Overview
Followers is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Jonathan M. Flicker. It was produced by Castle Hill Productions. The plot focuses on three college 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 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. 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 as John Dietrich
Eddie T. Robinson as Steven Trayer
Mark Dobies as Jake Tyler
Jessica Prunell as Cynthia Gordon
Jerry Laurino as Allen Phillips
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).