The Skulls II

A secret society so powerful, it can give you anything… at a price. This is a tag line for the sequel to The Skulls, appropriately called The Skulls II. The concept of the second instalment follows the lines of the original film. It takes an in depth look at one of America’s most secret, yet actually fictional societies, The Skulls! On this occasion a young man named Ryan Sommers (Robin Dunne) is tapped to become a member of the elite order. When Ryan witnesses what he thinks is a murder within The Skulls’ ‘Tomb’, his life takes a dangerous turn. He tries to initiate an investigation, yet everyone seems only interested in a cover-up. The more he investigates the more dangerous life becomes. His girlfriend has betrayed him, his best friend doesn’t believe him, and his own brother won’t help him. Ryan has no one to trust, no-place to run, and nowhere to hide! Sounds similar, doesn’t it?

Directed by Joe Chapelle, The Skulls II can probably be regarded as a below average sequel. I know it’s a pity that all sequels have to be compared to their predecessors, but what else can you base your analysis upon? There are no Joshua Jackson’s or Paul Walker’s in this flick, which isn’t as bad as you might actually believe. Robin Dunne, who plays the lead in the sequel, is actually a far more believable and likeable character than Joshua Jackson’s in the original, and Ashley Lyn Cafagna, who plays Sommer’s girlfriend, is excellent as both the innocent love interest and self-centred bitch. Despite being B-grade stars at the very best, this unknown cast actually manages to produce a relatively acceptable performance, especially when considering the shoestring of a budget this straight-to-video release had. Overall, The Skulls II can be classed with almost every other sequel ever made. It tries to build on the original idea, but lacks the style and flavour of its predecessor. The biggest pity is that it doesn’t even attempt to do anything new and just remakes the original with a slightly different storyline. If you really enjoyed the original, you may get a kick out of this sequel.

The video is pleasant if nothing else. Widescreen enhanced at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, there are only a few minor complaints in regards to this disc’s transfer. Film artefacts pop up pretty frequently, but not to any extreme. The detail is generally quite high with grain not being a great problem. The colours are all well rendered and look radiant and realistic. Compression artefacts are also not a problem, not terribly surprising considering the film’s length and lack of substantial features. Shadow detail is also well rendered, which is nice considering the many dark scenes.

The audio is presented in the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround format. The audio is in synch right throughout the film, the dialogue is clear, and the surrounds got a fairly good work out during the occasional action sequence. The subwoofer gets pushed occasionally, but never to any extreme. Most of the film is spent in conversation, so the fact that dialogue is clear and easy to understand makes the overall audio transfer quite acceptable, but not terribly impressive.

A small featurette makes it onto this disc as the only real extra feature. It is relatively informative and contains the usual film snippets, interviews and general behind the scenes shots that make up most 15 minute featurettes. The disc also contains trailers for Slapshot 1 and 2, as well as Tremors 3.

Following almost the exact premise of the original, this sequel remakes The Skulls with only a few differences. Of course this leads to endless comparisons which will in the end only leave this reviewer unimpressed. In short the key to this film is to sit down, forget the original, and enjoy the film for what it is, a dumb thriller. Overall it’s quite a fun 90 minute romp, but don't expect anything new or original.