Top 10 Secret Societies in Movies

The Adjustment Bureau makes sure that everyone follows “The Plan.” Citizens who inadvertently stray from their planned lives are quickly brought back into line… or dealt with! In this romantic sci-fi thriller, this bureau has kept all of mankind on track since the Dark Ages. So, whether a cup of spilled coffee was supposed to make you miss a bus, or you simply were meant to wake up later than usual, this secret society needs you not to stray from what you are supposed to be doing. Mysterious much?

This Fraternity is far from a group of drunken frat boys! The age-old order from this action thriller is comprised of an elite group of superhuman assassins that have their secret headquarters in a textile mill. The Fraternity is led by the elderly Sloan, who reads the names of assassination targets through errors in the fabric weaved by the Loom of Fate. These murders are supposed to bring a balance to the world… but, just like with many other secret societies of its kind, things are later revealed not to be as they seem.

The Neighbourhood Watch Alliance, or NWA, pokes fun at the conspiracy about the NWO, or New World Order. It’s a more-than-meets-the-eye neighborhood watch in the English village of Sandford that lives by doing everything for the greater good! So much so, that this alliance of über-upright citizens have taken to killing all manners of social deviants, such as vagrants, carnies, and teenage hoodlums. Why? The NWA needs to maintain Sandford’s rep and win the best village award! Is it any wonder they keep things secret?!

The Transylvanian Convention is a psychedelic gathering fueled by intergalactic transexuality! This annual meeting is held at the castle of its host, mad scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter… who just so happens to be an alien transvestite! Dr. Furter’s guests dress in sexually charged outlandish costumes. To make matters even more interesting, Dr. Furter is secretly engineering the ultimate muscle man, the mostly mute Rocky Horror! How’s that for a memorable secret society!?

This big screen academic secret society is heavily based on conspiracy theories relating to Yale University's Skull and Bones. Not just anyone can join this group, as it’s typically reserved for the sons of social and political elites. The Skulls possess an intensive initiation process, a private ritual room, and they make or break future leaders. Members are more than willing to kill outsiders who get too close to their secrets, staging these murders as suicides. To put it mildly, these guys are what you’d call dangerous scholars!

The Priory of Sion has a real-life counterpart, however this secret society was fictionalized for entertainment’s sake in this mystery thriller. Led by a reclusive Grand Master, who just so happens to be the head curator of the Louvre, this ancient intellectual organization is dedicated to returning Christianity to its supposed more feminist origins, a theological difference that the Roman Catholic Church allegedly repressed. The group is highly secretive and communicates through a variety of encrypted means, with the murdered Grand Master writing his last message in a coded Fibonacci sequence.

The League of Shadows is a group of assassins determined to make society pure. They believe that mankind should always maintain a balance and they are fundamentally devoted to rooting out corruption through its very destruction. They caused Rome’s downfall, destroyed medieval kingdoms with the Black Death, and now they’re bent on eliminating Gotham City! In “Batman Begins,” Bruce Wayne briefly studied with their leader, Ra’s al Ghul, but quickly turned on him upon discovery of their true aim. Then as Batman in “The Dark Knight Rises,” Bruce later has to fight Ra’s legacy and the League of Shadows’ strongest fighter, Bane.

Fight Club is bent on living by 8 rules, ¼ of which involve not talking about what they do. What we do know is that the underground society was started to simply allow members to fight each other for the sheer adrenaline rush. As more clubs spread throughout the world though, these societies become unified under the umbrella of Project Mayhem. Dedicated to anti-materialist and anti-corporate sentiments, the violent group develops into an extremely well organized political movement and things quickly and surely get out of hand…

This ancient order is committed to preventing the world from finding the Holy Grail used by Jesus during the Last Supper. In the 3rd Indy flick, Indiana Jones finds himself not only on the run from Nazis but also guardians of this secret society that are intent on assassinating him. After a high-speed boat chase in Venice, the Brotherhood realizes that Indy is not their enemy and eventually comes to his aid, squaring off with the Nazis in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon.

Before we reveal the secrets of our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:

The Eye
“Now You See Me” (2013)


Dumbledore’s Army
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007)

Skull and Bones
“The Good Shepherd” (2006)


Those We Don’t Speak Of
“The Village” (2004)


Tarsus Club
“The Conspiracy” (2012)

The unnamed secret society that holds a gigantic orgy in “Eyes Wide Shut” pushes our list to the limit! To be part of this group, you need to don a costume and a mask as well as know two passwords to get so that you can get into one of their exclusive mansion parties. This society has a Master of Ceremonies, possesses formal sexual rituals, and its members are supposedly extremely powerful individuals. And while it is inherently about hedonistic sexual pleasures, its members are not afraid to intimidate and even potentially kill those that threaten their secrecy. Sexy and deadly - it’s hard not to forget this secret society from Stanley Kubrick’s last film and that’s what puts it on top of our list!

Do you agree with our list? What are your favorite secret societies in the movies? For more excellent Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.