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Alien Invasion

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The Faculty

The Faculty

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surprisingly deft take on old Bodysnatcher sub-genre
Review: I didn't expect much from "The Faculty," despite liking Robert Rodriguez's work. I was happily surprised to see, if not a perfect movie, quite a good one peeking out amongst the forest of such teen horror drek as "Dangerous Minds." The plot is fairly basic: The teachers at an Ohio high school have been replaced by aliens (or have they?) as the first part of a plan to take over first town and then the world.

Not surprisingly, given Kevin Williamson's screenwriting duties, the script is highly self-conscious, and almost immediately, characters in this alien invasion film begin comparing events to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and Robert Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters." (They then make a few leaps in logic that, while perhaps necessary for the plot, seem a little silly and it's disappointing to see that their assumptions are pretty much spot on.)

Unfortunately, Williamson's normally good work with teen characters -- although they may be highly stylized, you can't say his "Dawson's Creek" teens aren't at least interesting -- gets a little too broad here. We have Zeke, the super-genius drug pusher who's stayed back a year in school, a number of rather cypher-like other teens (including the coolest girl in school ... the editor of the school paper? Huh?), although one at least is supposed to be a cypher.

While the teen stars of the film somewhat disappoint, given the degree to which they were underwritten, the titular faculty of the high school in the movie is a hoot, with a good number of marquee stars almost unrecognizable as high school teachers. Salma Hayek is anything but glamorous as the school nurse, as is Famke Janssen, who spends most of the film looking like anything but a bombshell. Jon Stewart is a convincingly scruffy high school science teacher and the obligatory "cool teacher" every school seems to have. And Bebe Neuwirth, perhaps typecast because of her role as Lilith on "Cheers," plays it cool as the school's principal. The actors are clearly having fun as the teachers-turned-alien invaders, and it's a pleasure to watch them wind the film to its inevitable conclusion.

That conclusion, incidentally, isn't quite so inevitable as it might seem, with a few well-done last minute twists and turns, although the big confrontation with the boss alien falls into the same trap as Stephen King did with "It" -- was it really necessary after a story full of effective small scares to go with a big boogeyman of a monster? Likewise, the denouement is a little hard to believe, and beneath both Williamson and Rodriguez.

But those are minor quibbles. Overall, "The Faculty" is a fun, and surprisingly well-made space invaders movie, and a treat to watch.

A strongly endorsed rental pick for fans of the writer or director of for fans of old science fiction horror films.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: fun and gory
Review: a thrill a minute joy ride pretty cool special effects a must see RATED R-FOR STRONG SCIFI VIOLIENCE GORE LANGUAGE AND SOME NUDITY

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They try so hard its funny
Review: When I saw this movie for the first time I was not scared at all or even thought that I should be I just enjoyed it. When I saw it again I realized that some people might find the movie stupid but I think it is funny. When you see the part where one of the teachers taken over by aliens head is cut off and it's running around looking for its body it is hilarious. If you are easily scared this movie will still be good but you will enjoy it differently than I did. If you are a Josh Hartnett fan you will be disappointed because this is not one of his better movies but on the plus side the ever-talented Elijah Wood does a wonderful job like always.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: derivative teen horror flick
Review: I like most of Robert Rodriguez' work... I just now got around to seeing this one. Not bad, but nothing special. Decent acting, (especially Robert Patrick as your typical [mean] football coach) but some pretty cheesy, TV grade special effects, especially when compared to the films it [copies]. This movie was obviously targeted at teenagers, with each of your stereotypical highschoolers represented. Some of the high school humor and angst was actually entertaining.

**SPOILERS**

After seeing this, I had to ask myself: is this an homage to or just a [copy] of Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers"? The whole "who's really a human" and subsequent testing scene are a complete [copy] of "The Thing", without any of the dread and tension of that masterpiece. Not to mention the crawling head scene, which is a perfect example of why cheap CGI effects are still not as effective as good old fashioned animatronics.

I have to give them credit for having the audacity to use crank(homemade speed) as the method of saving mankind, I was laughing and shaking my head in disbelief!

******

If you are a teenager I'm sure you'll love this movie. But if you want to see a REALLY scary movie, rent John Carpenter's "The Thing".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good monster, bad movie...
Review: What a gas. The person who wrote the script for this film should have found another career. Half of the characters spew out lines that sound so goofy you almost expect one of them start saying jinkies. Basically, The Faculty, is a 1990's version of 50's horror films, in which small town teens manage to destroy some alien or mutant while still finding time to make out in cars and hang. As usual, the adults are either too brain-dead to help or they have been taken over by the body-snatching monsters. In, The Faculty, the scenes are well shot and the alien that appears at the end is actaully very well done. When I saw it, I thought, "Now, that's an alien monster". The creature is certainly better than the bug-eyed greys that so many UFO buffs claim to encounter. Unfortuantly, the special affects are not quiet enough to save the film. I would not consider watching it torture as with some of the other teen flicks that have recently hit theaters, but that's not saying much in the film's favor. At least The Faculty is semi-interesting.

In short, this film is watchable, and you may very well enjoy parts of it. Over all, however, it's a grade B movie and potential MST material.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Despite cliched plot, fun and eminently watchable
Review: OK, let's start by getting the bad out of the way. The plot of the Faculty is one of the oldest chestnuts in science fiction - the "aliens are taking over the town by stealing people's bodies" schtick. And at several points the script descends into unbelievability - not the suspended disbelief of a good science fiction movie, but the "where the heck did that come from?" disbelief that can often take you right out of the swing of the movie.

Now the good - and there's considerably more of this than of the bad. The script is well-written and witty, and handles the problems mentioned above in stride. As you might expect from a movie written by Kevin Williamson, there's plenty of genre-referential humor and often dry wit. The acting is uniformly good, including several well-known stars (Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Robert Patrick, and Famke Janssen). Some of the lesser-known actors, especially the teen ones, also shined - Clea Duvall as outsider Stokely, Jordana Brewster as popular girl Delilah, and Laura Harris (who at first I thought was Kirsten Dunst) as southern belle Marybeth. The special effects, while still obviously B-movie, are good enough that they don't detract from the film.

The film adeptly uses the motif of an alien invasion as a metaphor for life in high school - for example, the aliens offer the six main teens (the only ones still human in the town) the chance to truly "fit in" by giving up their individuality. By fighting back, the teens confirm their individuality. This device has been used often by Joss Whedon (another noted teen-scribe) in his TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer; fans of that show will probably want to see this film, if for no other reason than Clea "Invisible Girl Marcie" Duvall's starring role.

While the movie suffers from many of your typical sci-fi B movie cliches, the writing and acting deftly overcomes those handicaps and is a stylishly funny combination of sci-fi B movie and teen movie that fans of both genres will enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Faculty is great!
Review: This movie is a great one and if you miss out, you are sure to regret it. The Faculty has a twist of comedy and teen horror that makes it extremely suspensful. Starring Clea DuVall, Josh Hartnett, and Elijah Wood, those actors make this movie both thrilling and hilarious. I would recommend this movie to everyone from 12 to 60, for everyone is sure to enjoy The Faculty and want to see it again and again and again...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing!
Review: This is one amazing, suspenseful movie! I went to see this twice when it was in theaters...I even meant to go see it a third time but never got a chance too! Its all I talked about for a while after seeing it..I even wrote my own story called "The Faculty 2", continuing it on my own, heh.. it's just GREAT!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Probably THE BEST film EVER!!!
Review: I saw this film a few months ago with my friend and both thought it was brill.It has action and comedy with a very good twist at the end that makes you wanna watch it again.There is good acting from all the cast but the high light of the film is Elijah Wood who plays the geek Casey. I recommend it to all teens and a must see for any one who likes a great film with o good ending. Also the sound track is 10/10.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fast-paced thriller is exciting and funny.
Review: Six students discover their school is being overrun by parasitic aliens that take over their hosts. Lightning-paced thrill ride is as entertaining as they come, full of exciting action, some nail-biting suspense, and a lot of good laughs. Robert Rodriguez's frenetic direction and the first-rate cast (Robert Patrick, Josh Hartnett, and Elijah Wood are the standouts) solidify this sci-fi/horror film. Kevin Williamson's script is annoyingly "hip" at times and the movie gets a little too silly when it references past genre films, but these are minor flaws compared to what works so well. Highly recommended, even if you're not a fan of the 90's post-Scream horror/thrillers.


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