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The Skulls II (2002) (V) More at IMDbPro »

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Sequel to a horrible movie offers more., 11 April 2002

Author: Mister13 from California USA

The premise of the Skulls and it's sequel is that we are looking at the inner workings of one of America's (fictional) secret societies.

Unfortunately because it is a sequel it will be compared to the original.

This film has the same premise as the first film. A young college student who is 'tapped' to become one of the elite of the elite, a problem crops up and there is a lot of running in fear for the life of our hero.

This installment offers up more sexual energy and more likable (and well played )dislikable characters, a few minor changes in casting could have been made. For instance the abundance of overly WASPish pretty boys. Without debating how ethnically diverse secret societies are, I'm sure all the younger members are not all pretty boys.

The story, what little of it was there, does turn the previous movie on it's ear, sort of. Which would have been more refreshing had it had the sence of suspense and wonder of the original and excluded the somewhat rushed-wanna-be-a-cool-plot-twist-but-wasn't ending. Make no mistake though, I am not saying that the first one had a lot of suspense, it just seemed to have more.Unfortunately the performances of the young actors could not bring this movie to life.

All in all, I would recommend it if you are not looking for much depth or story.If you're looking for a movie to satisfy look for something else. I would give it a 3 out of 10.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Is this the part where I spin some ingenious line proving that I was in fact listening all along?, 9 November 2004
Author: Andy (film-critic) from Bookseller of the Blue Ridge

So, where should I go with this one? I am pretty sure that most can realize how bad of a film this was without needing me to spell it out for you, but then some of us do need guides, so here it goes. The Skulls II is a classic example of a movie company trying to monopolize on the semi-success of the original. Using the rules of low-budget sequel making, they get lesser-known actors to replace the better known actors from the original. They repeat several select scenes that resemble the original so that the audience doesn't get confused, while all the while continuing with a similar story from the original. At first glance, you may not realize that there is a difference between these two films outside of the grade D actors that are trying to make a name for themselves. When will Hollywood realize that they need to stop doing this? The original Skulls film was not a box-office sensation, so why suck even more money from an already dried well? Then to see that there is already another film released for those of us that are foaming at the mouth to get more of this secret society makes me sick. Why Hollywood, why?

Let me begin by getting the shredder out. The acting was horrible. I mean, I have seen some bad acting in many of the films that I have seen over the years, but that done by Robin Dunne and Nathan West was despicable. It was obvious from the opening sequence that they were more excited about being in a film than the overall quality of the film. This was not a good sign. The only successful task that these young actors did for me was taking me from minute zero to minute ninety-eight. The progressed the film, if that is what you want to call it. Of course, how can you act if you are handed shoddy material anyway? None of these characters were developed or better yet underdeveloped. I would have been happier with underdeveloped characters because I could have blamed the writers, but instead I have found that both are to blame. For lack of a better word, the actors in this film were lazy. They accepted bad parts for money, and that is never a way to boost your career. If you have noticed, these guys haven't gone further with their jobs, and I would be blaming this film if I were them for their lack of good employment.

Another aspect to toss in the shredder is the concept of continuity. When one directs a film, you must possess within your bag of goodness the ability to move the characters from point A to point B fluently. For those of you that have seen this film, you will probably agree with me that director Joe Chappelle did not have this talent. There were so many holes in this story that he tried to fill with scenes from the original that forced Chappelle to shoot himself in the foot. I could not get involved with the plot of this film because one moment the organization was doing something, and the next they were doing something completely the opposite. Perhaps it was the laziness of the characters that opened these holes, but we cannot leave out Chappelle. He should have pushed his team further and used his leadership abilities. I have spoken before that I felt as if the actors were there to collect a paycheck and jump-start their careers, I feel the same about Joe Chappelle. Could he not see the overall awfulness of this film? When did he finally look at the finished product and say, 'We have an Oscar winner here!' If he said this, then I would question Chappelle's ability to direct.

Finally, I would like to make a quick comment about the use of CGI in this film. For those of you who have seen this horrible, horrible film, you probably missed it because of the burning sensation coming from your eyes. It says something about a film when the only use of CGI is on a trashcan. A trashcan being hurled towards a person is a waste of studio money and viewers patience. I laughed hysterically when I saw this because I could see Chappelle getting excited about this scene. What kind of damage could a plastic trash can do to anyone? It is a tough question, and I am thankful that hard-earned money went towards the creation of this piece of cinematic history.

Overall, I have had enough about this organization. For this series to continue, the creators, directors, or film studios will have to completely break the norm and go out on a limb. As I can see from the next one it looks like they have a woman that wants to join the organization. That is not the limb that I am talking about. This (now trilogy) was failed from the beginning, yet the Hollywood recycle factor chose to release it over and over again. It was sad to see these actors and director fail, but it should have been obvious from the beginning when they were handed the direct-to-video release script for The Skulls II. I encourage you to avoid this film at all costs. There is nothing redeemable in it at all.

Grade: * out of *****

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Same as the first one, 21 December 2003

Author: Matt from Ann Arbor, MI

Wow, was this movie not worth seeing. After the first Skulls, I was excited to see the second one. What a let down. The sequel has nearly the same story line as the first one except with lesser known actors. Definitely not worth the rental fees on this one.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazingly terrible, 1 July 2003
Author: palmer-4 from la

I never saw the first Skulls and only saw this one because it was the only movie at the Red Cross I hadn't seen when I was giving a Platelettes donation. It's mind boggling to me that this film was even made. I find it hard to believe that someone, somewhere in the industry saw this script and said "yeah, this is good, we could make a great movie with this..."

A secret society inducts some members into its group. Apparently, the members are really stupid, because they believe amazingly idiotic stories about who girl who supposedly fell off the ceiling, was only doing it for a good cause. The current members are all sinister looking characters who will go to great lengths to cover up an accident, but will call 911 right away when one of their members is supposedly injured in a secret ceremony. They all get expensive credit cards and nice motorcycles, yet it's never clear where all the money for this comes from. There are so many plot holes in this stupid film, it's hard to believe someone in charge didn't finally go "hey, but wait a minute..." Really, the "No Homers" society on the Simpsons was more believable than this.

The movie was awful and like I say, it was totally surprising to me that someone greenlighted it in the first place, but what's even more amazing is that I see they actually made a THIRD ONE! If a movie this bad can still get another sequel, we can only pray that the makers of "From Justin to Kelly" don't get any ideas.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Bad, Not Good either!, 4 August 2006

Author: Sherazade from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A young college co-ed seeks to join an all male fraternity following the death of her brother, as she also seeks the approval of her father who has never been anything but cold to her because of her gender. In her quest, she endangers the lives of every and any body who is close to her, including her best friend roommate as well as her boyfriend. When she is denied access into the cult, she threatens to take a civil action against the leaders and is granted temporary access to be tapped as an inductee. Someone on the inside certainly doesn't want this outside in there and so makes life extremely uncomfortable for the inductee as she makes her rounds, hoping to become a full fledge member. Things go terribly awry on campus when she makes it into the fraternity as its only female member.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Skulls 2 is a hit ; a real sleeper!!, 13 December 2005

Author: international367 from Fresno, California

Excellent film that is much better than the original. Robin Dunne has so much more appeal than Joshua Jackson. I wonder why Dunne doesn't get better roles? Maybe he needs a new agent. The film features Dunne as Ryan Sommers, an Ivy League stud who is tapped for a secret society called The Skulls. Joining this club is a dream come true for every hot-blooded college man and at first all is well. Then when Ryan witnesses the death of another student, all kinds of danger and deception occur. This film is so good, it makes me want to go back to high school and study more for the SAT so I can get into Yale. Anyway, Sommers' love interest Kelly played by Lindy Booth is also very appealing. Listen to the closing credits music as well. It's quite good. I definitely recommend this film to others.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
If you liked the first, the second is worth seeing, but don't expect Shakespeare, 11 April 2002
Author: James_Mulder (James_Mulder@hotmail.com) from Deep Within Raccoon City

As far as sequels go, it is par for the course. Here they had a great plot, and excellent possiblities but I think they could have taken it farther. There are tie-ins with the first and takes the conspiracy deeper. It's always good to see a lone wolf rise up and rage against the machine. Good times.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Pedestrian to say the least..., 26 April 2003

Author: The_Limey from Bad Movie Hell...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is one of those movies that you just sit in front of, it just happens to you, like a nap, and twenty minutes after it is gone, it is hard to even remember what it was all about. I will try...

We are, in a total retread of the original, dealing with a pretty, young, rich, white male, trying to enter the secret 'Skulls' society, that exists in Ivy League schools, and control the world, or something.

*Minor Spoiler* The movie has little in the way of internal logic. The leaders of this society are willing to call the police over a death in a secret ceremony involving knives. But go to extraordinary measure to cover up, a drunk woman falling off a roof, something the police would assume was an accident anyway. So once again, top secret ceremony 'death' = call the police, total accident = cover up. *Spoiler*

Everything you expect to happen, happens, with the exception of the 'slutty' female getting nude. Which isn't a good twist.

Avoid unless you like pretty young things, who can barely act, in unbelievable plots. Or if like me, you just can't resist a bad movie...

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
worse than the first part, 14 May 2002

Author: Steeffan from Linz, Austria

sometimes, coffee tastes like being brewed twice, so does this movie. first part was not more than average, second part was not more than the worst. same scheme allover the movie, this movie is just for killing your time!

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
who fished this turd out of the pool?, 16 December 2005

Author: ragreen259 from United States

My God, what can be said. This doesn't even stand up to the usual poor quality of horror/thriller sequels. The really unfortunate thing is that the script actually stood a chance, but the flick itself went into the dumper the first five minutes and never recovered. Just to begin with, what is with all the beautiful people in the same place at the same time...? Is this like a Baywatch Goes to College movie? Then there's all the "secret societies" on the campus of this college. Does anyone ever go to class, or do they just run around in robes, hosing beautiful coeds wearing bras that push their boobs up under their chins? Then this "secret society" passes out rulebooks with the person's name on it that owns it? Gee, there's a really brilliant idea. I don't say this often, but I truly feel as if I've been robbed of 99 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

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