Though I'm a big fan of Robert Rodriguez (director of "The Faculty" who also directed "El Mariachi," "Desperado," and "From Dusk Till Dawn"), I think that Kevin Williamson (who wrote the screenplay for "The Faculty," and wrote "Scream," "Scream 2," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and created the awful "Dawson's Creek" TV show) is very overrated. I thought "Scream" was clever, though not that great, but I really enjoyed it's sequel. Everything else that I've seen outta the guy seemed to be pseudo-cool crap. Especially "Dawson's Creek." UGH! How is that show such a success? I WILL say THIS for it, Katie Holmes is great in it. All that being said, I thought that "The Faculty" was gonna be a lame movie that was cool visually because of Robert Rodriguez's directing. As it turned out, "The Faculty" was really entertaining.
A lot of the reason that this movie worked for me was the cast. They were great. Naturally, they played the high school clichés (a la "The Breakfast Club"), but they were so good in it, I was okay with it. Anthony Michael Hall (or "Casey") was played by Elijah Wood. This kid is really coming into his own as an actor. This is the second time that I thought that he was gonna annoy me in a movie (the first was in "Deep Impact"), but both times, I was proven wrong. He helped to make his character very believable, as well as sympathetic. The pseudo-intellectual rebel guy (or "Zeke," a more amplified Judd Nelson) was played by Josh Hartnett. Naturally, I hated his character more than even the movie "bad guys." He played his role well, even though I hated him. Jordana Brewster was perfect as Molly Ringwald (or "Delilah"), the snobby bitch. More importantly, she was so hot! She's got a great Hollywood look, so she's on her way to success. Clea DuVall was brilliant as Ally Sheedy (or "Stokely"), the loner chick in black. I really liked her character. She coulda played it really cartoony, but she didn't. Shawn Hatosy was really good as Emilio Estevez (or "Stan"), the reluctant athlete. I really feel sorry for him because he's kinda being dissed by Dimension Films. In the movie poster for "The Faculty," it shows what is supposed to be the six main people of the movie in the foreground. He's not one of the main six. He was replaced by Usher Raymond (known in the R&B world as simply "Usher"). It's an obvious marketing move, but he's in the movie for no more than five minutes. Shawn Hatosy deserved to be in that poster, and I feel sorry for him that Dimension did that to him. Anyway, the last of the main six was Laura Harris ("Marybeth"). She played the new girl in town, the Southern belle. Coincidentally, she's the only character cliché that wasn't used in "The Breakfast Club" (though the character IS still a cliché), and also the least interesting. She played the role well, but she didn't have much to work with.
As for the secondary characters, they were great. Robert Patrick was excellent as usual. As was Bebe Neuwirth ("Lillith" from "Cheers"), Salma Hayek, and comedian/talk show host/host-to-be of "The Daily Show" Jon Stewart. But of the secondary characters, the standout is Famke Janssen. She has two completely different personalities at separate points of the movie, and she was totally believable with both. And she looked amazing. Also, look for a very tiny appearance by Harry Knowles (the guy who runs the awesome "Ain't It Cool News" Web Site) as the film teacher. Also, I think his sister (Dannie Helen Loraine Knowles) makes an appearance as "Tattooed Pierced Girl #2."
Though the screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson, the story was by David Wechter (who wrote the 1980 cheesy Disney masterpiece, "Midnight Madness," as well as another masterpiece, but in a completely different category, "Malibu Bikini Shop") and Bruce Kimmel, who I've never heard of. Also, though I don't know to what capacity, I think that George Huang (who wrote "Swimming with the Sharks") was also involved with the writing.
"The Faculty"
is by no means a great movie. It's just a very simple sci-fi/horror movie
with great performances. I'm not sure if I liked that the students knew
what to do because of their sci-fi knowledge, just like the kids in "Scream"
knew what to do because of their knowledge of horror movies, but it was
still a great ride.