The Skulls (2000)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Rob Cohen

Writer (WGA):

John Pogue (written by)

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

A secret society so powerful, it can give you everything you desire... at a price.

Plot:

Luke McNamara, a college senior from a working class background joins a secret elitist college fraternity organization called "The Skulls"...

Plot Keywords:

College | Secret Society | School | Fraternity | Murder

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Joshua Jackson	...	Lucas "Luke" McNamara
Paul Walker	...	Caleb Mandrake
Hill Harper	...	Will Beckford
Leslie Bibb	...	Chloe Whitfield
Christopher McDonald	...	Martin Lombard
Steve Harris	...	Detective Sparrow
William Petersen	...	Ames Levritt
Craig T. Nelson	...	Litten Mandrake
David Asman	...	Jason Pitcairn
Scott Gibson	...	Travis Wheeler
Nigel Bennett	...	Dr. Rupert Whitney
Andrew Kraulis	...	McBride
Derek Aasland	...	Sullivan
Jennifer Melino	...	J.J.
Noah Danby	...	Hugh Mauberson

Also Known As:

Le clan des Skulls (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #37120) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Belfountain, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Cranium Films

Trivia:

When the Skulls members are heading out to the island, the castle in the background is Singer Castle on Dark Island. The island that the Skull and Bone Society owns is called Deer Island. Both islands are in the Thousand Island of the St. Lawrence River.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Judge Mandrake asks the Senator if they should vote again, his lips don't move.

Quotes:

Judge Litten Mandrake: Our membership has its pleasure, its hardship, and sometimes its pain.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Choses secrètes (2002)

Soundtrack:

Higher

Good potential smothered in bad script...

THE SKULLS deals with an interesting subject but never overcomes a murky script that seems to go nowhere until the final sequences.

Two young freshmen are at the centerpiece of the story about a mysterious organization called "The Skulls" that seems to offer rich rewards for joining a secret society. JOSHUA JACKSON and PAUL WALKER are the two young men and CRAIG T. NELSON is Walker's father who wants his wealthy son to make it into the society.

The acting is decent enough, especially by Jackson, and Craig T. Nelson is earnest as the overbearing father but the murky plot is a stumbling block all the way through. The sets are handsomely designed and the technical credits are fine but none of the characters are particularly interesting and the viewer becomes uninvolved in a story that lacks sufficient tension to pull the whole thing together.

Good try, but having a relatively unknown cast filling all of the roles doesn't help much. As a suspense thriller, could have been so much tighter, so much better.