The Faculty

Looking back this movie always seem bigger than it actually was. As a Robert Rodriguez film, I actually think it did exactly what it was supposed to do and as a Rodriguez film, that’s possibly why it seems more epic than it became (at the time it was release, anyway).

Rodriguez had the skill to make films fast and cheap (especially if you allow him to make his movies in his home state of Texas), and with this skill, I feel that’s how he got so many cool people to make the movie. Possibly promising them it will take a day and he kept the promise. My only real proof of this however is Salma Hayek‘s appearance in the movie in a pretty small role.

Written by Scream writer, Kevin Willimson, it’s a horror movie that knows it’s a horror movie. Now that I think about it, like Scream the movie also has a movie expert called upon to make their fictional knowledge fact and then the plot comes down to who’s the killer. In my opinion he does this pretty well without making it look too much like his hit horror franchise. If the movie had a fault, it’s a victim of the times it lived in (possibly not a problem for Willimson because he totally helped make these times). I would not say it age badly but there is no mistaking that this is a late 90s flick, which should be in the fold with movies like Disturbing Behavior or Urban Legend, but it looks just as much like Ten Things I Hate About You and Cruel Intensions. Just the prettiest white kids on TV at the time (and Usher Raymond trying to act (terribly), trying to see if they can get some movie cred.

Overall, the Faculty is a not bad. I’ve seen better movies by Rodriguez but in his defense, it feels like he was a director for hire no matter how much freedom he got. A good homage to Pod Stacher films that’s still fun to catch once in a while.