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The Skulls

Play trailer Poster for The Skulls PG-13 2000 1h 46m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
9% Tomatometer 87 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
For Luke McNamara (Joshua Jackson), an invitation to join the prestigious secret college organization, The Skulls, is a dream come true. But he soon comes to realize just how powerful The Skulls organization really is -- and that the truth, like success, comes at a very high price.

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The Skulls

The Skulls

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Critics Consensus

The Skulls is full of nonsense and empty of good script and plot.

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Critics Reviews

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Lisa Alspector Chicago Reader 03/05/2007
Initially tolerable but increasingly stupid. Go to Full Review
Trevor Johnston Time Out 02/09/2006
The movie's unintentionally played like a comedy all the way. Go to Full Review
Xan Brooks Sight & Sound 12/02/2002
Through pure mismanagement, The Skulls bungles a rich seam of material. Go to Full Review
Joe Lipsett Horror Queers Podcast 04/03/2021
The only thing The Skulls does well is put viewers to sleep. There's nothing to recommend in this sad, boring queer-baity "thriller" Go to Full Review
Trace Thurman Horror Queers Podcast 03/31/2021
2/5
Dumb, interminable and (worst of all) boring. Go to Full Review
Mark Halverson Sacramento News & Review 08/07/2008
1/5
The usually dependable Rob Cohen directs from a ludicrous script. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Melissa L @Agent99 Nov 16 Once again, I'm baffled by a good movie rated poorly. Ignore the bad ratings, and judge for yourself. See more D P @RT45936356 01/14/2025 Nope... just no. I saw some recognizable faces in the promo and clicked on it. Not sure how they were able to justify the sequels. See more Jelisije J @jjosifovic 10/14/2024 A nice over the top hollywood film of secret societies that deals with a kid from college that is accepted into the society he always wanted to be a part of and now must work to survive and expose it. See more Asecret S @RT95895329 06/04/2024 "The Skulls,' where every twist and turn feels like a snake shedding its skin to reveal its veins. It's a world where 'if it's secret and elite, it can't be good,' yet somehow, you can't help but be drawn into the intrigue. As the story unfolds, you're reminded that 'our rules supersede those of the outside world,' plunging you deeper into a clandestine realm where anything is possible. My numerous viewings have led me to suspect that the level of cheesiness may be responsible for my lactose intolerance. But hey, that's part of its charm! So grab your popcorn and prepare to be whisked away on a wild ride with 'The Skulls' – because sometimes, embracing the absurd is the only way to truly enjoy a movie. See more Steve D @RT35616104 02/10/2023 The script is passable but the two stars aren't good enough to make it work. See more 03/15/2022 Sure, it's set in Yale, but that's Toronto, but otherwise, this is about the Skulls and Bones Society but they're called the Skulls. Far be it from me to say it's disinformation, but writer John Pogue (U.S. Marshalls, Rollerball and the just finished under the radar reimagining of Eraser; he also made Quarantine 2: Terminal and Deep Blue Sea 3) went to Yale, so either he knows something or he just lucked into three movies out of this idea. Lucas John "Luke" McNamara  (Joshua Jackson) grew up an orphan on the wrong side of the tracks but he still made into Yale on a rowing scholarship which is totally a thing. His only friends are his girlfriend Chloe (Leslie Bibb) and his friend Will (Hill Harper), yet he's still invited to join one of Yale's secret societies, the titular Skulls, and made a soulmate with Caleb Mandrake (Paul Walker), a legacy whose father Judge Litten Mandrake (Craig T. Nelson) is still very involved in Skulls business, along with Senator Ames Levritt (William Petersen) and provost Martin Lombard (Christopher McDonald, who is, always, Shooter McGavin). As you can imagine, the Skulls are so connected that they run the cops, the courts, the government, pretty much anywhere rich people are. They kill Will when he gets too close to exposing their secrets and is killed, which pits Skull brother against Skull brother, Skull father against Skull son and Skull boyfriend against non-Skull girlfriend. Director Rob Cohen didn't go to Yale, but he did go to Harvard and Amherst. He followed this movie up with The Fast and the Furious and XXX, so maybe he did have something to do with that whole secret society making its members wealthy thing. Then again, he followed those up with Stealth and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, so maybe he wasn't in all that tight. Also, if you ever saw the 1970 TV movie The Brotherhood of the Bell, you may have already seen this movie. See more Read all reviews
The Skulls

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The Skulls

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Movie Info

Synopsis For Luke McNamara (Joshua Jackson), an invitation to join the prestigious secret college organization, The Skulls, is a dream come true. But he soon comes to realize just how powerful The Skulls organization really is -- and that the truth, like success, comes at a very high price.
Director
Rob Cohen
Producer
Neal H. Moritz, John Pogue
Screenwriter
John Pogue
Distributor
20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures
Production Co
Newmarket Capital Group, Cranium Films, Universal Pictures, Original Film, Overbrook Entertainment
Rating
PG-13 (Violence|Brief Sexuality)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 31, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 10, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$35.0M
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
SDDS, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Surround, DTS, Dolby Stereo