Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce and Donald Sutherland. The film is about a trouble-making fraternity whose members challenge the authority of Dean Vernon Wormer of the fictional Faber College. Produced by Matty Simmons of National Lampoon and Ivan Reitman for Universal Pictures, Animal House was inspired by stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon, which were based on Ramis's experience in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St.