12 Best Hidden Gem Movies Of 2016

After taking on subjects as diverse as LARPing, conspiracy theorists and his own grandmother and artist Alice Neel, director Andrew Neel turns his attention to fraternity hazing in his second straight narrative feature Goat.

Based on the memoir of the same name by Brad Land, the film stars Ben Schnetzer as a college student recovering from a violent assault over the summer who determines to join a fraternity that his older brother (played by Nick Jonas, but don’t let that put you off) is already a member of. As a new frat pledge, Schnetzer is subjected to a series of increasingly harrowing and brutal hazing rituals and the blood brothers start to question their loyalty to their frat bros.

It’s a blistering and unflinching indictment of fraternity culture and the kind of masochistic machismo it encourages and Schnetzer and Jonas are both on form as the brothers swept along by their testosterone-driven quest for acceptance.

There’s a brief, scene-stealing cameo too from James Franco as an older college alum who just can’t quite let go of his wild frat brother days.