This latest adaptation of the story is aimed squarely at Gen Zer’s, and that’s not a bad thing. After all, who could be crueler than entitled fraternity/sorority twenty-somethings?
The new Cruel Intentions 2024 is an 8-part series and is adapted from the 1999 Cruel Intentions movie — itself adapted from the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It might be the perfect fit for our new era of meanness that’s underway, but these characters are deliciously, comically nasty, and after a couple of episodes, I really started to settle in and like it for that reason.
Step-siblings Caroline (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien (Zac Burgess) while away their time using seduction and double-crossing to take advantage of whomever they see as a threat to their perceived superiority. She’s a sorority president who rules with a high and mighty air that the underlings dare not look in the eye. Lucien has a body count that goes to infinity, having bedded seemingly every female, friend and foe, within reach on campus.
Oh, and they also have a super creepy sexual tension (unconsummated) going on. In fact, Caroline promises to finally give herself to Lucien if he helps with her latest plan.
And that plan is to get newcomer college freshman Annie Grover {Savannah Lee Smith), one of the only decent human beings in the story, to pledge to Caroline’s sorority dominion. Annie is a virgin, a true empath who helps others and doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. Oh, and did I mention that her father is the Vice-President of the United States?
Can step-brother take her innocence and leverage her shame? Can step-sister use her own powers of influence to nab Annie? This is the “A-story,” but there is also a “B-story” over in the fraternity house that involves a closeted gay student and his taking advantage of a younger student who is probably gay but doesn’t know it for sure yet. Embezzlement and extortion and other shenanigans keep our attention with the frat.
The cast are all gorgeous, which is kind of the point, and solid actors all around. I wasn’t sure at first if I could enjoy such dastardly doings, but, hey, it’s just a fictional streaming series, so why not? Its dialogue snaps and its production (set on a fictional Washington DC campus) is top drawer.
Cruel Intentions 2024 Series airs on Amazon Prime beginning November 21st
