The Faculty is the Most Underrated Movie Filmed in Texas
God I love this movie so much, but I feel like kids nowadays have no idea about this movie.
Let's face it, when it comes to horror movies of the 90's not a lot stand out. Scream, Blair Witch, and Silence of the Lambs come to mind for me when I think of that genre. I would suffice to say that your average kid knows about those three. Scream and Blair Witch recently had reboots or sequels. If they don't know 'Silence of the Lambs', they probably know Hannibal Lector.
However, the one horror movie I watched more than any of these when I was a kid was 'The Faculty'. I was obsessed with this movie. Think of invasion of the body snatchers set in a school. The cast is freaking loaded in this movie. The teaching staff is made up of Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick, and Jon Stewart to name a few.
The schoolkids are Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea Duvall, Josh Hartnett, and Usher make up some of the kids in the school. Every time I watch this movie I notice someone else new makes up the cast. The guy that plays Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore is Elijah Wood's dad.
Any movie that is willing to make a giant robot monster for their film and not rely entirely on CGI will always get my vote. I know some are saying, hey this movie is not set in Texas. Which is true, it's set in the fictional town of Herrington, Ohio. Director Robert Rodriquez is from Texas and loves filming in our state.
The school is actually The Texas School for the Deaf over in Austin. Many of the scenes were also shot in Lockhart and San Marcos. Plus my other favorite part of this movie, Robert Rodriquez wanted a new version of Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall', so he formed a super group called Class of 99 just for the movie soundtrack. It features Alice In Chains front man Layne Staley on vocals, it is the last thing he recorded in a studio before his death in 2002.
For some reason, Hollywood dropped this movie on CHRISTMAS DAY back in 1998. Out of the way Santa, got to go see this horror movie. If you have never seen this movie, give it a watch. If you're around my age, you definitely have. It's apparently streaming on HBO Max and CBS All Access if you have either of those streaming services.