''Followers'' is a 2000 American
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film written and directed by Jonathan M. Flicker. 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 r ...
.
The
plot
Plot or Plotting may refer to:
Art, media and entertainment
* Plot (narrative), the connected story elements of a piece of fiction
Music
* ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava
* The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003
...
focuses on three
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
student
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject.
In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...
s who attempt to join a
fraternity
A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...
but soon find the fraternity president to be extremely
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
. 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, United States. It consists of three academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir Coll ...
in 1993.
''Followers'' was filmed over 24 days in March 1996.
The film was given a
limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on October 13, 2000.
Plot
John Dietrich is a freshman at Harrington University, having moved there from
Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
. 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, best 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 Richa ...
as John Dietrich
*Eddie T. Robinson as Steven Trayer
*Mark Dobies as Jake Tyler
*
Jessica Prunell
Jessica Prunell (born ) is an American lawyer and former child actress.
Prunell is the daughter of Tito and Kay Prunell.
Prunell began modeling and making commercials when she was 6 years old, eventually obtaining a contract with the Ford Mo ...
as Cynthia Gordon
*Jerry Laurino as Allen Phillips
Critical reception
Lawrence Van Gelder of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' 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
English-language independent films
English-language buddy drama films