somebody who enjoys the obscure but growing genre of horror-comedy.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feelers

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,633,495, 27 December 1998

Gross USA:

$40,283,321

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,283,321

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Los Hooligans Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1