Fraternities are a mainstay of America’s Post-Secondary educational system. They’re also key components in the movies based on that same system. It’s quite interesting when they are used as there’s usually one that plays the part of the hero and another that plays the part of a villain.
But just because the fraternity is the hero of the film doesn’t make it actually a good fraternity. In actuality, the opposite is often true. But that same bad fraternity is often the key to a really funny movie.
10 Zook’s Fraternity In 22 Jump Street
The 2012 film adaptation of the TV classic 21 Jump Street was a surprise hit at the box office. Sending Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum back to high school turned out to be surprisingly funny. Two years later, they followed up with 22 Jump Street which sent the duo back undercover but this time at college.
The sequel had its moments but was not as funny as the first movie. One of the early suspects in the case who goes by the nickname Zook wanted Tatum’s character to pledge to his frat. It’s not the worst frat but being that banal and unoriginal was actually quite offensive in its own way.
9 Hoyt’s Fraternity In Accepted
The core of the 2006 cult classic Accepted is questioning the validity of the entire Post-Secondary educational system and what it does to the students it churns through its facilities. When Bartleby Gaines wasn’t accepted to a single college, he created a fake school to placate his parents.
Other people found out and signed up, forcing him to actually open a school. Nipping at his heels the entire time was Hoyt, a representative of the nearby Harmon College and a member of the reigning fraternity there. They were the quintessential movie fraternity filled with entitled jerks.
8 Kappa Nu in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
The Kappa Nu’s are not a fraternity, they are a sorority but they more than deserve to be on this list. The reality is that they are a house full of partiers in a residential neighborhood making everyone’s life incredibly difficult. But this brand new sorority started because of rules that prevented sororities from hosting parties.
It doesn’t seem like a big deal at first but the women involved wanted to feel safe when they party and this was a good way to achieve that. Party they did, forcing Seth Rogen to team up with Zac Efron, his old enemy from the first movie.
7 Delta Tau Chi In Animal House
Animal House reigns supreme as the greatest college comedy flick of all time, due in no small part to the pack of drunken louts at Delta Tau Chi. While they are absolutely the heroes of the story and seem like a great bunch of guys, their fraternity is terrible. Fortunately, that’s a key part of the joke.
Their house is a run down hole. Their parties lay waste to everything around them. The frat brothers are constantly cheating, causing problems on campus and pranking everyone in sight. As awesome as they are, the Deltas are also kind of jerks and they own it.
6 The Korean Frat In Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle
When they headed out in search of some delicious White Castle, little did Harold and Kumar know that they were going to cross paths with one of the most boring frats on campus. They also didn’t know that Neil Patrick Harris was going to steal their car but that happened, too.
The Korean Frat wanted Harold to talk about his terrible job, something they all coveted. He just wanted to get as far away from them as humanly possible. While making their escape from campus, Harold and Kumar turned back to realize that this frat parties hard. Maybe they should have stayed after all.
5 Lambda Lambda Lambda In Revenge Of The Nerds
This film has not stood the test of time as a lot of the characters in it are offensive stereotypes. In it, a group of nerds try to find a way to stay on campus and must join a fraternity to do it. They choose Lambda Lambda Lambda, the only ones willing to consider their application. The Tri-Lambs are traditionally an all-Black fraternity so the nerds had to work extra hard to gain acceptance, which they did.
Their nerd frat isn’t an especially good one, but at least they gave the mutually unaccepted a safe space on campus. The funny part is Lambda Lambda Lambda actually exists now. A real-life frat named after the fictional one started up in 2006.
4 Lambda Epsilon Omega In Old School
So, you come home from a business trip and find your girlfriend cheating on you with several people. Your friends do the only logical thing to help you and start a new fraternity near campus, despite the fact that several members are full-grown adult men and not students.
LEO in Old School is not inherently a bad fraternity in that they throw epic parties but they ignore virtually every other aspect of being a fraternity. They’re a bad frat because they almost cost all the actual students in it their college careers. Also, they killed Blue by accident. He was their boy.
3 Delta Psi Beta In Neighbors
The first edition of Neighbors was about a fraternity led by Zac Efron moving in next door to Seth Rogen. Initially, they tried to coexist but the relationship quickly broke down and an outright war started. If they were on campus or surrounded by other frats, the Delta Psis might actually have been a tolerable group of guys.
But they’re not. Their new house was in a residential neighbourhood, and they refused to change the way they do business because of it. Anyone would be frustrated by that.
2 Delta Iota Kappa In Van Wilder
Van Wilder was the first movie that let Ryan Reynolds show how Ryan Reynolds he truly is. When the long time student needed to make money, Van decided to put his considerable party experience to good use and become an on-campus party planner for all of the groups around him.
The school newspaper did a story on him but the reporter’s boyfriend got jealous and went after Van. Naturally, he’s a member of the Delta Iota Kappas or the DIKs. As the name suggests, they’re not a nice group of guys.
1 Omega Theta Pi in Animal House
Unlike the iconic Deltas in Animal House, the Omegas are incredibly good at all aspects of being a frat. They have a long history of success, throw dignified parties and put school before everything else.
The Omegas are also a pack of condescending, self-righteous, elitist jerks and you can’t wait for them to get what’s coming to them at every turn. This frat is the prototype for all other bad guy frats in movies, including many of the ones on this list. The Omegas are the worst, and not just because they let Kevin Bacon in.
