The Faculty

Year: 1998
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay: Kevin Williamson, from a story by David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Shawn Hatosy, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Salma Hayek, Daniel von Bargen, Usher Raymond
Running Time: 104 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, horror

Summary: Herrington High School is a perfectly normal school in Ohio. The star quarterback, Stan (Hatosy), wants to quit sports to concentrate on his academic work. Stan's girlfriend, Delilah (Brewster), is the head cheerleader and editor of the school paper. The frequently bullied Casey (Wood) photographs for the newspaper and has a massive unrequited crush on Delilah. Zeke (Hartnett) is a very intelligent but lacklustre student, preferring to concentrate on selling fake IDs, pornographic videos and his own home-made drugs to his fellow students. While goth girl and science-fiction fan Stokely (DuVall) is happy being left alone. Meanwhile new girl Marybeth (Harris) is just trying to fit in and make friends in the new school.
However, they soon become aware of strange changes taking place in the behaviour of the staff and fellow students. They quickly begin to realise that the faculty and most of the students are being infected by mind-controlling alien parasites. The problem is finding out who is infected and who isn't and whether there is any way to stop the parasites before it's too late.

Opinions: A mix of science-fiction, horror and teenage high-school comedy-drama, this film is an entertaining blend of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Thing (1982) and The Breakfast Club (1985) all of which are explicitly referenced.
The screenplay is by Kevin Williamson, who at the time was one of the hottest scriptwriters in Hollywood having written Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream 2 (1998) as well as creating the TV series Dawson's Creek (1998-2003). The film features many Williamson hallmarks such as quick-witted dialogue, multiple pop-culture references as well as Williamson's genuine interest in and liking for his teen characters.
The movie benefits a lot from Robert Rodriguez's typically stylish and fast-moving direction. The main cast of young, up and coming actors are effective and receive good support from their more established adult co-stars, including Robert Patrick as the enjoyably sinister Coach, and Famke Janssen as a repressed English teacher. Also comedian, satirist, TV presenter and host of The Daily Show Jon Stewart appears as a science teacher and there is also a cameo from Harry Knowles, founder and maintainer of movie news and review site Ain't It Cool News.
This is an enjoyable and interesting variation on some familiar themes. Also a high school, with it's emphasis on conformity and the pressure to fit in, is a perfect setting for "mind-control" horror.



Shawn Hatosy, Josh Hartnett, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall and Elijah Wood in The Faculty

Sin City

Year: 2005
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, with "Special Guest Director" Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay: Frank Miller, based on the Sin City graphic novel series by Frank Miller
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Nick Stahl
Running Time: 124 minutes; 147 minutes extended cut
Genre: Crime, thriller, action, film-noir

Summary: Four stories in the violent world of Basin City (most commonly called "Sin City"). A hitman (Josh Hartnett) shares a tender moment with his victim (Marley Shelton).
Violent but honourable Marv (Rourke) wakes up next to a dead girl and finds himself accused of her murder. Determined to avenge her, he sets off on a brutal quest to find her killer.
After being humiliated during a fight with his ex-girlfriend, Shelley (Murphy), and her new boyfriend, Dwight (Owen), police officer Jack (del Toro) and his friends go too far with the prostitutes of the "Oldtown" area of the city (where the prostitutes have absolute control) and pay the inevitable price, which threatens to destroy the fragile truce between the police and the residents of Oldtown.
On the eve of his retirement, honest cop John Hartigan (Willis) rescues a young girl from a sadistic serial killer (Stahl), seriously wounding him in the process. However the killer is the son of a powerful and corrupt US Senator (Powers Boothe) and Hartigan finds himself convicted of the serial killer's crimes. Years later, the horrifically disfigured killer returns to finish what he started.

Summary: This film is based on three Sin City graphic novels: The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard alongside the short story "The Customer is Always Right". The film is a very faithful rendering of the graphic novels, with the books even being used as storyboards, and writer and artist Frank Miller being so involved in the direction of the film that director Robert Rodriguez gave him a credit as co director. However the Director's Guild of America refused to allow the two to share credit as they weren't an established team and Miller had never directed before. Rodriguez planned to give Miller full credit but Miller would not accept it, and neither would Rodriguez accept full credit. As a result Rodriguez resigned from the Guild so the two could share credit. Quentin Tarantino directed one scene in the film and was given a "Special Guest Director" credit.
The movie is film-noir (or more accurately, perhaps, "neo-noir") but with all the stylistic elements ramped up to the nth degree. The movie is filled with over the top graphic violence all shot in glittering high contrast black and white, with the black being as black as pitch and the white being almost dazzlingly bright, and frequent flashes of colour, usually just one element in an otherwise monochrome frame. Shot digitally the movie utilizes a multitude of special effects which actually work well, to create a bizarre and violent world. It features great performances from an all-star cast who all seem to relish Miller's hard-boiled dialogue (mostly taken verbatim from the books).
Technically startling and full of memorable scenes and dialogue, this is a thrilling and exhilirating experience from beginning to end, and one of the most faithful translations ever of a comic to the screen.



Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis in Sin City.