The Skulls (2000)

Luke McNamara, a college senior from a working class background joins a secret elitist college fraternity organization called "The Skulls", in hope of gaining acceptance into Harvard Law ... See full summary »

Director:

Rob Cohen

Writer:

John Pogue

Stars:

Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker, Hill Harper

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joshua Jackson	...	Luke McNamara
Paul Walker	...	Caleb Mandrake
Hill Harper	...	Will Beckford
Leslie Bibb	...	Chloe
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. Whitney
Andrew Kraulis	...	McBride
Derek Aasland	...	Sullivan
Jennifer Melino	...	J.J.
Noah Danby	...	Hugh Mauberson

Storyline

Luke McNamara, a college senior from a working class background joins a secret elitist college fraternity organization called "The Skulls", in hope of gaining acceptance into Harvard Law School. At first seduced by the club's trapping of power and wealth, a series of disturbing incidents, such as his best friends suicide, leads Luke to investigate the true nature of the organization and the truth behind his friends supposed suicide. He starts realizing that his future and possibly his life is in danger.

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Plot Keywords:

released in 2000 on usa | college | ivy league | suicide | secret society | 

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Taglines:

Getting in is easy. Getting out is a killer.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief sexuality

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lobanje

Filming Locations:

Belfountain, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,034,885, 2 April 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$35,007,180, 28 May 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Original Film, Newmarket Capital Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joshua Jackson was considered for the role of Mox in Varsity Blues(1999), which was played by James Van Der Beek. One year later, James Van Der Beek was considered for the part of Luke McNamara which went to Jackson. This is significant because of their time together on Dawson's Creek.

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Goofs

In the first classroom scene, the overhead shots show Luke sitting at a table with one girl sitting on his left. Another woman is sitting at the head of the table. In the eyelevel shots of Luke from the teacher's viewpoint, the woman from the head of the table has shifted position to become a second woman on Luke's left.

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Quotes

[Caleb is sitting in front of her while they're watching the boat race]
Coed in Caleb's Car: Caleb, I can't see the race!
Caleb Mandrake: Imagine it.

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Connections

Spoofed in Community: Introduction to Finality (2012)

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Soundtracks

Something About a Ceiling
Performed by 3 Day Wheely

User Reviews

As secret as a presidential affair

The Skulls is a thinly veiled allusion to one of the purportedly most secret of all secret societies, Skull and Bones, the Yale group to which George Bush (the former president) belonged. You know all about those secret societies; they breed smart, rich young men who will put other smart, rich young men in power, and then those men will put other smart, rich young men in power, and so forth and yadda yadda yadda. You can find out all sorts of things about Skull and Bones online, and I suppose there's a chance some of those things are actually true. But for the purposes of this movie - and this review - suffice to say that The Skulls is a small group mostly made up of rich white kids who get paid scholarships, free cars, free women, the whole works. And what does this secret society ask for in return? Unbound loyalty, of course. Unquestioning and absolute loyalty, kind of like the Mob, really, only the Mob is more overtly criminal.

The story focuses on Luke, a townie at Yale University. Luke wants to go to law school, but the tuition's a little high. He's parentless and low on funds, so of course he's prime pickings for The Skulls. Will he join them? Darn tootin' he will, despite the protests of his best friend and this hot young blonde he likes. They try to reason with him, believing their friendship is stronger than his need to be a lawyer, but they're wrong. If they were right, we'd have no movie.

So he joins, and wouldn't you know it, all kinds of bad things happen to poor Luke. There's murder, there's corruption, and gosh and golly, our boy just doesn't know who to trust. More twists than a Poe novel; the only problem is, they're not believable twists. If you're cynical about this kind of movie (as I am), you'll laugh out loud many times, both at the acting and the dialogue. The worst offense is in the timing, quite frankly. At no point are we led to believe that this society could be a GOOD thing. We know immediately it's bad. See, I think to be truly sinister you need to wear a mask of credibility. If I already know how bad you are, I won't be as afraid of you or as startled when you actually do something despicable.

This is a real chucklefest, in the same vein as Final Destination, Urban Legends, I Know What You Did Last Summer (both movies), and even the Scream movies, which I didn't care for (but I know many of you did, so whatcha gonna do). You have an attractive cast spouting incredible lines in unbelievable situations. The old moviegoer in us wonders what Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck would have done in this movie when they were younger (and, in Stewart's case, alive), but that's probably a philosophical debate best left to denizens of the old critics' home. As for me, I'd say pass on The Skulls - it's as hollow as its name might imply.