The generation that grew up haunting video stores in the late 1990s and early 2000s knows Cruel Intentions well. A true Blockbuster Video classic, it featured early performances by Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Selma Blair. The premise: Dangerous Liaisons set in late ’90s New York City, with a pair of step siblings (Gellar and Phillippe) who enter into a bet over whether the latter can bed an innocent young woman (Witherspoon) at their school. The film was a sizable hit, and got a prequel and a sequel (both without the original cast, both straight-to-video).
25 years later — be right back, I have to go vomit out my soul before I wither into dust — Amazon’s made a Cruel Intentions TV series, with the same basic premise again, this time set at a present-day Washington D.C. college. The show is written and produced by Sara Goodman and Phoebe Fisher; the original director of Cruel Intentions, Roger Kumble, is involved as an executive producer.
Watch the trailer for the new Cruel Intentions below, which looks just as horny as the original.
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Here is the show’s official synopsis:
In this new adaptation, Cruel Intentions follows the elite students of Manchester College, a Washington, D.C.-adjacent university, where reputation means everything, fraternities and sororities are the gold standard, and two ruthless step-siblings, Caroline Merteuil and Lucien Belmont, will do anything to stay on top of the cutthroat social hierarchy. After a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Greek Life system, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputation – even if that means seducing Annie Grover, the daughter of the Vice President of the United States. Hearts will be broken, loyalties will be tested, and secrets will be revealed in this modern-day royal court that is Manchester College.
Cruel Intentions premieres on Prime Video on November 21 in over 240 countries. That’s a lot of countries.
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