The film, directed by Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, focuses on the pledging process through a composite of different fraternities.

It was mostly filmed at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

At SUNY Oneonta, Phillips and co-director Andrew Gurland meet a fraternity brother of Beta Chi who goes by the name of Blossom.

During the pledges' Hell Week, they are forced to wear uniforms, wake up at all hours, engage in strenuous physical activities, and chug beers on demand.

In his voiceover, Phillips reveals that some frat members have grown uncomfortable with outsiders filming their exploits.

Shortly after witnessing this, Phillips and company are kicked out and told they can no longer film at the frat house.

For Phillips, this involves being locked inside a dog crate where he has beer, spit, and cigarette ashes thrown on him.

"[3] Phillips said the intention was for viewers to come away with a better understanding of why people would put themselves through the mental and physical anguish of hazing in order to belong.

"[2] Frat House premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 1998, and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary.

[5] That December, HBO announced they would not air the film, citing claims from Alpha Tau Omega of the documentary's alleged fabrication.

[5][3] Phillips denied that scenes were redone multiple times, explaining, "What people don't understand about good documentary filmmaking is, it's screenwriting.

"[3] Phillips added "the parents complained that a lot of the boys were drunk or stoned in the film and got worried about how that would affect their futures -- and argued that they hadn't known what they were doing when they signed releases.

[3] With the exception of a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in September 2000,[2] the film was never given an official release, though versions have occasionally circulated online.

I think if I ran into them in a group and they were drunk, I might have a problem, but when I bump into one of them on the street, they'll say something like, 'Bones, dude, Blossom's looking for you, man, he wants to kill you.'

[7] Norcross concluded, "It’s easy to see in Frat House the darker, more cynical origins of Phillips' later work in the Hangover sequels and most especially, Joker.

The combination of humor and horror in Frat House speaks to the entirety of Phillips’ body of work.