Mortified at what he has done, Caleb tries to kill himself but is stopped by Luke. Litten grabs a pistol and attempts to shoot Luke, but before he can fire, Caleb shoots his father. Despite being pressured by Litten to kill Luke, Caleb cannot bring himself to pull the trigger.

After Luke and Caleb take their ten paces and turn around, Luke drops his gun and tries convincing Caleb of the truth and that he is not responsible for Will's murder. Litten tries to take his son's place in the duel but is denied the opportunity due to another Skull rule. He challenges Caleb to a duel at the Skulls' private island, by invoking rule 119. Luke decides that his only option is to fight the Skulls by their own rules, and 'bring war to them'. With the help of Ames and Chloe, Luke escapes the hospital and he and Chloe survive an attempt on his life by Martin Lombard, who is shot and killed by Detective Sparrow, who is working for Levritt. When Luke goes to the police, the tape is switched by Detective Sparrow and Luke is confined to a mental hospital. Ames Levritt is blackmailed into voting against Luke by Litten Mandrake, who has pictures of him with his much younger mistress. Before Luke can show the evidence to police, the Skulls council, who know Luke has the tapes, vote that he is no longer loyal. In trying to convince Caleb of the truth, Luke realizes how scared Caleb is of his father. With their help, Luke obtains the Skulls security tapes that prove Lombard committed the murder. Luke enlists his friends from childhood to help solve the mystery. Caleb also believes that he is guilty, suspecting Will died as a direct consequence of Caleb hitting him. Stricken with grief over Will's death, Luke begins to suspect he was murdered by Caleb. The Skulls make it appear that Will hanged himself in his dorm room. Caleb is ordered to leave the room by his father, who then orders Skulls member and the University's provost Martin Lombard to break Will's neck. Will gets caught in the room by Caleb and in the ensuing struggle he is knocked unconscious. Will, who has researched the Skulls for some time, discovers their ritual room.

Litten and his partner, Senator Ames Levritt, take an interest in Luke.

Litten is the current Chairman of the Skulls and a Federal Court Judge who is pushing for a position in the Supreme Court. Luke strikes up a friendship with Caleb's father, Litten Mandrake. Luke has a falling out with Will over Luke becoming a Skull. A senior Skull explains that the Skulls require their members to prove themselves in war. Luke and Caleb are lectured in the secret ritual room by a senior Skull who is standing in front of a wall with the word 'WAR' engraved into it in huge capital letters. He does this with boxing prodigy Caleb Mandrake, who The Skulls declare his co-conspirator and 'soulmate'. Luke passes the first part of the initiation process by stealing an artifact from a rival secret society. Luke's friendships become strained when he is invited to join a secret society known as 'The Skulls'. Will is the coxswain of the Bulldog 8's rowing team and Luke is the captain. His best friends at college are his love interest Chloe, and Will. An orphaned 'townie' who grew up on the 'wrong side of the tracks', he did well enough in school to attend college on a scholarship where he is a champion rower. Luke McNamara is a student aspiring to become a lawyer. The film was critically panned, but successful enough to spawn two direct-to-video sequels, The Skulls II and The Skulls III, released in 20, respectively. Its plot is based upon some of the conspiracy theories surrounding Yale University's Skull and Bones student society. The Skulls is a 2000 American thriller film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker and Leslie Bibb.

Yale skull and bones