The 90s Flop That’s Now A Mega Cult Classic On Streaming
The late 90s were a very exciting and confusing time for science-fiction, horror, music, and fashion. 1996’s Scream brought the slasher genre back into the mainstream in a big way, but it also brought about some pretty terrible knockoffs like Urban Legend. But at the peak of the now long-gone mono-culture that MTV embodied during its heyday, we were blessed with the 1998 sci-fi thriller, The Faculty, which can currently be streamed on Paramount+.
Though The Faculty was widely criticized for being a ripoff of other sci-fi thrillers like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Blue Velvet, it has since become a cult classic, and in its own weird way is a definitive 90s high school movie that is aware of the tropes that it tried to repurpose for modern audiences at the time of its release.
At its core, The Faculty had all the trappings of a hit summer blockbuster despite its December release, and it had the all-star cast to prove it.
There’s stereotypical goth girls, dreamy outcasts selling drugs in the hallway, long sleeve shirts under short sleeve shirts, and an egregious amount of flannel that’s only further bolstered by a soundtrack boasting post-grunge covers of classic rock songs as if to say “the kids are taking over, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
At its core, The Faculty had all the trappings of a hit summer blockbuster despite its December release, and it had the all-star cast to prove it. Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, and Josh Hartnett, Usher, and a young Elijah Wood got top billing in this flick, and they collectively brought an intimidating amount of camp into the film that proved corny at the time, but is extremely fun to watch play out in 2023.
But the best casting choice for The Faculty has to be Robert Patrick with his portrayal of Coach Willis, one of the more menacing antagonists in the film. Simply put, he mastered the rage-filled, yet emotionless gaze that he first showed us in 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day as the shape-shifting and murderous liquid metal T-1000 robot. As corny as The Faculty in its delivery, Robert Patrick’s face is the stuff of nightmares, and that’s a compliment of the highest order.
If you’re ready to bust out the high-tops and listen to Pearl Jam while scribbling that weird “Cool S” in the margins of your Mead notebook, then The Faculty comes with strong recommendation.
The Faculty didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel with its storytelling, but did an excellent job paying homage to past science fiction and horror properties. The story centers on a group of teenagers who begin to suspect that their teachers are possessed by some sort of parasite of unknown origin. The most peculiar trait that all the possessed teachers share is their unquenchable thirst, which becomes a significant plot device later in the film.
As the story progresses, unlikely friendships and romances are formed with one common goal in mind: killing their teachers before they take over Herrington High School, and eventually the world. Think of The Faculty as a cross between The Breakfast Club and a B-horror film with a big studio budget.
But the best part about The Faculty has to be its soundtrack, which is a strange combination of late 90s bands like Creed and Soul Asylum covering Alice Cooper songs.
The Faculty has just the right amount of humor to carry its insane premise. Josh Hartnett‘s Zeke, who is repeating senior year for being a dirt bag of the highest order despite his smarts, makes a healthy income selling bootlegged pornography and drugs out of the trunk of his car. But he ends up taking charge of the situation when he realizes that his home-made blend of crushed up caffeine pills might actually be the poison that’s needed to take out the invading aliens.
In order to make sure that none of his classmates are aliens in disguise, the only logical thing to do is make everybody snort an irresponsible amount of the drug before attempting to save the world.
But the best part about The Faculty has to be its soundtrack, which is a strange combination of late 90s bands like Creed and Soul Asylum covering Alice Cooper songs. Grunge super-group Class of ’99 (Layne Staley, Tom Morello, Stephen Perkins, Martyn LeNoble, and Matt Serletic) also performed covers of Part 1 and Part 2 of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” which marks Layne Staley’s final studio appearance before his death in 2002, making the song all the more haunting when you listen to it today.
Upon its release, The Faculty took a beating on the critical front, and currently boasts a 56 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jordana Brewster went on record saying that everybody involved thought the movie was going to be huge, but it flopped hard when the reviews started rolling in. In hindsight, Brewster is happy with the fact that she got to contribute to a supremely weird cult-classic, and doesn’t regret starring in the film.
If you’re ready to bust out the high-tops and listen to Pearl Jam while scribbling that weird “Cool S” in the margins of your Mead notebook, then The Faculty comes with strong recommendation. Next time you’re feeling nostalgic for the 90s, it’s in your best interest to fire up Paramount+ and give this film the second look it deserves.
