Box office The Faculty was viewed on 2,365 screens on its opening weekend, debuting at No. 5 in the US and making $11,633,495. Its eventual US gross was $40.3 million. Its debut below commercial expectations has been partly credited to the studio's decision to release the movie on Christmas Day, a time when audiences are likelier to watch traditional dramas or feel-good fare. On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Positive reviews at the time praised Kevin Williamson's self-aware script and trademark
meta humor that included references to iconic
science-fiction films. In a review for
Variety, Dennis Harvey wrote, "
The Faculty works hard at mixing a canny cocktail of cineastic in-jokes, affectionate teenploitation and high-octane suspense that's as enjoyable as it is impossible to take seriously." Harvey added that Williamson and Robert Rodriguez combine to "make a complete lack of socially redeeming value seem so much fun that
The Faculty might well become a pulp classic". He appreciated the film's homages to genre movies including
Carrie (1976),
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and
Blue Velvet (1986) while also citing the character of Stokely as the standout amongst the teen archetypes. In contrast, Tom Sinclair, also of
EW, gave the film a C+ and said Williamson has become "too invested in the earnestness of teen angst to portray it in the scathing parodistic terms a hip horror movie demands".
The New York Times gave a mostly negative review but praised the cast.
The Austin Chronicle awarded the film 3.5 stars and said, "While it may suffer a bit from excess character clutter (nearly 10 major characters throughout), it's nonetheless a slam-bang, sci-fi actioner, relentlessly paced and edited, with a pounding soundtrack and some ingenious aliens courtesy of
Bernie Wrightson and KNB Effects."
Retrospective In subsequent years, various critics have written about
The Faculty impact. Aliya Whiteley wrote, "It's all about examining the tropes of science fiction with a smart, funny angle. Half of the fun in this film is in identifying where you first came across a certain character's name or saw a particular special effect. For instance, there's a brilliant moment with a head on legs that I defy you to watch and not think of a
certain John Carpenter film." Whiteley concluded, "
The Faculty is very definitely a big mess of a movie. But if you love all things sci-fi, it's a good mess." Keith Phipps described the film as "a Kevin Williamson-scripted high-school variation on
Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Haleigh Foutch considered it one of the most iconic 1990s teen horror films: "Yet another win from 90s teen screenwriter in chief Kevin Williamson,
The Faculty fused Williamson's knack for snappy teen drama with Robert Rodriguez's subversive camp to fantastic results. It's smart without ever taking itself too seriously and campy without ever losing its cool, drawing proudly from the tradition of classic alien invasion movies and casting them in the 90s teen tradition." Director
Ryan Coogler cited
The Faculty as one of the inspirations for his 2025 film
Sinners. Coogler said, "I love
The Faculty from Rodriguez. I love how he mashed up
Invasion of the Body Snatchers and
The Thing, but set it in a 1990s high school. I love the confusing mishmash of movie and setting."
Cast and director's reception In a series of interviews, several
The Faculty cast members reflected on their experiences with the film and its surprising journey to cult status. Robert Rodriguez, the director, shared that he had been drawn to
The Faculty because of his love for genre-mixed films, even though he knew this would limit the movie's initial audience. He admitted that while the film did not perform as expected at the time, it had gained a strong following over the years: "I've never heard people talk so enthusiastically about
The Faculty until the last couple of years." Rodriguez also recalled his casting process, highlighting how actors like Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett stood out. He believed the film’s original title,
The Faculty, did not resonate with younger audiences, suggesting titles like
Alienated or
The Others, which the studio later used for another movie. Writer Kevin Williamson said he initially passed on the script for the film but eventually agreed to the project after producer Bob Weinstein repeatedly encouraged him to reconsider. Williamson later said that he ultimately enjoyed working on the film and cited his admiration for director Robert Rodriguez. Jordana Brewster reflected on the contrast between
The Faculty and
The Fast and the Furious, noting that they expected
The Faculty to be a massive hit due to the success of teen movies, such as
Scream, at the time. She recalled thinking it would make them huge stars: “We all thought we were gonna be these huge teen stars... but it didn’t quite work out that way.” Despite the film’s initial underperformance, she is now proud of its cult status, which she finds "cool". Clea DuVall also discussed the film's initial reception, noting that it did not have the impact they expected during its release, despite the popularity of Kevin Williamson's work at the time. However, she has been pleased to see
The Facultys lasting influence: "It's cool to see the legs that movie has had." She acknowledged that people still recognize her as Stokely, the character she portrayed, which continues to be a huge part of her legacy: "I feel like that is the number one thing that people come up to me and say or recognize me from still." DuVall mentioned that while she does not fully understand why the film did not perform better initially, she believes that broader cultural conversations may be partly responsible for its rediscovery. Elijah Wood described his experience on
The Faculty as one of his most memorable. He said, "For all around experience, I would say
The Faculty because the crew was so amazing. [Robert Rodriguez] was amazing to work with. There aren't enough adjectives to describe how cool it was working with him." He went on to emphasize the fun and unique atmosphere on set, stating, "It was so fun getting a chance to work with Robert, who had a very different approach than any other director that I'd worked with." Wood also highlighted the close-knit environment, noting, "There was a lot of love on the set. We're all really close, so it was cool."
Analysis The film has been praised for its portrayal of teenage
alienation, especially within the high school environment and its system of
cliques and
social roles. In particular, the alien invasion through parasitized bodies has been recognized as functioning as a metaphor for those concepts, reflecting the fear of losing one's nascent
individuality to a crowd. The alien queen encapsulates this by offering the heroes a world without alienation or differences, in which "everything that is both wonderful and awful about being a teenager is done away in favor of blind allegiance". Experts also noted in
The Faculty a reinvention of the fear of
female sexuality often found in the
horror genre. The character of Marybeth, the alien queen, is "a complex imbrication of woman, alien and power" that acts beyond the role of
femme fatale. She masquerades as a virginal, unassuming girl clad in floral dresses, but at the final battle she reveals her true sexual threat, becoming nude by her alien transformation and turning confident and flirtatious. Her role as a threatening,
castrating agent is underlined by the sharp teeth of her species, which evoke a
vagina dentata, and their association to water, the archaic, womb-like female element. As the
monstrous mother of her race, she tries to seduce the heroes by offering them a symbolic return to the womb. As Sharon Packer and Jody Pennington put it: The image on the screen is dual: we see the beautiful, young, naked Marybeth strolling around looking for Casey, and the shadow of the monstrous form in the walls. Marybeth delivers a speech which ties the elements of the movie together. It is about the "world" she came from and its promises of "
paradise" for lost and lonely humans, trapped in high-school "
hell". The character of Miss Burke precedes Marybeth in the same line, revealing her hidden sexuality only after being infected and turned into a monster. The scene of her detached, tentacled head in particular echoes the
Freudian Medusa head. The
monstrous feminine is therefore used in the film to reflect the teenage characters entering adult world, where they are forced to "come to terms with female sexuality and overcome their fear of its 'monstrous' aspects in order to become fully functioning adults". Casey, the male character closest to his softer, feminine side, is the final hero of the film.
Accolades The film was nominated for a total of eight awards, including an
ALMA Award for director
Robert Rodriguez, 2
Saturn Awards, 2
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and 3
Teen Choice Awards, but did not win any. ==Remake==