The Faculty (1998)

Another great ensemble horror film from 1998 is “The Faculty”, starring established horror or sci-fi actors like Robert Patrick (“Terminator 2”), Famke Janssen (“House on Haunted Hill”), and Piper Laurie (“Carrie”) as well as younger actors like Josh Harnett and Elijah Wood. The film was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who had already shown us that he knew how to have fun with a horror flick after directing “From Dusk Till Dawn”! “The Faculty” is basically a variation of the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” story with a few plot points adjusted so it comes across as its own movie. The special effects are fine but a bit outdated compared to today’s picky standards. I really enjoyed the film and the tension that is builds when the characters become aware that there might be an alien amongst them.

High school students from various cliques and social circles are forced to band together when their school faculty members become influenced by a water-based alien that is able to take over its host. First the school and then world conquest! The school’s drug dealer Zeke (Hartnett) becomes the unintentional leader of the group after he figures out that his special drug cocktail can kill the alien host. Armed with the drug, Zeke and Casey, the school’s paper photographer, go out hunting for the queen to save their school and their friends.

Favorite moment – there is “The Thing” like scene where Zeke forces the group of students to take his drug in order to prove that they are still human.  Like the scene from “The Thing”, one of them isn’t and destroys the lab and most of the drug supplies they need to kill the invaders.

The Grudge (2004)

The American remake of “The Grudge” came out in 2004, a year after the original debuted in Japan. Both movies were directed by Takashi Shimizu, a young Japanese film maker who went on to create two sequels to “Ju-on) series as well as a handful of other Japanese horror movies. The American version stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Bill Pullman, and Ted Raimi and was the first official movie produced by Ghost House Pictures which was started by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. It’s a great movie with amazing effects and some pretty decent scares for a horror movie with a PG-13 rating. The film was part of the craze of remaking Japanese horror movies from the 1990’s and 2000’s but what I find unique about this remake though is the fact that it still takes place in Japan; It’s as though it could be the same exact movie but with American actors replacing a few of the Japanese ones. I’m not sure if this is true because I have not seen the original although it will be one of the films I review when I begin my ambitious themes for Japanese and other Asian produced horror movies.

The storyline for “The Grudge” crisscrosses between flashbacks and present day scenes that involve a few sub-plots that revolve around the curse of the Saeki family. One plot line is about the Saeki family and how the housewife Kayako fell in love with her teacher and was murdered by her jealous husband Takeo, who in turn killed his son Toshio before hanging himself. The second subplot is about the Williams family moving into the Saeki house several years later and becoming victims to the angry spirits of the Saeki family. The third subplot is about Karen, a student social worker who is sent over to the Saeki house to assist Emma Williams, an older woman who suffered a dementia related breakdown after moving into the house with her son and daughter-in-law. Karen survives her first encounter with the ghost of Kayako and eventually discovers that anyone who enters the house becomes cursed by the never ending rage of the Saeki family.

Favorite moment – I really liked the scene when Karen watches a ghost/flashback of Peter finding Kayako’s diary and then finding her. It ties up the mystery of the Saeki family effectively. My other favorite moment is the very beginning of the movie when Peter kills himself; it’s so sudden and without warning and sets a great feel for the rest of the movie.