diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/template.py b/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
index 9521f2f2ece..5146057dac9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
@@ -340,6 +340,8 @@ def template_from_string(basedir, data, vars, fail_on_undefined=False):
 
         try:
             t = environment.from_string(data)
+        except TemplateSyntaxError, e:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("template error while templating string: %s" % str(e))
         except Exception, e:
             if 'recursion' in str(e):
                 raise errors.AnsibleError("recursive loop detected in template string: %s" % data)
diff --git a/test/integration/Makefile b/test/integration/Makefile
index 4bccc8cd9f1..56e35d7c8b1 100644
--- a/test/integration/Makefile
+++ b/test/integration/Makefile
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ parsing:
 	ansible-playbook bad_parsing.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -vvv $(TEST_FLAGS) --tags common,scenario2; [ $$? -eq 3 ]
 	ansible-playbook bad_parsing.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -vvv $(TEST_FLAGS) --tags common,scenario3; [ $$? -eq 3 ]
 	ansible-playbook bad_parsing.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -vvv $(TEST_FLAGS) --tags common,scenario4; [ $$? -eq 3 ]
+	ansible-playbook bad_parsing.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -vvv $(TEST_FLAGS) --tags common,scenario5; [ $$? -eq 3 ]
 	ansible-playbook good_parsing.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -v $(TEST_FLAGS)
 
 includes:
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_bad_parsing/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/roles/test_bad_parsing/tasks/main.yml
index fae01f2ee9d..3899821de6f 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_bad_parsing/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_bad_parsing/tasks/main.yml
@@ -49,5 +49,7 @@
   failed_when: False
   tags: scenario4
 
-
+- name: test that a missing/malformed jinja2 filter fails
+  debug: msg="{{output_dir|badfiltername}}"
+  tags: scenario5
 
diff --git a/test/integration/test_group_by.yml b/test/integration/test_group_by.yml
index 6385c1f5ad7..0f4ff413879 100644
--- a/test/integration/test_group_by.yml
+++ b/test/integration/test_group_by.yml
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
     - name: set a fact to check that we ran this play
       set_fact: genus_LAMA=true
 
-- hosts: '{{genus'
+- hosts: 'genus'
   gather_facts: false
   tasks:
     - name: no hosts should match this group