Kevin Coughlin

FULL WATCHALONG ~ THE FACULTY

Added 2025-09-23 02:17:48 +0000 UTC

The Faculty (1998) is peak late-’90s horror/sci-fi nonsense—and we mean that in the best way. It’s basically “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” meets Dawson’s Creek, directed by Robert Rodriguez, written by Kevin Williamson (fresh off Scream), and dripping with that postmodern teen-movie vibe where everyone is hot, quippy, and vaguely too old to be in high school.

The premise is simple but effective: a bunch of small-town high school archetypes—jock, nerd, goth, cheerleader, druggie, loner—realize their teachers are being taken over by aliens. It’s a breakfast-club lineup with a body-snatcher twist, and the movie leans all the way in.

The cast is stacked. You’ve got Josh Hartnett in peak messy-hair heartthrob mode, Elijah Wood before Frodo fame, Clea DuVall as the resident goth outsider, Jordana Brewster as the queen bee, even Usher randomly shows up just to remind you it’s 1998. Then you pile on the teachers: Robert Patrick chewing scenery as the terrifying football coach, Famke Janssen going from mousy to monstrous, Salma Hayek as the school nurse, and Jon Stewart (!!) as a science teacher who gets hilariously wrecked. It’s an insane lineup, and everyone’s clearly having fun.

The movie itself is campy as hell but surprisingly slick. Rodriguez shoots it like a teen soap mixed with a creature feature, and the effects (a mix of practical goo and late-’90s CGI) are gross in exactly the right ways. The dialogue is pure Williamson—self-aware, angsty, and sprinkled with pop culture references. And let’s be real: the caffeine-pill “drug” subplot that saves the day is both completely ridiculous and completely perfect for the tone.

Is it scary? Not really. Is it entertaining? Absolutely. The Faculty is one of those horror hybrids that doesn’t quite get the respect it deserves, because it’s not trying to be deep—it’s just trying to be fun. And with this cast, that soundtrack (Class of ’98 alt-rock overload), and enough alien goo to fill a Slipknot music video, it absolutely delivers.