The Faculty
Be ashamed, Kevin Williamson. Be very ashamed.That bit of paraphrasing is particularly fitting for the "Scream" screenwriter's work on "The Faculty." Williamson once carved out a niche with parodies of other films, but this splattery science-fiction horror flick goes way beyond "homages." It's a blatant ripoff of other, better films — especially "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and John Carpenter's 1982 remake of "The Thing."
However, it's not even close to being as scary as its "inspirations," instead settling for cheap jolts and even cheaper laughs. Williamson's clever dialogue has become cliched and tiresome.
Of course, it doesn't help that he's working with Robert Rodriguez, a once-promising director who seems to have forgotten every filmmaking skill he once knew.
The action is set in fictional Herrington, Ohio, a small town at the center of an alien invasion. Extraterrestrial parasites have started "commuting" (taking over) members of the high school faculty and have implanted embryos in several students.
Six misfit students — a nerd (Elijah Wood), the newspaper editor (Jordana Brewster), a brainy jock (Shawn Hatosy), a drug dealer (Josh Hartnett), a punk-wannabe (Clea Duvall), and the new girl (Laura Harris) — accidentally discover the truth. But to stop the invasion they still have to discover who the alien "queen" is.
Unfortunately, what ensues isn't nearly as frightening as intended. Actually, the first half (the "introducing-the-cast" section) is pretty dull, and almost all attempts at humor fall flat.
Even the performances are lackluster, especially Hartnett, who might be emulating Keanu Reeves, and Patrick, whose acting gets worse with each subsequent film in which he appears.
"The Faculty" is rated R for violent alien attacks, gruesomely gory makeup and special effects, profanity, simulated drug use (drug snorting), female nudity and use of vulgar slang terms and some double-entendres.