I've been toying with the idea of this blog section for a while. A nice way to display things I like that the vast populous will more than likely disagree with me on. So I've made this series I like to call "MOVIE'S THE WORLD HATE, BUT I ENJOY PRESENTS...".
I'm making it for two reasons. The first is to talk about some movies people don't discuss much, usually due to their distaste towards them or because they're for the most part forgotten. But are films that... yes I enjoy flaws and all and every film I talk about in this series is an imperfect film to me. The second reason is to show that you can say you like any piece of work so long as you can justify it to yourself and at least put up a good fight to others.
If I met someone that told me that "The Love Guru" was their favorite movie, I would tell them I definitly wasn't a fan of it but if they can gave me somewhat of an understandable reasoning then so be it more power to em', I guess I'll get it. On the flip side this can also validate those who think I really have little to no good taste and this is just a way for me to publicly stick my foot in my mouth. That might happen too so you should continuously read to find out!
Anyways I'm starting off on my current phase of horror films, more specifically B & C grade horror films. Upon it's Christmas release (something I don't understand, then again QT's "Jackie Brown" came out the same day which made even less sense) Rodriguez's ode to the science fiction "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" type pictures, "The Faculty" fell on deaf ears. Also at this time he wasn't known as visionary director Robert Rodriguez, he was simply the dude who made "Desperado" and "From Dusk Till Dawn". Oh how times have dramatically changed. With a screenplay by "Se7en" and "Scream" scribe Kevin Williamson as well it seems as if something just ain't right in the water. Here's two guys with good track lists and a fairly simply type movie so what's wrong?
THE FLAW(S)
Williamson's dialogue in "The Faculty" is somewhat dumbed down. Now I'm saying that in comparison to "Se7en", but that's something understandable. Besides the crowd this is aiming for is the "Scream" loving crowd, but it's a little dumbed down from that as well. At the same time he doesn't make these stereotype teenagers idiots. They are kids who've read books and seen movies and have enough wits about themselves to survive on more than just luck (which they have some of that too).
Another note is that this both is and isn't a Rodriguez film. Just as David Fincher's "Panic Room" is and isn't a Fincher film. Remember the style of old Rodriguez differs from the style of the new. Yes they both aim for lower budget costs and employ several acts of visually trickery of the special effect and in camera type, but back in the 90's he was still working his way up the ladder. So with that there is some sketchy as hell CGI in the movie. Not completely God awful stuff. I'll say it's still better then what was in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", but for that time it still wasn't quite up to snuff some of the time. A lot of his style then was changing and molding more and more just as it did in "From Dusk Till Dawn" which I love, but is also a very imperfect film. Also this was made for a teen audience. Where as his last horror fair was made for the more... devoted R-rated audience. "The Faculty" was for "Scream" fans and kids who would and could sneak into it's auditorium from whatever they were seeing as a rouse.
The biggest factor in that plan however is this, if that teen crowd doesn't find it in it's first week... they probably aren't going to find it at all. And a Christmas day release isn't going to help you any. It doesn't matter what critics say because if it makes money then it wins no matter what. Years later it's a film on DVD that's remembered more for it's butchering on basic cable rather than for anything else. Critics didn't loving it so it didn't have that to fall back on and the people didn't come. And then it was lost in the shuffle of things.
WHY I LIKE IT
Is there a layer of biases in favor it? A little, but not much. I first saw "The Faculty" when my mother rented it on VHS (remember those?) not too long after it hit video stores. Around this time movies were starting to sink in and I was getting ever more interested in their creation. Horror later became my segway into that world. Speed up to now and I've just re-watched the DVD that I bought of it yesterday and that nostalgia is still there, but there's more. Having learned names and faces I respect things like the casting choices of fairly unknowns mixed with actors and actress' who's status was at the time wavering. Back then Elijah Wood was known for "Flipper" and "The Good Son" for the most part. Now he's the main character of one of the most respected film trilogies of all time. Josh Hartnett was almost a complete nobody and now he's a full blown star. Jordana Brewster has two 'Fast and Furious' films under her belt and Clea Duvall is quite a prominate character actress for film and television.
Couple that with the likes of Salma Hayek, Jon Stewart, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick and yes the glory that is Ain't it Cool News creator Harry Knowles as teachers. Back then I couldn't have given two fucks, but now I'm like that's the coolest teaching staff ever. Not unlike Rodriguez's awesome "Planet Terror" police force of Kyle Reese, Sex Machine and the original El Mariachi. I love that kind of shit in movies.
And yes I'm a sucker for science fiction. Most stuff at least can hold my interest for it's duration which is more than what I could say for other genre pictures. It's got a strong character push that yes has some dunder headed talking at times, but their actions and some conversations are more intelligent then the average high school horror flick. I love KNB's make up effects of giant parasite shape shifters and skin burrowers. And I love Rodriguez's small odes to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "John Carpenter's The Thing" that he seamlessly lays in here.
FINAL CALL
"The Faculty" is what it is. It's a Rodriguez/Williamson teen horror flick. It's soundtrack fits into the many of the other 90's films in this same genre, but I feel it knows what it is and what it's doing. The film never aspires to reach great heights in the cinema stratosphere nor would I ever think it would. The curse of B-movies, especially horror and science fiction horror B-movies is that success may never happen with the majority, but for that minority whom personally seek it out you are something special to.
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