Frat House

Frat House
Title card
Directed byTodd Phillips
Andrew Gurland
Music byJ.F. Coleman
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersTodd Phillips
Andrew Gurland
EditorSalamo Levin
Running time60 mins
Original release
ReleaseJanuary 21, 1998 (1998-01-21)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Frat House is a 1998 documentary that explores the darker side of fraternity life and hazing. The film, directed by Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, focuses on the pledging process through a composite of different fraternities. It was mostly filmed at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Alpha Tau Omega's charter was revoked two years later in 2000, though it has since been reinstated.[1] The documentary also features scenes of the Beta Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternities on the campus of SUNY Oneonta in Oneonta, New York.

The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival to acclaim, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. HBO Films acquired the distribution rights and planned to air it that year, but after subsequent allegations that some of the film's content was staged for the camera, as well as concerns from fraternity members about their depiction in the film, HBO cancelled the airing. The film never received an official release, though bootleg versions have occasionally circulated online.

  1. ^ Yang, Eleanor (June 24, 2000). "HEC News: Alpha Tau Omega Members Linked to Fights, Hazing, and More". Higher Education Center. US Department of Education. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009.