They come around this time every single year. As universities begin gearing up for the new season, with freshmen and women hitting campuses for the first time, stories about brutal hazing practices emerge. Now this time there will be a new angle to those many stories because a film all about the hazing culture is on the way and it looks to pull no punches.
Andrew Neel's Goat features a script he co-wrote with David Gordon Green and a cast led by Nick Jonas, Ben Schnetzer (Warcraft), Gus Halper, Virginia Gardner, Jake Picking and James Franco. Jonas plays a member of the same fraternity his younger brother is pledging to, and at first all looks to what we would expect from the college experience: parties, girls, more parties, more girls. But the bonding rituals that come with pledging a fraternity begin to take a dark and sinister turn, with the film looking to explore the drastic mental effects hazing can have. Here's the synopsis:
Reeling from a terrifying assault over the summer, 19-year-old Brad Land (Ben Schnetzer) starts college determined to get his life back to normal. His brother, Brett (Nick Jonas), is already established on campus and with a fraternity that allures Brad with its promise of protection, popularity, and life-long friendships. Brad is desperate to belong but as he sets out to join the fraternity his brother exhibits reservations, a sentiment that threatens to divide them. As the pledging ritual moves into hell week, a rite that promises to usher these unproven boys into manhood, the stakes violently increase with a series of torturous and humiliating events. What occurs in the name of ‘brotherhood’ tests both boys and their relationship in brutal ways.
Goat hits VOD and theaters on a limited basis on September 23rd.
