The Faculty: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''If you were going to [[Take Over the World]], would you [[Monumental Damage|blow up]] [[The White House]]'' [[Independence Day]]''-style, or [[Puppeteer Parasite|sneak in through the back door]]?''|'''Casey'''}}

 

 

[[Six-Student Clique|Six students]], however, manage to find out what's going on: [[Dumb Jock|academically-challenged football player]] Stan Rosado, [[Goth]] chick Stokely Mitchell, [[Hollywood Nerd|nerdy kid]] and school newspaper photographer Casey Connor, [[Alpha Bitch|queen bitch]] Delilah Profitt, [[Delinquents|drug-dealing delinquent]] Zeke Tyler, and [[New Transfer Student]] Marybeth Louise Hutchinson. Together, they set out to put a stop to the aliens, armed only with Zeke's drugs (which are instantly fatal to the aliens) and [[Genre Savvy|their knowledge]] of [[Alien Invasion]] movies like ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]''.

 

 

* [[Alien Invasion]]

* [[Aliens in Cardiff]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and [[Justified Trope|justified]]. When one character claims that it would be absurd for aliens to secretly invade via a [[High School]] in a small town and brainwash the population, another [[Genre Savvy]] charcter points out that this would attract a lot less attention than attacking a big city, which the whole world will notice. See the page quote.

* [[Combat Tentacles]]: The head alien has these.

* [[Cool Car]]: Zeke drives a Pontiac GTO.

* [[Dawson Casting]]: Surprisingly little of it for a '90s teen horror film. The oldest cast members to play teenagers were 22-year-olds Shawn Hatosy and [[Laura Harris]]. Elijah Wood, meanwhile, was 17 when he starred in this film, while Jordana Brewster was 18. Josh Hartnett was twenty,making him only about a year or two older than his character (Who is mentioned as repeating the year).

** {{spoiler|And Harris technically gets a free pass seeing as she was actually the alien anyway.}}

* [[Fake American]]: Canadian actress [[Laura Harris]] as the Southern girl Marybeth, complete with a ridiculously over-the-top Southern accent. {{spoiler|In-universe, this also applies to Marybeth herself, making it a justified example.}}

* [[Fake-Out Make-Out]]: Subverted. While breaking into the school's storeroom to steal ingredients for his drugs, Zeke cites the trope to reassure Marybeth should they be caught. However the two aren't patient, and start making out regardless.

'''Casey:''' I think so. }}

* [[Five-Man Band]]: Not the variety used on this site, but the one used in ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' -- the princess (Delilah), the criminal (Zeke), the brain (Casey), the athlete (Stan) and the basket case (Stokely). There's also the new girl (Marybeth). {{spoiler|Who turns out to be the [[Big Bad]].}}

** If you're going by the "standard" [[Five-Man Band]] formula:

*** Marybeth: The [[Sixth Ranger]]. {{spoiler|Actually the [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]].}}

* [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]]

* [[Full-Name Basis]]: Marybeth always introduces herself by her full name, Marybeth Louise Hutchinson.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: This ''is'' a [[The Nineties|late '90s]] teen horror film -- it goes with the territory.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Used multiple times by the pod people against the heroes, but the big one is delivered by {{spoiler|Marybeth}}. When {{spoiler|she}} confronts Casey in the locker room, {{spoiler|she}} tries to convince him that, by joining the aliens, he will be happy, and will no longer have to suffer through humiliation at the hands of his peers. When Casey [[Shut UP, Hannibal|refuses to be swayed]], {{spoiler|Marybeth}} simply gives up, tells him that it's too late and that the aliens have already won, and comes after him.

* [[High School]]

* [[Hollywood Nerd]]: Elijah Wood as the nerdy kid Casey.

* [[Homage]]: The entire film is an homage to ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' and ''[[The Puppet Masters (novel)|The Puppet Masters]]'', with [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] aplenty.

** The drug test scene is an homage to the blood test in ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]''.

* [[I Was Just Joking]]

'''Stokely''': ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]''. Small town gets taken over by aliens... That was a joke. }}

* [[Impaled Palm]]: Coach Willis stabs a pencil straight through {{spoiler|Principal Drake's}} hand and it makes a gruesome crunch when he yanks it back out again. She is understandably horrified.

* [[Ironic Echo]]:

** When Zeke is selling pens full of drugs to some students, he tells them that the stuff is "guaranteed to jack you up." {{spoiler|Casey later repeats this line before he stabs and kills Alien!Marybeth with one of these pens.}}

** While snooping in the teachers' lounge, Casey tells Delilah that she can be "pretty cool sometimes" (i.e. when she's not being the [[Alpha Bitch]]). Delilah asks if he's hitting on her. At the end of the film, Delilah repeats this line to Casey, whom she is now dating.

* [[Lens Flare Censor]]: In reverse. The darkness is used to cover up {{spoiler|Marybeth's}} naughty bits. It doesn't work so well on the DVD, though.

* [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]]: Delilah.

* [[Orifice Invasion]]

* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]:

** See also [[Ironic Echo]].

* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]

** Several movies and books about aliens get name-dropped by the characters, including ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]]'', ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'', ''[[Robert A. Heinlein|The Puppet Masters]]'' and ''[[Independence Day]]'', with one reference to the latter movie providing the page quote.

* [[Single Biome Planet]]: The head alien is from a planet covered entirely with water. This is the reason why people infected with the alien parasite need to drink lots of water -- the thing needs a lot of it, and it dehydrates people rather quickly.

** The head: Zeke.

** The muscle: Stan.

* [[Tomato Surprise]]: {{spoiler|Marybeth faked her negative result on the drug test by sealing her nostril and turning her pinky finger back into a tentacle temporarily to remove the butt cap of the pen so the drug will fall through it, but making everyone think she sniffed it.}}

* [[Uncanny Valley Girl]]: {{spoiler|Marybeth.}}

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: During the climax, {{spoiler|Marybeth}} switches between human and alien forms at will.

* [[Write What You Know]]: Casey references this trope when trying to explain to Stokely why he believes that ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' was [[Based on a True Story]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Horror Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]