Brothers and sisters: Our 21 favorite films about fraternities & sororities

In addition to being a holiday horror film, Black Christmas is also a sorority movie, as it centers on an obscene caller who breaks into a sorority house to terrorize the sisters inside. Although it received mixed reviews from critics and audiences upon its release, Black Christmas has since become a cult classic for horror fans as a darkly enjoyable holiday slasher featuring a few familiar faces, including Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, and John Saxon.

National Lampoon's Animal House might be the quintessential fraternity film, and it has absolutely earned that distinction. In addition to featuring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland, Karen Allen, and John Vernon, it was directed by John Landis, and its hilarious, super funny script was co-written by Harold Ramis. The comedy runs nearly two hours long, as it's chock full of memorable scenes like Belushi chugging a bottle of Jack Daniel's or impersonating a zit (plus the food fight that follows), or the fictional Otis Day and the Knights covering "Shout" at a toga party.

Terror Train is absolutely the best horror movie set on a train and featuring a killer who looks like Gene Shalit. Of course, it’s not actually the former Today Show correspondent, but instead an attendee of a fraternity and sorority NYE costume party who is wearing what’s supposed to be a Groucho Marx mask. Released in 1980, Terror Train has since become a fan favorite of horror enthusiasts and inspired a 2022 remake.

As part of a hazing ritual during a costume party, four Alpha Sigma Rho pledges must spend the night in a decrepit old mansion they believe to be abandoned but is occupied by a deformed killer. The plot of Hell Night is fairly simple, but the spooky atmosphere, plausibility, elevated body count, and performance of Linda Blair (eight years removed from The Exorcist) help push this oft-overlooked horror film into favorable territory.

Sorority house mothers can be a drag, but the seven sisters in The House on Sorority Row obviously go too far when they try to scare their house mom and end up killing her. The students attempt to cover up their crime but are stalked and slayed by a mysterious figure bent on vengeance. Although it’s criminally underrated, The House on Sorority Row is praised by horror fans as one of the best slashers in film history.

Geekier frat boys will always be compared to Lewis (Robert Carradine), Gilbert (Anthony Edwards), Booger (Curtis Armstrong), and the other guys from 1984’s Revenge of the Nerds. Although the now-dated film is rife with stereotypes and raunchy humor and was initially panned by critics, it has since become a classic feel-good comedy about the nerds of Tri-Lamb (Lambda Lambda Lambda) struggling for acceptance while constantly being undermined by the jerks from the Alpha Beta fraternity and Pi Delta Pi sorority.

The Initiation has more than its share of tropes — a sorority hazing ritual, teens breaking into a place they’re not supposed to be, victims getting knocked off one at a time by a mysterious killer, and, of course, some obligatory nudity — but it's actually a solid slasher. Daphne Zuniga plays the lead in this fun film directed by Larry Stewart.

A couple of friends decided to join a fraternity, but as part of their hazing, the brothers of Beta Epsilon made them steal a cadaver. Unfortunately, they happen to pick the one corpse infected with an extraterrestrial. It comes to life, and madness and murder ensues. Horror icon Tom Atkins, of course, plays the detective in Night of the Creeps, a cheesy but entertaining sci-fi horror film from 1986.

Sure, the premise of Sorority House Massacre bears more than a passing resemblance to 1978’s Halloween — and that fact turned off mainstream audiences. But horror fans, including us, appreciate the slasher as a somewhat campy, formulaic film that’s moderately gory and mindlessly entertaining…even if it’s not as good as the film from which it was spun off, Slumber Party Massacre.

Did you know Spike Lee's second feature film (released between the better-known She's Gotta Have It and Do the Right Thing) was a musical about fraternities and sororities? School Daze stars Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, and Lee (and also features Samuel L. Jackson) and is set at Mission College, a Historically Black College in Atlanta. It received lukewarm reviews but was generally well-received by audiences who championed its commentary on various challenges in the Black community.

Okay, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is only in a sorority at the beginning of Legally Blonde, as she leaves Greek life behind upon enrolling at Harvard Law School. But she brings the sorority vibe to her new university, repeatedly references her time in Delta Nu, and continues receiving support from her sorority sisters. Plus, the 2001 movie is inspirational, very funny, and widely adored.

Fraternity brothers aren't the stars of Van Wilder. They're the enemies of the star, who is Ryan Reynolds in all his charming, wise-cracking glory. Like Animal House, Van Wilder is a National Lampoon college film that co-stars Tim Matheson, and it's also notable for featuring one of Tara Reid's best roles and is responsible for launching the career of Kal Penn!

Although we love Van Wilder, if there’s an Animal House of the early 2000s, it’s gotta be Old School. Directed and co-written by Todd Phillips, the endlessly quotable comedy centers on a down-on-his-luck 30-something who gets cheated on by his girlfriend, moves into a house near college campus, and starts a fraternity for misfits when the vindictive dean rezones the house for university use only. Old School is greatly helped by its all-star cast that includes Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Elisha Cuthbert, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Craig Kilborn, Seann William Scott, Artie Lange, Rob Corddry, and Matt Walsh, not to mention numerous celebrity cameos.

After getting rejected from every university he applied to, Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) created a fake college called the South Harmon Institute of Technology. Bartleby's best friend, Sherman (Jonah Hill), gets into the more prestigious (and existent) Harmon College but helps his buddy with the higher-ed ruse out of loyalty…and because Sherman is constantly tormented by the elitist brothers of one Harmon College fraternity. Silly, immature, and far-fetched, Accepted is a feel-good comedy that also features Blake Lively, Lewis Black, and Maria Thayer.

This retelling of Snow White (stick with us), starring Amanda Bynes (seriously, don’t leave), centers on a college freshman who aspires to join her mother’s former sorority, is spurned and vows to defeat the Kappa Phi Nu head sorority sister in an upcoming election for student body president. Critics predictably panned Sydney White, but audiences (including us) found it to be a sweet teen rom-com — as evidenced by its solid 70% Freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The House Bunny is a dumb movie. We’re not going to argue that. (In fact, that’s kind of the point of this movie about a Playboy Playmate who gets ousted from the mansion and finds a job as a sorority house mom.) But it’s also silly, funny, uplifting, and even a little endearing. And we love its star, Anna Faris, as well as the strong supporting cast of Emma Stone, Cat Dennings, Beverly D’Angelo, Colin Hanks, Christopher McDonald, and Rumer Willis…plus some bonus cameos!

We enjoy Monsters University more than the original Monsters, Inc. That may be an unpopular opinion, but we’re suckers for college comedies, and this prequel also features a fraternity element as Sulley, Mike, and their Oozma Kappa brothers compete to be the top scarers at the titular school. In addition to the returns of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi, this movie adds a who’s-who of notable names, including Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, Dave Foley, Bill Hader, Sean Hayes, Bonnie Hunt, John Krasinksi, Tyler Labine, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Bobby Moynihan, Aubrey Plaza, John Ratzenberger, and Julia Sweeney.

A rowdy fraternity moving in next to two new parents sounds like a nightmare…or the ingredients for an outrageous comedy. At least that’s the case with Neighbors , the 2014 Nicholas Stoller film that pits Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne against Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and the rest of the hard-partying Delta Psi Beta. Critics were kind to Neighbors, and audiences were even more delighted, especially upon seeing the then-27-year-old Efron successfully shedding his Disney teeny-bopper image.

If you need any convincing that Dude Bro Party Massacre III is not a film to be taken seriously, look no further than the title. Not only is "Dude Bro Party" a moronic term, but there is no "Dude Bro Party Massacre I" or "Dude Bro Party Massacre III." It's also about a bunch of frat guys getting murdered by someone wearing the cut-off face of a sorority house mother. With that in mind, it's easy to enjoy this outrageously schlocky, gore-filled slash-fest that somehow managed cameos from Patton Oswalt, Andrew W.K., and Larry King.

The 2018 horror movie Leprechaun Returns (the eighth film in the franchise) takes place almost entirely in a sorority house at the fictional Laramore University. (Although the house is way, way off campus.) It’s one of only two Leprechaun movies not to feature Warwick Davis in the titular role and was generally panned by critics for having a lot of gore and not much else…but that’s all we need. We love every Leprechaun installment, and so do a lot of fans of silly, brainless horror — the movie’s 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes backs that up.

If you’re looking for a chilling, serious horror film, do not watch Slotherhouse — the production value is top-notch, but come on, it’s a movie about a newly adopted sloth that begins killing the sisters of the Sigma Lambda Theta sorority house. But if you’re looking for a movie that’s so absurd you’ll spend all 93 minutes laughing your stubby little tail off, stream Slotherhouse as soon as possible.