Horror Movie Review: The Brotherhood VI: Initiation (2009)

Written by D.N. Grove and directed by David DeCoteau, as per usual, The Brotherhood VI: Initiation brings an end to the middling homoerotic horror series. As of 2023, there have been no new entries.

So, does it go out with a bang? A vibrant and super-gay bang?

You can read our reviews of the series so far, below.

2001: The Brotherhood
2001: The Brotherhood II: Young Warlocks
2002: The Brotherhood III: Young Demons
2005: The Brotherhood IV: The Complex
2009 – The Brotherhood V: Alumni

Starring Aaron Jaeger, Tyson Breech, Bryan McMullin, Sasha Formoso, Burke Carter, Dominick Monteleone, and James Preston. The Brotherhood VI: Initiation goes for the more ‘realistic’ tone that the previous entry brought in. Yes, once again, the supernatural elements of the series are abandoned in favour of bog-standard slasher elements.

Featuring the dullest story yet, The Brotherhood VI: Initiation sees a bunch of young men go to a secluded cabin in the woods as part of their fraternity initiation. There’s a killer about though, and whoever it is seems to have revenge in mind.

Or something like that. It’s so hard to stay interested in any aspect of The Brotherhood VI: Initiation. The lack of effort is startling, even by this franchise’s standards and all anyone will really remember is the sight of young, jacked men wandering around in the woods in their underpants.

They look good, but they have no characters so it’s hard to tell if they’re decent actors or not. They’re just a bunch of dudes in woods going through the most uninspired initiation process ever. Which should, at least, tie nicely into the homoerotic side of things that permeate the entire franchise.

At least that’s something, right? Well, no, because The Brotherhood VI: Initiation is the tamest of the series so far when it comes to homoerotic elements. It’s so disappointing, but also par for the course when it comes to the total lack of effort that was put in to making this movie matter.

For all the previous film’s faults, and there are many, it always felt like David DeCoteau was trying. Based off how poor this film is, it’s for the best that franchise seems to have died away now.