''Followers'' is a 2000 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film. It was produced by

Castle Hill Productions Castle Hill Productions was an independent television and film distribution company handling classic and independent films whose library spans eight decades. History Founded in 1978 by Julian Schlossberg, Castle Hill Productions revived and re ...

. The plot focuses on three

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

students who attempt to join a fraternity but soon find the fraternity president to be extremely racist. Flicker said he based ''Followers'' on news reports of a racial hazing incident at

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...

in 1993. ''Followers'' was filmed over 24 days in March of 1996. The film was given a limited release on October 13, 2000.

Plot

John Dietrich is a freshman at Harrington University, having moved there from

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. He becomes close friends with students Steven Trayer and Allen Phillips. The trio, especially John and Allen, aspire to join the most popular and exclusive fraternity on campus, Kappa Psi Lambda. Allen has a leg up into joining the frat because his father was a brother in the same organization. John begins to idolize the charming fraternity president, Jake Tyler, who is also captain of the football team and an academic star. The trio’s tight-knit friendship becomes fractured when John and Allen receive bids from the fraternity, but Steve, who is Black, does not. Jake targets Steve through a series of dangerous and racially motivated hazing incidents aimed at testing the loyalty of John and Allen. John is caught between his loyalty to Steve and his desire to belong in the fraternity.

Cast

Sam Trammell Sam Trammell (born January 29, 1969) is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO fantasy drama series ''True Blood''. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Mi ...

as John Dietrich *Eddie T. Robinson as Steven Trayer *Mark Dobies as Jake Tyler * Jessica Prunell as Cynthia Gordon *Jerry Laurino as Allen Phillips

Critical reception

Lawrence Van Gelder of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote, "Written, directed and edited by Jonathan M. Flicker, ''Followers'' is a cautionary tale worth telling to college students with the potential to figure in the annual headlines about fraternity excesses. And its lessons about the cost of remaining passive in the face of evil, of countenancing bigotry and of betraying friends bear reinforcement in any season. But while clearly rooted in pervasive truths, ''Followers''…suffers from clumsy exposition and uneven acting, except in the case of Eddie T. Robinson."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0252445, title=Followers 2000 films 2000 drama films 2000 independent films American buddy drama films American independent films Films about fraternities and sororities Films about hazing Films about race and ethnicity Films about racism in the United States Films set in universities and colleges 2000s English-language films 2000s buddy drama films 2000s American films