Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Pledge Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 7, 2019

The experience of pledging a fraternity has been used to power many tales of discomfort, horror, and humiliation. It’s a setting that permits numerous opportunities for excess and exploitation, encouraging a high level of screen chaos to accurately represent hellacious behavior from problematic personalities. In recent years, dramatic offerings such as “Goat” and “Burning Sands” have dissected the psychological fracture of hazing, examining the blurred lines of brotherhood, but “Pledge” doesn’t share the same delicate understanding of need. It’s a horror experience from director Daniel Robbins and screenwriter Zack Weiner, and one that delivers all types of torturous actions and survival panic. It’s a refreshingly short, straightforward nightmare that benefits from simplicity, generating a visceral viewing event that’s periodically interrupted by cartoonish extremes.

Trying to find some level of social acceptance on their college campus, pals David (Zack Weiner), Ethan (Phillip Andre Botello), and Justin (Zachery Byrd) want to pledge a fraternity. Wandering around the area, the young men are routinely rejected by the elite, growing frustrated with their inability to create a new version of themselves, shedding their nerdly ways. Spotted by Rachel (Erica Boozer), the trio are invited to a party in the middle of nowhere, paying a visit to the Cretea House, a social club run by Max (Aaron Dalla Villa). Welcomed with drugs, booze, and beautiful women, Justin, Ethan, and David are seduced into the hazing process for membership. Once sober, the three nervous pledges are soon subjected to the wrath of the club, put into position for a week of monstrous treatment that’s tied to the history of the organization, experiencing ghoulish and violent experiments to shape them into proper Cretea men.

“Pledge” opens with a chilling scene showcasing the panicked sprint of a young man with a stomach wound. He’s speeding through a forest, trying to get away from an unknown source of violence, but his escape is not meant to be, soon scooped up by shadowy figures looking to clear a crime scene. The introduction is an efficient way to establish threat, with Robbins using drone cinematography effectively, setting the scene for dangers to come, echoing the shot later in the movie when Justin, Ethan, and David hike to the mystery party, making their way through the same woods. “Pledge” gets up on its feet quickly, but eventually refocuses on the three geeks and their desire to instantly achieve popularity by joining a fraternity. Weiner’s script details their subtle humiliations, facing bulky guys who want nothing to do with social outcasts, and in an interesting change of pace, the aspiring pledges are aware of their outward appeal, with Justin particularly conscious of bullying behavior meant to hurt the friends. The trio isn’t attractive, but they aren’t stupid either.

Rachel presents the guys with an opportunity to belong somewhere for the evening, and it’s a party they aren’t about to miss. Weiner provides a traditional set-up for mayhem to come, sending the innocents to the slaughter, only in “Pledge,” Justin, Ethan, and David are gifted a night to remember, experiencing immersion into various pleasures, including attention from pretty girls. Of course, this is the last bit of comfort the classmates enjoy before the nightmare begins, at first willingly submitting themselves to the pledging process, which is run by Max and his stooges, who transform from welcoming hosts to devils delighting in the distribution of pain, beginning with a branding ceremony that pops the bubble of safety initially presented by Cretea. Agony is soon summoned, along with extended gross-outs, including a hazing challenge that has the newbies trying to choke down rancid slop, trying their best to finish the meal without vomiting.

Pledge Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.38:1 aspect ratio) presentation deals primarily with interior action with limited lighting, working through club rooms with a traditional HD-shot sharpness. Detail is strong, securing a look at facial particulars and bodily wounds, and assorted grotesqueries are vivid, making awful business simple to study. Colors favor a muted palette once inside, but costuming contributes bright primaries, and greenery is realistic, establishing campus life and rural settings. Delineation is acceptable. Banding is periodically detected.

Pledge Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix emerges with enough authority during dialogue exchanges, which keep their freshness, adding a direct sense of order and submission to the movie. Elevated displays of anger never reach distorted highs or muddy lows, and panic comes through as intended, with defined reactions from specific members of the cast. Scoring delivers a frontal synth throb, maintaining the feature's sense of dread, but soundtrack selections are mixed a little quieter, making party scenes lacking in volume. Low-end is passable.

Pledge Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Daniel Robbins, producer Mark Rapaport, co-producer Michael Gelfand, and actors Zachary Byrd, Aaron Dalla Villa, and Zachary Weiner.

• Deleted Scenes (3:48, HD) include more time with the pledges as they make their way to the house, and a mid-party scene where a lame story from Ethan is rapturously received by club members.

• Blooper Reel (5:21, HD) details a good portion of mix-em-ups, giggle fits, and improvisations.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:03, HD) is included.

Pledge Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Pledge" does a fine job depicting unsavory activity, which evolves into ultraviolence, subjecting Justin, Ethan, and David to sleep deprivation and skin infection. However, the dehumanization presented here isn't social or collegiate commentary, but a B-movie exercise, with Robbins clarifying antagonism with broad performances, finding a few actors in need of limits, periodically breaking the illusion. Weiner also runs out of things to do before the climax (the film runs 73 minutes before the end credits, but has trouble filling it), reducing a house of horrors to a lukewarm escape picture, though one redeemed with its gladiatorial conclusion. "Pledge" bends now and then, but never breaks, staying alert with grotesqueries and panic, presenting a compelling mess of virginal lust, cackling machismo, and fraternity menace.