Staying hydrated.
An Ohio high school finds itself as Ground Zero for an alien invasion by aquatic lifeforms that possess human hosts, in this case the school's students and faculty, and from there the creatures intend to spread and take over the world. Only a disparate handful of students stands in opposition, and the odds against them grow with every passing minutes. Parents and the authorities don't believe them, and pretty soon our heroes realize that the aliens have infiltrated their group. With all of that to contend with, our heroes must also figure out the identity of the queen invader and destroy it before it infests the globe.
THE FACULTY is a late-1990's take on the tried and true basic template of "alien invasion via replacement" set in stone by INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) and its remakes (the most notable being the landmark 1978 iteration), and it's a lot of lively fun. Its vibe is very much that of the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER teevee series, which was super-popular at the time, only with R-rated shocks and gore thrown in for good measure. The cast, led by a pre-Frodo Elijah Wood, is engaging, and although our gaggle of mismatched heroes would be right at home on pretty much any teen show of its era, the story's teenagers are quite engaging and not obnoxious in the least.
The aliens start off as tiny aquatic creatures but the more water they absorb, the larger they become, with their forms being defined by loads of sharp teeth and masses of wiggly tentacles. One they have inhabited a human host, they can withstand outrageous amounts of what would otherwise be fatal damage, with a memorable sequence involving a possessed faculty member getting beheaded in a fiery car crash, only for her head to extend tentacles out of the gaping neck wound and crawl to its headless body, which blithely leans over, picks up its head, and reattaches it, leaving it as good as new. Just one of several moments that evoke shades of John Carpenter's game-changing remake of THE THING (1982), which I am absolutely there for.
The queen invader.
I went to see THE FACULTY on opening weekend, but it wasn't until it hit home video that I saw the film uninterrupted from start to finish. What happened was that it was playing at a crappy hole in the wall theater on Flatbush Avenue, a theater known for its low-rent ambience, and as my friend John and I sat there among opening weekend attendees, about fifteen minutes into the film, the movie abruptly stopped, the screen went blank, and sounds of some sort of a kerfluffle could be heard from the projection booth. After a few minutes, the obviously stoned projectionist addressed the audience, noting technical difficulties, but he promised to have the film repaired in just a little while, so he beseeched us for patience. Another ten or fifteen minutes passed with no results, but the projectionist addressed us again, once more assuring us that he was working on sorting the problem. Another fifteen minutes passed, and by that point the audience was getting restless, with some even giving up and walking out. Finally, the projectionist (shamelessly reeking of weed) came down again and sheepishly admitted defeat, then he directed us to hit the box office for a full refund, which we all did. A memorable moviegoing experience, to say the least.
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