Pledge Night

Like other VHS trash, Pledge Night attracts us with promises of demonic rampages and exhibitions of gore, which it barely delivers until the last third of the film. Until then, the film attempts to expose the falsity, stupidity and depravity of American college fraternities. In and of itself, this is actually praiseworthy because, among other things, the 1980s were full of frat-house flicks that glorified the phenomenon, or at least portrayed it as something benign. Thus, at the core of Pledge Night beats an embittered but sincerely disgusted heart stating that depraved university macho bullying forms the foundation of American society, or rather its elites. When we consider that all highly placed men in American society have been indoctrinated in this way, it explains a lot about the state of America, and not just in relation to the embodiment of frat-house dumbfuckery, Donald Trump. Unfortunately, this likable core is not put to good creative use, so the film engagingly bumps along for the first two-thirds until the satisfying escalated climax. (13/11/2021)