The morbid humor in the trailer is great, and I always have high expectations for a Stephen King adaptation. Osgood Perkins has become one of the go-to filmmakers for the horror genre over the years. Perkins usually goes with a dark and brooding style for his films, so it’s refreshing to see something that’s a bit quirky with a more upbeat tone.
I struggled with this one for a while, because I was stuck on a three way tie between Maniac, The Conjuring, and Evil Dead, but I picked Maniac for my final decision.
Why? For starters, Maniac is shocking, grotesque, and bloody. Now I know you can say the same thing about Evil Dead, but director Franck Khalfoun crafts a dark and mesmerizing slasher film. There's a chilling sense of fear throughout Maniac, and Frank's POV is a refreshing touch. The audience sees everything from Frank's eyes, and you can feel the madness behind Frank's disturbing thought process. On top of that, Maniac features an outstanding soundtrack. The eerie scores are a perfect tie-in for Maniac, and it's hard to ignore the nostalgic 80's vibe.
Elijah Wood is incredible in the leading role. Frank is an unhinged man, who's struggling to control his murderous impulses. The rage, the violent outbursts, the conflict, and Frank's grief during troubled flashbacks with his mother. You can feel everything, and Elijah Wood taps into his dark side again (i.e. Sin City) to deliver another A+ performance with the leading role in Maniac.
The finale is amazing. Frank's demise mirrors the final moments of the original, and the set up for the fiasco at Anna's (Nora Arnezeder) apartment is perfect. A frustrated Frank is trying to console Anna after Rita's (Jan Broberg) death (of course, Frank murdered Rita after Rita's taunts at Anna's exhibit), but Frank accidentally reveals himself as the killer, when he mentions the short distance to Rita's apartment. And Frank drives the nail into the coffin, when he mentions the recent murders in the city.
The horrified look of shock on Nora Arnezeder's face is spot on, and the tension after Frank's accidental confession is unreal, because you're waiting for that one moment, when Anna attacks Frank for survival, or when Anna makes a move for an escape. Great stuff.
The 1980 original gained a strong following as a cult film, but the 2013 film is on a short list of remakes that challenge the original for superiority, and you can make a legit argument for the 2013 remake taking the top spot for the better film. Don't pass on a chance to watch Maniac 2013 horror fans. If you do, you're missing out on a great hidden gem.
The Faculty is an excellent horror/sci-fi comedy, that's loaded with winks to some great films of the past (The Thing, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, etc.), but somehow, Marybeth managed to slip underneath everyone's radar. As a killer alien race invades a local high school, a petrified group of remaining survivors struggle to get to the bottom of the conspiracy before the aliens take over the world. Casey, Stokely, Stan, Marybeth, Delilah, and Zeke stand together as the last wall of defense against the aliens, but someone in the group is hiding a deadly secret
The mystery of the leader wasn't so easy to figure out. As the gothic outcast, is Stokely plotting her revenge against everyone, who bullied and tormented her by turning everyone into aliens, so she can take over the world? After suspiciously quitting the football team as the star player, is Stan quietly piecing together the puzzle of an alien takeover? Is Delilah deceiving everyone? After all, the glamor queen uncharacteristically takes a break from contact lenses to wear regular glasses, so she can keep up "incognito" appearances. What about Zeke? He's the bad boy rebel, so taking over the world should fit his personalty, right? Or is Casey unleashing hell for the punishment he endured as the nerdy wimp?
Nope. It's the seemingly innocent new girl. Behind her soft voice and southern accent, Marybeth was able to conceal her identity as "The Queen."
Clea DuVall did a great job of selling the shock of Marybeth's reveal. I'll never forget my first time watching The Faculty, because this twist shocked the hell out of me. Out of everyone in the main cast, Marybeth was the most unlikely suspect. And remember, there's the scene at Zeke's house where Delilah failed the scat test. After Delilah failed the test, she gave everyone a foreboding warning about the alien takeover before destroying the bulk of Zeke's scat supply, and Delilah hopped into the getaway car of an accomplice. So you could say Delilah was a logical choice for the leader before Marybeth's reveal.
Laura Harris was spot on as this quiet and harmless new kid, who was trying to fit in. Seriously, just take one look at her in the pic above. Could you picture Marybeth as a nasty alien? But Marybeth failed in her mission as The Queen to take over the world, when Casey destroyed Marybeth in her alien form with the rest of Zeke's scat. It's triumphant irony, when you stop and think about it, because the unlikely hero destroyed the unlikely villain.
Follow this link to read my spoiler review for The Faculty! http://mitchmacready.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-faculty-1998_11.html
As aliens take over their high school, a group of teens form an unlikely alliance. Casey (Elijah Wood), Stokely (Clea DuVall), Stan (Shawn Hatosy), Marybeth (Laura Harris), Delilah (Jordana Brewster), and Zeke (Josh Hartnett) team up to stop the alien invasion and save the world. Zeke’s Scat, a diuretic/hallucinogenic drug is the only surefire weapon capable of killing the amphibious aliens. But the teens run into some trouble, as they struggle to find the leader (or queen) of the alien invasion, and they’re forced to fight off the crafty alien football coach, Joe Willis (Robert Patrick) and the rest of the possessed staff at school.
The cast is full of high school sterotypes. Casey is the shy and soft-spoken nerd, Stokely is the gothic outcast, and Zeke is the bad boy. And you can’t forget about Delilah, the narcissistic bitch, Stan, the popular high school quarterback, and Marybeth, the cheery and friendly “new kid.” Although, to be fair, the Stan character wanted to erase his reputation as the glorified high school quarterback during the early stages of this film. But after the final battle with the aliens, the main characters realize their mistakes in life, and they change their personalities for the better, starting a new path.
Everyone provides the perfect parody performance for their characters. I’d give the edge to Hartnett and Wood for the stand-out stars in this cast, and Robert Patrick is hilarious as the hard-ass football coach. Plus, Famke Janssen (Miss Elizabeth) is spot on, as Zeke’s insecure and nervous punching bag, and they don’t last long, but Jon Stewart and Salma Hayek have a few funny moments. My only complaint from this cast is a young Usher Raymond. He’s just terrible, and his atrocious pretty boy act is painful to watch.
Desperado was my first Robert Rodriguez film, and From Dusk Till Dawn will always be my favorite Rodriguez film, but The Faculty still holds a special place in my heart as a childhood favorite. The special effects are kind of tacky, but Rodriguez provides a handful of genuine gross-out moments. The gore isn’t too tamed, and it’s not too gruesome, it’s just right. The gross-out moments are guaranteed to pull a reaction out of you, and of course, Rodriguez takes a more extreme approach to blood and gore (i.e. Sin City, Planet Terror) in his films now a days.
The Faculty has a nice balance of humor and disgusting violence (or nauseating alien transformations), and each scene provides a good example of both:
The Faculty is a fun sci-fi/horror film, and I can’t believe it took me this long to buy it on DVD. Yes, the clichéd “group of unlikely allies banding together to destroy a great evil power” storyline isn’t something new, and the popular kids vs the outcasts is a recycled feud in many different forms of media. But The Faculty never strives for perfection, or the status of a groundbreaking entry in the sci-fi/horror genre. It’s a romp of stylish violence and cheesy comedy, and the cast (minus Usher) is just excellent.
Plus, I always enjoy the references to older sci-fi films ( The Thing, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, etc.), and The Faculty does a fantastic job of paying homage to the old school classics. Kevin Williamson’s (the writer for this film) screenplay has its moments as a “remember that?” wink to sci-fi/horror fans, and for me, The Faculty has an endless amount of rewatch value.
