[REVIEW] Tribeca 2023: Fraternity Life is a Horror Show in "The Line"

Horror King Alex Wolff returns in The Line, an upsetting look at the all too common violence hidden within the system of American college fraternities. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca film festival and is a standout entry due to its grittiness and truthful account of the culture Though the film is billed as a thriller, it is nothing less than a horror story. The Line is the story of the cult of unchecked violent masculinity – which is the story of America. The Line opens on college frat boy Tom (Alex Wolff) feeling the wind through his hair and across his face as flashbacks to a corpse interrupt the sequence flooded in neon lights. We are immediately told how this story will end and that our protagonist is ultimately involved, making him at least in part responsible. 

We cut to Tom sitting at the table with his mother Jackie (Cheri Oteri), where the pair eat dinner while she questions him about his faux Southern accent. She pokes and prods about his life outside of his fraternity and he cannot seem to give her any sufficient answers. Tom heads back to school at Sumpter where he lives in his fraternity house with his best friend Mitch Miller (Bo Mitchell). It’s rush week and the culture of this group of boys is extremely apparent. There’s drugs, there’s alcohol, and there’s misogyny. 

Potential rush Gettys O’Brien (Austin Abrams) causes a stir between the group when Mitch opposes his acceptance into the fraternity. Against campus policy, the brothers go behind fraternity president Todd’s (Lewis Pullman) back and take the freshmen who are rushing on a retreat filled with hazing. Things escalate to physical fights and Mitch punches Gettys, causing him to drop to the floor and break his neck, killing him. In the aftermath we find Tom working as a bartender when Mitch walks in. We see that Mitch’s wealthy and well connected father has gotten him out of the murder charges he should be facing. Tom’s life is stunted, while Mitch suffers no consequences.

The Line is bleak in its truth about American life. Tom is an empathetic character who does begin to question the morals of his group, but in the end he is just as guilty for not bringing a stop to the behavior. Though Tom doesn’t physically cause the murder of Gettys, he is still present, perpetuating the culture that leads to murder. 

The performances, particularly from Wolff, are stunning and horrific. We do know these people and their patterns and the film does a stellar job of laying everything out exactly as it is. The Line does not hold back from exposing the intricacies of the fraternity system and how crimes continue to happen within these groups. In the final scene, Tom sits at the dinner table again with his mother as a news report about a murdered fraternity brother plays on the news. Violence is a system perpetuated by everyone involved and continues to function as a cycle.

What The Line really gets right is showcasing the fact that these are not isolated incidents and that in order to stop them, the culture of hegemonic masculinity needs to be infiltrated from the beginning before it reaches a dangerous level. The film is definitely worth checking out, just be prepared to face the true dark side of academia.