Late 90s Horror

The Faculty

Urban Legend

While we had every intention of kicking off Pride month with two pieces of LGBTQ+ cinema this week, one of our selections proved to be impossible to track down. We’ll be celebrating Pride later on with unambiguously, quintessentially queer films, but for now, we decided to view movies that fall into another genre that has a rich and complicated history within the LGBTQ+ community, horror—more specifically, the campy horror of the 1990s. There was a boom of creative, ridiculous, wildly entertaining horror movies during this decade that, regardless of their cult-classic-status, run the gamut of beloved to memorably bad. The horror movies of this time pay direct homage to the films that came before them, while discovering innovative and exciting ways to bring their stories into modernity. The 90s brought about a certain self-awareness and a deliberate campiness to the horror genre that never seemed too contrived or hyperbolic. Our first film, Robert Rodriguez’ 1998 classic The Faculty, was the twisted Breakfast Club of my dreams. Featuring Elijah Wood as the kind nerd, Josh Hartnett as the misunderstood drug-dealing kid who’s been held back a year but is actually really smart, Clea DuVall as the misunderstood queer-coded quiet goth girl, Robert Patrick as the terrifyingly aggro football coach, Famke Jensen as the mysterious and alluring English teacher, Salma Hayek as shockingly not-oversexed nurse, and John Stewart as a science teacher (idk why it works it just does.) It’s an Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Thing (1982)-type thriller about evil teachers that didn't always make sense but proved to be more fun and more thrilling than anticipated. Robert Rodriguez always handles youth in a considerate and colorful way, and his creative choices with villains (see From Dusk til Dawn, Spy Kids, and Sharkboy and Lava Girl) never cease to amaze me. There’s so much about this movie (and frankly, the next movie) that shouldn’t work, but once you get past the few instances of homophobia, sexism, and implied sexual tension between teachers and students, The Faculty is a gem amongst geodes of high school horror stories. The effects, the dialogue, and the narrative decisions were painfully 90s at times, but the script is solid—something I’ve come to expect from Kevin Williamson—writer of 90s camp horror classics Scream 1, 2, & 3, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the lesser known but must-watch movie Cursed. The Faculty was by no means as instantly iconic as Scream, but it had all of the right components: hot people, mysterious deaths, suspicious authority figures, and a healthy amount of terrible jokes—qualities that also fit our next film: Urban Legend. For a movie that was cutesy with its references and rich in red herrings, this film was decently scary and amazingly unpredictable. Apart from some unnecessary deaths (including, but not limited to, a dog—I mean why is this even a phenomenon) this movie that could’ve been an absolute disaster was actually quite good. Well, maybe not GOOD good, but reasonably fun. The only trigger warning I have for this movie beyond the animal death is Jared Leto’s presence, but you’ll be happy to know other members of the cast made up for this. Between Michael Rosenbaum, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Tara Reid, Joshua Jackson, Robert Englund, and Miss Loretta Devine, I almost forgot about Jared Leto’s Zac Efron vibes in this movie, and apparently, Jared Leto has chosen to forget about his role in this movie as well. There’s a lot of weirdness to Urban Legend, like the fact that I only counted the use of four legitimately well-known urban legends, but when it came down to executing terror and turmoil, I was a bit chilled. I wouldn’t dare spoil who the killer ends up being, but I will let you know that I legitimately did not see it coming and was very pleased by how it wrapped up. Much like The Faculty, Urban Legend didn’t blow me away or give me nightmares, but there’s something irresistible about the simple but spooky films of this era. It all felt so easy, so silly, so unbound by the pressures of more contemporary horror films that sometimes struggle and labor to pull a scare out of a 90-minute film. If you’re feeling nostalgic, or just looking for some spooky and ridiculous entertainment, the glory and gusto of 90s horror is sure to deliver. But don’t take it from me, take it from 1998 Josh Hartnett and his bangs.