[.ca] The Faculty (Widescreen) (ISBN 6305428220)

From Amazon.com:
Okay, you knew everyone in high school was just a little different: everyone looked at you strangely, the teachers were freaky, and you never could find the right groove to fit into. What if it turned out that it was all because your school was inhabited by creepy aliens from outer space? That's the enjoyably cheesy B-premise for this fun and scary flick from the pen of Scream's Kevin Williamson, the master of the post-modern teen horror film. Directed by Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi), it's The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as six disparate students from Herrington High School band together when they discover that an alien life form is invading both the student and faculty bodies, with plans to take over the world. Each of the heroes represents a different high school type: popular babe (Jordana Brewster), picked-on geek (Elijah Wood), goth girl (Clea DuVall), sensitive jock (Shawn Hatosy), new kid in town (Laura Harris), and bad-boy rebel (Josh Hartnett). The plot isn't much--a basic kill-or-be-killed premise spiked with a healthy shot of paranoia--but Willliamson and Rodriguez do a great job of building the tension slowly but surely. The suspense set pieces are genuinely frightening, and the film pokes fun at itself without deflating its scares; Williamson is a master at shifting gears from comedy to horror quickly and adroitly. The young cast doesn't have a weak link among them (with special kudos to Wood, DuVall and heartthrob-in-the-making Hartnett), and Rodriguez gets maximum mileage from the titular faculty, which includes Jon Stewart, Piper Laurie, Salma Hayek, Bebe Neuwirth, and Robert Patrick of Terminator 2. Go to the head of the class, Mr. Williamson. --Mark Englehart

Chronique amazon.fr:
Il nous avait déjà conquis avec ses deux films, Desperado et Une nuit en enfer. Le réalisateur Robert Rodriguez s'y révélait un maître de l'angoisse. Sa recette : donner à ses oeuvres des accents de gentille comédie qui vire vite à l'horreur. Mais une horreur soft, plutôt dans le style sueurs froides et suspense efficace. Ici, c'est encore le cas : avec The Faculty, Robert Rodriguez nous en met plein la vue, se libérant sur les effets spéciaux, à la fois magnifiques et effrayants. Au générique : l'égérie du réalisateur, la bombe Salma Hayek, vite détrônée par les héros du film, une bande de lycéens dont la mission est de résister à une invasion d'aliens. Le scénario, truffé de rebondissements, est signé Kevin Williamson, auteur de Scream, Halloween et de Souviens-toi l'été dernier. Les ados adoreront. --Pierre Valéry

EDGY SCI-FI FLICK...:
This is a terrific sci-fi flick with an excellent cast. It is sort of an "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers" or "Puppet Masters" gone MTV. Set in a small town high school in the Midwest, all hell breaks loose when some of the teens notice that something is not quite right with some of the faculty. They engage in a bit of amateur sleuthing, and what they discover causes them to band together to fight a force that is not of this world. Well-directed by Robert Rodriguez, this film will keep the viewer riveted to the screen. With a good, edgy story line laced with humor and with solid performances given by the stellar cast, the film will hit its mark with those who enjoy well made sci-fi films.

This is as good as any snatcher movie.:
The formula is the classic; someone is being "alienated." Naturally someone wants to put a "bug" in your ear as to which the person(s) is/are. Time is running out to find out what the problem is and how to correct it. As always the first to go is the authorities. All right you have seen it a million times and even the characters in the movie refer to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) \osee my review\c and "The Puppet Masters" (1994). However it is not the plot but the carrying out of the plot or action that makes the movie. I was amazed to find this movie so professionally portrayed in the era of ersatz teenybopper knockoffs like "Sleepy Hollow" The characters were well chosen to portray the different Faculty and student types. Where have we seen Coach Willis (Robert Patrick) before? Can you say "Terminator Two"? Laura Harris is from Canada and this is Ohio so what doses that make her? (An Al...) You can not beat the descriptive names given to the characters. The movie is just down right fun and has a lot of "Don't do that" scenes makes you want to kibitz.

TEACHERS PETS?:
If you're gonna rip off a classic like INVASION OF BODY SNATCHERS or PUPPET MASTERS, at least do it right...Robert Rodriguez did it right with this stylish and visceral thriller. Blessed with a very talented young cast and some venerable artists, THE FACULTY is fun, furious and frightening. There are some unexpected plot twists, and the terror of being "changed" ever prominent. The best performances: Piper Laurie, fiercely understated; Shawn Hotosy (an intelligent and sensitive jock); Clea DuVall (Gothicly gorgeous); Robert Patrick (what a manly coach!); and Elijah Wood (destined to become the lord of the rings). The good performances: Bebe Neuwirth as the red-taped principal; Josh Hartnett as the dropout back to save the day; and Famke Janssen as the sex-deprived teacher who does a remarkable makeover once possessed. Laura Harris (The Calling) is okay, but not great, in her role as newcomer Mary Beth. The movie moves well and has some high moments of comedy, to boot. Credit to screenwriter Kevin Williamson for this delightfully different, if derivative, horror.

Good Alien Fun:
This movie may not be the most original thing to come out of teen flicks ( then again, name one teen flick that is original, especially when it concerns horror/thriller movies.) The point is, this movie is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. But, it can only be fun if you don't over analyse it. It does have a few story line flaws, but overal it is a really enjoyable experience. Kudos especially to Clea DuVall. She is probablly the only hot girl who you'd buy as a Trekkie. While some of the characters seemed a little too cliche (Jordana Brewsters character, for example) overall it was a bunch who you could safely get invested in. (ALthough Elijah would seemed to play the nerd with alot of personal experience. ALso, fantasticly fun performance by Jon Stewart. ALl the performances were good, and the movie is definatley a fun ride if you just go with it.

A fun little B movie:
This movie is enjoyable to watch. It isn't very scary, but you can still sit down and enjoy watching it every now and then.