THE FACULTY (1998) - Frodo (Elijah Wood) saves the world in this INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS/SHIVERS type film only using teens. They put good effort into this film and it's entertaining, but they ruin it with the drug dealer being one of the hero's and drugs killing off the parent alien. Though it was an original mix of idea's the drug parts weren't necessary. The film is directed by Robert Rodriguez of DESPARADO fame. USA network showed an edited version tonight.
As point of reference, at one point the guy admits that the drugs are just mostly caffeine, sugar and other household supplies....which almost makes sense as caffeine is a diuretic
Other than that, let's here it for the Law of Conservation of Matter
The one thing I didn't like about The faculty was the idea that if they kill off the queen, that all the other aliens would die. How did they even know there was a queen?
I always thought it would be so painful to have little aliens blown into my face at high speed and then have them slither out of my face slower than they entered and then see them fall to the ground and die after the queen was dead.
Remember that scene from the end of the movie?
The queen shoots a load...er...bunch into Wood's face and then they all come back out of his face slowly?
OUCH!!!
Post Edited (01-02-04 04:02)
I actually enjoyed this film. It's not good, but it's decent trash. I actually thought that the drug dealer's caffine shots killing the alien was a pretty original take. My biggest problem was the concept of people snorting caffine and sugar. OUCH. Plau, chaces are it would make you cough and hack a buttload, rather than being a bit of a boost. On a dare, when I was stupid and sixteen, I snorted sugar. It's not the fun you'd think.
Please, help to end apostrophy abuse. Plurals don't use apostrophies. Ever.
I've never liked this one much, and it's always bothered me more than it should have. I think it would have been better with a smaller budget, no name actors, and shoddier looking effects. It's like a monster movie version of "Scream" without as much self-aware wit, not as much fun as the bad movies that inspired it.
The respected actors and recognizable faces are distracting, and the noxious prescence of Harry Knowles even more so. Did that pantload blackmail his way into the movie? He looks like a member of the crew wandering into the shot. Josh Hartnett is in Keanu Reeves, Jr. mode also in this one, showing how bad an actor he is even in this kind of fluff.
The weak plot and its holes I would let slide in a true B-movie, but here you know the people involved know better. The "drug dealer" cop-out seems like a way of avoiding ratings board trouble, he's not a real dealer he's just a kid selling homemade no-doze to guilible kids. Wouldn't a real b-movie or exploitation flick have made the kid really a dealer? The alien queen's human identity is never in doubt, she was the new kid and too clean cut anyway. Don't trust the outsider to the group, even among a group of "outsiders"!
I guess that's how much I hate this flick, that I've overthought what should have been a fun dumb movie.
Yea, the story had a lot of things that didn't make sense. Like the girls in the gym as being infested, but it had many almost good effects with the fingers being cut off, the pencil though the hand, the head and body sperated and trying to get together, and the old lady in the shower. The effects are CGI and that to was a minor drawback.
Yeah, it was dumb, but if you overlook the big names, the film is still fun.
>The queen shoots a a load...er...bunch into Wood's face and then they all come
>back out of his face slowly?
And they did it without leaving any marks whatsoever. Personally, I think having alien parasites burrow into your face and then work their way out again would leave big ragged holes in your skin.