# The Body review – this sexy retro high school drama is like Cruel Intentions … with added Satanic rituals

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-body-review-this-sexy-retro-high-school-drama-is-like-cruel-intentions-with-added-satanic-rituals/
- Published: 2026-11-13T13:59:59+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T14:26:13+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/nov/13/the-body-coming-of-age-review-netflix
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, TV

## Key points

- A Halloween ritual throws a Catholic school into turmoil.
- The series mixes teen drama with occult horror.
- Its nostalgic setting charms, but the pacing drags.

## Summary

*The Body* is a camp, gothic coming-of-age drama set at a Catholic girls’ school in 2004. After an ecstasy-fuelled Halloween initiation at an abandoned convent leaves a student comatose and other pupils suffering hallucinations and seizures, the school’s social order begins to unravel.

The eight-episode series draws on early-2000s teen films such as *Cruel Intentions* and *Bring It On*, while exploring adolescent identity, desire and social pressure through its central characters. Its period details and young cast are praised, though the review says the pacing is sluggish and the show would benefit from being shorter.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.