One of the most venerated institutions in higher learning also proves to be one of the most devious in this campus thriller, directed by veteran B-movie helmer Sidney J. Furie in the vein of 1999's The Skulls. The Fraternity stars Dawson's Creek and Skulls II alum Robin Dunne as Alex, a young college student indoctrinated into one of the more prestigious houses of Greek brotherhood at Runice Academy. But when a brother turns up dead, the fraternity's once-hallowed halls become rife with suspicion, paranoia, and fear, and it's up to Alex to find out the truth about his brethren. The Fraternity also features Treat Williams. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Sidney J. Furie's visual style is the best thing about this cliché-ridden murder mystery set in a very familiar, ivory-covered, all-boys prep school. Robin Dunne, who is making a career of institutional suspensers (see Cruel Intentions 2 and The Skulls 2) -- keeps a stiff upper lip as he watches his bad behavior spiral out of control, but he's just not very interesting or inspiring. Treat Williams, who is making a career out of institutional suspensers (see The Substitute series), is only mildly surprising during the revelation of the big Plot Twist upon which all the thrills are supposed to be based. You have to have tepid feelings for any film that comes down to that hoary struggle for a gun as two characters press together and the gun suddenly goes off, leaving you to wonder for just a second which one dies. In this case, nobody cares. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
The Fraternity (also known as The Circle) is a film about a circle of friends that create their own little elite club, while at the elite Runcie High School, and cheat on an exam. The subsequent pressure on the administration for some one in the circle to be a "rat", and finding one of the students dead, prompts one of their members to search for the truth.
The film is rated PG-13 and is about a 100 minutes long. The film was primarily shot at Bishop Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, where the school's prominent initials around campus conveniently matched those of Runcie College.
A group of high school seniors decide to create a secret society and have fun cruising around campus, pulling pranks and having poker parties in an abandoned boiler room. However, the circle decides to escalate things, by cheating on an exam. They all get "A"'s, but Mr. Spencer Runcie is convinced that they cheated, but just cannot prove it. The circle of friends and every other student who got an "A" are sent before an honor committee, where someone does name one name: Frazier, who is expelled. Although Runcie will not say who the rat is, the circle suspects that it is the nerdy Faulkner. His roommate and fellow circle member, Alex, who has been helping Faulkner impress a girl, Tess, with some love letters, assures his fellow circle members that Faulkner is not the rat.
However, one of the circle members is convinced that Faulker is the rat, and when Faulkner is found in the river and dies soon afterwards, Alex is convinced that he was murdered by someone in the circle. His suspicions are rejected by the administration, until the police get involved, and one circle member, Jetson Harlow, is arrested, but later released. When the circle learns that Smitty was the rat, they decide to kidnap Smitty and force him to confess to the murder. Smitty does so, and confesses to having dressed up as a lady and having some type of sexual relationship with Runcie.
Smitty killed Faulkner because he was convinced that Faulkner knew that he was the rat, and told Runcie about it after the fact. Runcie is wounded in a fight between him and Smitty, and the police arrive in time to arrest Smitty, and to take Runcie to the hospital. Having been able to avoid being expelled for cheating, the remaining circle of friends graduate.
