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Behind the Scenes of "The Skulls" |
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Other Articles |
Proven
fact: For nearly 170 years, there has existed in America, on one
particular Ivy League campus, a fraternity that is unlike any other. It
is so exclusive in its recruitment that it can boast, as members, among
many of the social elite, two former U.S. Presidents, a past Supreme
Court justice, many high ranking officials in the CIA -- and a current
presidential candidate!
Cabalistic in design and enshrouded in secrecy, it has spawned rumors so numerous that its legend can rival the UFO conjecture surrounding Airforce Area 51. Conspiracy theories abound on the Internet. Wild speculation on the activities of this collegiate brotherhood include accusations of espionage, blackmail, ritualistic sexual depravity, narcotics smuggling, assassinations, Satan worship, grave robbery, necrophilia, human sacrifice, and a plan for global political domination through a New World Order! In the fact-based, but fictionalized thriller, The Skulls, the filmmakers firmly grasp these suppositions; and then, in the spirit of fun, they carry them out to the most outrageous possible conclusions. Director, Rob Cohen, a Harvard graduate, and screenwriter, John Pogue, an alumnus of Yale have earned kudos for the accuracy with which they captured Ivy League ambience in their portrayal of the attitudes and arrogance of the young and over-privileged set. Pogue credits the authentic detail in his script to first-hand experience, gained from when, in his senior year, he was "tapped" to join a secret society at Yale. However, critics have lambasted The Skulls for its outlandish conceit. Perhaps it is preposterous. Yet, considering, over the past generation, how this nation has been rocked by government scandals ranging from Watergate to Bitburg to the Iran/Contra Affair, the threshold of absurdity might need to be redefined. The over-the-top ending of The Skulls may rankle some. Others, more appreciative, may hark back to the earlier and wackier science-fiction conspiracy opus, Plan 9 From Outer Space, when, in the epilogue, the narrator, the screwball psychic, Criswell, glares directly into the camera, and offers the challenge: "Can you prove it didn't happen?" |
