Faculty

There are very few films i go to see at the cinema that draw me back to see them, rather than wait for them to come out on VHS. This was one of those few films. The storyline is quite simple, its a good age old formula, aliens take over an American high school and it's down to the kiddies to stop the alien invasion from spreading into a world domination thingy. Of course the group of kiddies that comes together to stop this invasion consists of your standard formula of: jock, new girl, popular girl, social outcast, clever person and the dishy bad boy.
The screenplay is done by that genius man Kevin Williamson (Scream trilogy) and the film is directed by Robert Rodriguez (Desperardo, From dusk til dawn). As well as having some great people behind the film the cast is also bursting with great new faces and some well loved old ones: Clea DuVall (Girl interupted), Josh Hartnett (Halloween H2O), Elijah Wood (Deep impact), Jordana Brewster, Laura Harris, Shawn Hatosy, Salma Hayek (Timecode), Famke Janssen (X-men, Goldeneye), Usher Raymond (anyone remember his singing career?) and Piper Laurie (Carrie-she was Carries mum!)
The soundtrack to this film is also brilliant, with stuff by bands like: Creed, Stabbing westwood, Garbage etc.. Best of all right at the start of this film they use 'Kids aren't alright' by the Offspring and its just perfect, the song helps to set the whole film off!
The SFX in this film are fantosstic! Theres plenty of blood and gore for those of us that crave it. This film is a great mix of genres: teen, horror, sci-fi, comedy, bit of romance etc.. One of the most amusing factors in this film (giving away storyline here!) is that you have to take drugs to survive! The only way to identify those who aren't aliens is to get them to take drugs, i found this thought highly amusing 'if you wanna survive you gotta get high'. Plus its a nice change, drugs are named as a major problem in todays society but when the situation is altered they become a saviour. Going back to SFX, one of the really nice touches that i liked was when they confront the big alien at the end and it morphs back into human form. Even though looking at it the alien looks human it's shadow is that of it in its alien form, it's a great touch and looks pretty to.
Moving on to the film, there's quite alot packed into it. As with all teen movies there is the usual philosophy fueling aspects of the storyline. Mainly the whole thing about social roles and order, for example, the star quarterback of the football team dating the head cheerleader. But in 'The faculty' a nice job is done on trying to change all this and make it a little more real than the superficial look we are normally given. For example, the head cheerleader not liking having to date the star quarterback etc..
Around the start of the film there's a faculty meeting were the principal is rejecting departments requests because the budget won't stretch for things like new computers etc.. One of the faculty members states that even though the principal has denied them the money the football team won't be if they wanted something like new jockstraps. The principal agrees saying that their hands are tied, they live in a football town and the parent governers focus is on sport and not education. This conversation, even though its short, demonstrates one of the major flaws of democracy, the people who have the power aren't (to be blunt) independently thinking and educated enough to use their power correctly and effectively. The parents effectively run the school but the choices they make aren't in the entire schools best interests, merely what they percieve (incorrectly) to be the right choices. At another point in the film two of the characters have a discussion about the existence of aliens and science fiction. 'All fiction is based on truth' one of them says and suggests that maybe sci-fi writers etc. aren't just making up their stories but are writing about real events and are in essance prepearing us for the possibility of such events happening! It's a very thought provoking discussion, make sure you listen carefully. I'll end the philosophy lesson here, but before i do during the film during a history lesson a little bit is read out from a text book which caught my attention, i think it's worth a note because it's interesting, so see what you make of this:
' Only through conformity among the masses can the unified state offer the benefits of power, order and security.'

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