History Film / TheFaculty

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Not only do Casey's parents take away his phone, internet and music as punishment, but they also confiscate his porn. Casey's father tells him "No more [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow flogging the bishop]]."

* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: When the alien HiveQueen use her VoluntaryShapeshifting to [[spoiler:reverts back to its human form, after momentarily revealing its true form, her clothes are nowhere to be seen and she]].

Six students, however, manage to find out what's going on: [[{{Nerd}} nerdy kid]] and school newspaper photographer Casey Connor (Creator/ElijahWood), [[AlphaBitch queen bitch]] Delilah Profitt (Creator/JordanaBrewster), {{Goth}} chick Stokely Mitchell (Creator/CleaDuVall), [[{{Delinquents}} drug-dealing delinquent]] Zeke Tyler (Creator/JoshHartnett), [[DumbJock academically-challenged football player]] Stan Rosado (Creator/ShawnHatosy), and {{new transfer student}} Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Creator/LauraHarris). 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 [[GenreSavvy their knowledge]] of AlienInvasion movies like ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.

** The scene where [[spoiler:Marybeth walks around the locker room naked in pursuit of Casey]] is one to the "locker-stalking" scene in ''Film/HelloMaryLouPromNight2''.

** The scene where [[spoiler:Marybeth walks around the locker room naked in pursuit of Casey]] is one to the "locker-stalking" scene in ''Film/PromNight2HelloMaryLou''.

** The entire film is an homage to ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' and ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'', with {{Shout Out}}s aplenty. (Incidentally, {{Creator/Donald Sutherland}} stars in both movie adaptations.) It's also ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', if the gang were fighting an alien invasion in their school. The drug test scene is an homage to the blood test in ''Film/TheThing1982''.

* JustForFun/RecycledInSpace: ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' or ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' '''with aliens!'''

** Finally, on a meta level, each of the film's protagonists has [[spoiler:an obvious counterpart from ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''. Stan's counterpart is Andy, Delilah's is Claire, Casey's is Brian, Zeke's is Bender, and Stokely's is Allison... but where does Marybeth fit in? That's right. [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers She doesn't.]]]]

Six students, however, manage to find out what's going on: [[HollywoodNerd nerdy kid]] and school newspaper photographer Casey Connor (Creator/ElijahWood), [[AlphaBitch queen bitch]] Delilah Profitt (Creator/JordanaBrewster), {{Goth}} chick Stokely Mitchell (Creator/CleaDuVall), [[{{Delinquents}} drug-dealing delinquent]] Zeke Tyler (Creator/JoshHartnett), [[DumbJock academically-challenged football player]] Stan Rosado (Creator/ShawnHatosy), and {{new transfer student}} Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Creator/LauraHarris). 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 [[GenreSavvy their knowledge]] of AlienInvasion movies like ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.

* HollywoodNerd: Elijah Wood as the nerdy kid Casey.

* UncannyValleyGirl: [[spoiler:Marybeth turns out to be the HiveQueen of the aliens. Her shapeshifting is very unsettling as a result.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: Delilah lightens up and becomes more amiable to her buddies by the end.

%%* HighSchool

* RecycledINSPACE: ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' or ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' '''with aliens!'''

%%* TookALevelInKindness: Delilah by the end.

%%* UncannyValleyGirl: [[spoiler:Marybeth]]
%%* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:The motivation of Marybeth, the HiveQueen of the parasitic alien species]].

* AxesAtSchool: Zeke pulling a gun on the principal, who he and his friends suspect to be controlled by the alien PuppeteerParasite, in the gym and forcing her to snort his homemade drug (which dehydrates and kills the parasites) or else he'll shoot her. She refuses and threatens to have him expelled, [[spoiler:which is [[TooDumbToLive not the wisest thing to say]] to somebody who is holding a gun to your head. That said, she ''was'' possessed, which lets her get right back up until the other protagonists dump a ton of Zeke's powdered drug all over her face, killing her for good.]] One of the rare instances where the kid with the gun is portrayed as the unambiguous hero, and a clear sign that the film was [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece released four months before Columbine]].

Six students, however, manage to find out what's going on: [[HollywoodNerd nerdy kid]] and school newspaper photographer Casey Connor (Creator/ElijahWood), [[AlphaBitch queen bitch]] Delilah Profitt (Creator/JordanaBrewster), {{Goth}} chick Stokely Mitchell (Creator/CleaDuVall), [[{{Delinquents}} drug-dealing delinquent]] Zeke Tyler (Creator/JoshHartnett), [[DumbJock academically-challenged football player]] Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy), and {{new transfer student}} Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris). 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 [[GenreSavvy their knowledge]] of AlienInvasion movies like ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.

%%* AlienInvasion
* AliensInCardiff: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. When one character claims that it would be absurd for aliens to secretly invade via a HighSchool in a small town and brainwash the population, another GenreSavvy character points out that this would attract a lot less attention than attacking a big city, which the whole world will notice.
* AndSomeOtherStuff: Zeke's drugs are made from a mixture of "caffeine pills and some other household shit."
%%* AssimilationPlot
* BeautifulAllAlong: Miss Burke is [[EvilIsSexy an evil version]] of this trope. All it takes to make her look sexy is fixing her hair, [[TheGlassesGottaGo dropping her glasses]] and giving her a red tank top...but this occurs after she's been turned into an alien puppet.
** Though being played by Creator/FamkeJanssen certainly doesn't hurt either.
* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Marybeth]], who is revealed to be the alien hive queen in human form.

* BlankStare: One of the signs that a human has been infected.
%%* BreakfastClub: The six main characters.
* BreakThemByTalking: Used multiple times by the pod people against the heroes, but the big one is delivered by [[spoiler:Marybeth]]. When the BigBad confronts Casey in the locker room, the BigBad 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 [[ShutUpHannibal refuses to be swayed]], the BigBad simply gives up, tells him that it's too late and that the aliens have already won, and comes after him.

* CensorShadow: The darkness is used to cover up [[spoiler:Marybeth's]] naughty bits. It doesn't work so well on the DVD, though.

%%* CombatTentacles: The head alien has these.
* CoolCar: Zeke drives a Pontiac GTO.

* CreepyGymCoach: Subverted with Coach Willis, the first member of the faculty to be infected with the {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s. He approaches the female principal in her office late at night, commenting on how "pretty" she looks in what's set up to look like a drunken rape attempt. It becomes obvious that he has very different plans when he ''stabs her through the hand with a pencil''.

* DumbMuscle: Stan, much to his dismay. He feels that his heavy involvement as the captain of the football team is damaging his academic performance, and that his teachers are [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections giving him preferential treatment]] just because he's a star athlete. This causes him to quit the team in order to focus on schoolwork.

* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:Delilah is the first to be turned into an alien, followed by Stan and Stokely, the latter offscreen by Marybeth, who it turns out was the Queen all along. Casey and Zeke are the only ones not to be infected, although Zeke takes quite a beating from the Queen, and Casey is seconds away from getting infected before the Queen dies.]]

* EvilTeacher: The teachers are the first people to get infected, and spread it from there.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In the finale Casey now has product in his hair, which symbolises his CharacterDevelopment.

** Casey also kills the queen alien this way in the climax.

* FakeOutMakeOut: 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.

-->[[spoiler:"I'm feeling pretty alien myself today."]]

* GiveGeeksAChance: Two examples. The school ButtMonkey Casey ends up with the AlphaBitch Delilah. Gender Flipping things, moody goth Stokeley ends up with football player Stan.

%%* {{Goth}}: Stokely, although by the end, she's turned into a PerkyGoth.

* HeldBackInSchool: Zeke.

* {{Homage}}: The entire film is an homage to ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' and ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'', with {{Shout Out}}s aplenty. (Incidentally, {{Creator/Donald Sutherland}} stars in both movie adaptations.) It's also ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', if the gang were fighting an alien invasion in their school. The drug test scene is an homage to the blood test in ''Film/TheThing1982''.

-->'''Casey''': Everyone's been acting really weird, especially the faculty.
-->'''Stokely''': Tell me about it; it's like they've all turned into fucking pod people or something.
-->'''Casey''': Into what people?
-->'''Stokely''': ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. Small town gets taken over by aliens... That was a joke.

%%* ImpostorExposingTest: Using Zeke's drugs.

* LovableAlphaBitch: Delilah is given a FreudianExcuse (dead father, alcoholic mother) and seems to have mellowed out by the climax.
%%* LovableJock: Stan, especially when compared to the more jerkish football players.
* MagicPants: Averted. When the lead alien reverts back to its human form, after momentarily revealing its true form, its clothes are nowhere to be seen.

%%* MonsterProgenitor: The Alien Queen.

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: [[spoiler:Miss Burke. She gets better, though.]]
* OrificeInvasion: Of the ear variety.
%%* PoliceAreUseless: Justified as they are infected.
* PornStash: One of the punishments Casey gets from his parents for embarrassing them is to remove his pile of dirty magazines.
* PreMortemOneLiner:

** See also IronicEcho.

%%* PuppeteerParasite
* TheQuarterback: Stan is the star player and fond friend to the school, having some troubles with his cheerleader girlfriend [[spoiler:when he chooses to quit the team in order to get better grades. Coach supports him in this choice, even if it is right before the big match.]]

* RecycledINSPACE / SettingUpdate: ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' [[spoiler:and ''Film/TheThing1982'']] [[AC:in HighSchool!]]
** Or, in keeping with the "in space" angle, ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' or ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' [[AC:with aliens!]]

%%* SchoolNewspaperNewshound: Delilah and Casey, although the latter is only a photographer.

* TheShadowKnows: Around the end of the film, the Hive Queen [[spoiler:tries to appeal to Casey, using the Marybeth disguise she's been using for the whole film. The shadow in the room, however, is a tentacled mass that keeps moving and nearly covers it, all coming from an average-sized teenager.]]

%%* StarfishAliens: The alien species threatening to take over the town.

* TeacherStudentRomance: The infected Miss Burke hides in the back of Zeke's car, then attempts to seduce him when he's speeding away from the infected football team. [[spoiler:Zeke then slams the car into a school bus, sending her through the windshield and decapitating her. She gets better.]] The final scenes imply that they HookedUpAfterwards. (This is made less [[{{Squick}} squicky]] than it might have been, because it's implied there's not actually much of an age difference; she's a young teacher and he's repeating his senior year).

-->'''Stokely:''' This is usually the part where somebody says "Let's get the fuck out of here"
-->'''Stan:''' Let's get the ''fuck'' out of here.

%%* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:The motivation of Marybeth, the queen of the parasitic alien species]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not confirmed if [[spoiler: Principal Drake]] and [[spoiler: Mr Furlong]] are actually dead. Both were seemingly killed off during the attacks. But Miss Burke was decapitated and turns up alive at the end, and [[spoiler:Mr. Furlong is shown during the credits, teaching with an eyepatch and bandaged hand. Principal Drake is alive and well later in the movie, specifically at the 33 minute mark, but getting dissolved into mush on the other hand...]].

* TheCameo: By Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles, of all people. He appears as one of the teachers in the faculty lounge.

* {{Homage}}: The entire film is an homage to ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' and ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'', with {{Shout Out}}s aplenty.
** Incidentally, {{Creator/Donald Sutherland}} stars in both movie adaptations.
** The drug test scene is an homage to the blood test in ''Film/TheThing1982''.
*** It's also The Breakfast Club, if the gang were fighting an alien invasion in their school.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not confirmed if [[spoiler: Principal Drake]] and [[spoiler: Mr Furlong]] are actually dead. Both were seemingly killed off during the attacks. But Miss Burke was decapitated and turns up alive at the end, and [[spoiler:Mr. Furlong is shown during the credits, teaching with an eyepatch and bandaged hand. Principle Drake is alive and well later in the movie, specifically at the 33 minute mark, but getting dissolved into mush on the other hand...]].

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

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_faculty_1998_cover_photo.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_faculty_custom_made_poster.jpg]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite Zeke being front and center on the cover, Casey, behind him, is the protagonist.

* AlienInvasion

* AssimilationPlot

* BigBad /BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Marybeth]], who is revealed to be the alien hive queen in human form.
* BodyHorror: The parasite dehydrates the old Mrs. Brummel to the point where her skin falls off of her body.
** Also, [[spoiler:Marybeth's transformation into her alien form]].

* BreakfastClub: The six main characters.

* CombatTentacles: The head alien has these.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite that Zeke is front and center on the cover, Casey, behind him, is the protagonist.

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: Marybeth]] turns out to be one. Of the alien variety.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Mr. Furlong gets stabbed in the eye by Zeke with one of his drug pens.]]

* FourTemperamentEnsemble
** Stan is sanguine.
** Delilah is choleric.
** Casey and Stokely are melancholic.
** Zeke is phlegmatic.
** Marybeth is supine [[spoiler:until she reveals herself to be the [[BigBad queen alien]]]].

* {{Goth}}: Stokely, although by the end, she's turned into a PerkyGoth.

* HighSchool

* ImpostorExposingTest: Using Zeke's drugs.

* LovableJock: Stan, especially when compared to the more jerkish football players.

* MonsterProgenitor: The Alien Queen.

* PoliceAreUseless: Justified as they are infected.

* PuppeteerParasite

* SchoolNewspaperNewshound: Delilah and Casey, although the latter is only a photographer.

* StarfishAliens: The alien species threatening to take over the town.

* TookALevelInKindness: Delilah by the end.

* UncannyValleyGirl: [[spoiler:Marybeth]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:The motivation of Marybeth, the queen of the parasitic alien species]].

* NotNowKiddo: Even though the alien-controlled teachers make up a cover story for what he saw that would ''still'' realistically scare a teenager, Casey's parents decide he needs counseling, search his room for drugs and decide to take away his phone, internet, stereo and even his PornStash (which they seem bizarrely completely okay with). Because that's parenting.

* PornStash: One of the punishments Casey gets from his parents for embarassing them is to remove his pile of dirty magazines.

* ProperlyParanoid: After [[spoiler:Marybeth and Stokely]] are both revealed as aliens, Zeke demands that Casey take another hit of the alien-killing drug even though he already took it before. As Zeke correctly points out, he's only been gone for five minutes and nearly everybody besides him is already an alien by that point.

* ProperlyParanoid: After [[spoiler:Marybeth and Stokely]] are both revealed as aliens, Zeke demands that Casey take another hit of the alien-killing drug even though he already took it before. As Zeke points out, he's only been gone for five minutes and almost everybody besides him is already an alien by that point.

* TheShadowKnows: Around the end of the film, the Hive Queen [[spoiler:tries to appeal to Casey, using the Marybeth disguise she's been using for the whole film. The shadow in the room, however, is a tentacled mass that keeps moving and nearly covers it, all coming from a average-sized teenager.]]

* FictionAsCoverUp:

* SuckySchool: There is a scene early on that takes place at a faculty meeting, where they are deciding how to divide the school's budget. Much to the teachers' chagrin, money that could be used for buying new textbooks or putting on a SchoolPlay other than ''Theatre/OurTown''[[note]]A play that is traditionally staged without a set of any kind, and as few props as possible. Theater geeks will [[GeniusBonus get a chuckle]] from this.[[/note]] is instead directed towards the football team because, as Principal Drake explains, [[SeriousBusiness they live in a football town]]. She doesn't think the football team deserves all the attention and funding, but it's what the ''parents'' want.

* GenreSavvy: This ''is'' a [[TheNineties late '90s]] teen horror film -- it goes with the territory.