Cruel Intentions 2

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Cruel Intentions 2
DVD cover
Directed by	Roger Kumble
Written by	Roger Kumble
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz
Starring	Robin Dunne Sarah Thompson Keri Lynn Pratt Amy Adams
Cinematography	James R. Bagdonas
Edited by	Bill Johnson J. Benjamin Chulay James Flynn
Music by	P.J. Hanke
Production companies	Original Film Newmarket Films Columbia TriStar Television (uncredited)
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar Home Video
Release dates	November 9, 2000 (2000-11-09) (Hungary) March 13, 2001 (2001-03-13) (United States)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Cruel Intentions 2 (also known as Cruel Intentions 2: Manchester Prep) is a 2000 American direct-to-video teen drama film written and directed by Roger Kumble. It is a prequel to Cruel Intentions (1999), and the second installment in the Cruel Intentions franchise. It stars Robin Dunne, Sarah Thompson, Keri Lynn Pratt, and Amy Adams.

The film was originally planned as a television series called Manchester Prep, and was given a 13 episodes straight-to-series order by Fox in 1999. Following conflicts between Columbia TriStar Television and the network, it was canceled during filming with only two episodes already finished. The project was moved to the studio's home entertainment division, and the two episodes were edited together into a film, with additional scenes being filmed to close the story and add scenes involving sexual content and nudity. Some subplots and supporting characters where also cut for the film version.^[1][2]

It was the first attempt to adapt the franchise as a television series, and was later followed by a television pilot for a continuation of the first film's storyline that was ultimately passed on by NBC, while a third project was given a series order at Amazon Prime Video and premiered in November 2024, but was canceled after one season.

Cruel Intentions 2 was released by Columbia TriStar Home Video in the United States on March 13, 2001, and received negative reviews from critics. It was followed by another direct-to-video film, Cruel Intentions 3, in 2004.

Troublemaker student Sebastian Valmont is transferring to Manchester Prep following his father's new marriage to a wealthy divorcée. His current principal is adamant about having Sebastian's permanent record relayed to his new school, hampering his chance for a fresh start, but Sebastian retaliates by pulling a cruel stunt on his wife.

Upon his arrival in New York City, Sebastian discovers the wealth of his new family and first meets his deceitful and determined stepsister Kathryn Merteuil. He is quickly able to best her both at piano and vocabulary. This leads to a confrontation between Kathryn and Sebastian whereby she says he "better not interfere" with her comfortable lifestyle.

While waiting to meet his new headmaster, Sebastian encounters Danielle Sherman, who turns out to be the headmaster's daughter. Predictably, Sebastian swapped his permanent record for an excelling one before it was sent to the headmaster's office, and he can now start with a clean slate.

At the school assembly, Kathryn delivers a speech to her classmates. She is persistently interrupted by uncontrollable hiccups from a student, who then begins to choke on the gum that she was chewing to stop her hiccups. She is saved by the quick action of Danielle who performs the Heimlich, allowing her to expel the gum, which flies into Kathryn's hair. A meeting of a secret society of student elites, presided by Kathryn, takes place, deciding upon the fate of the new students. This leads them to Cherie, the student with the hiccups, as well as the discovery that Cherie's family is wealthier than Kathryn's; this, along with the events of the assembly, drives Kathryn to seek a vendetta against Cherie.

Sebastian and Danielle quickly become friends and Sebastian develops a crush on her. They swap stories about their lives. Sebastian's mother was a drug addict and his parents split up when he was a child. His father was chartering boats in Miami, met Kathryn's mother and married her. Sebastian is living one day at a time with all that wealth. Sebastian and Kathryn are bickering step siblings. One night, Sebastian catches his father cheating on Kathryn's mother in his yacht with another woman.

Sebastian, being from a more humble upbringing, wishes to befriend the house staff. Doing so angers Kathryn, as she could not contact her driver. This, combined with her jealousy toward Sebastian, causes her to admit that she is unhappy with her life. Sebastian attempts to woo Danielle: first, asking her for coffee at her work; then later, calling. It eventually evolves into a relationship, but Kathryn, seeing this, uses it as a way to get back at Sebastian. She tries to lure him away from Danielle by tempting him with identical twins Gretchen and Sarah, who share a shower with Sebastian and confide to him that Danielle is the only virgin at Manchester.

Kathryn's attempt to sabotage Cherie backfires, when Kathryn's mother tells her to befriend her, to encourage Cherie's mother to donate a large amount of money to the school. In the end, Sebastian stays with Danielle and professes his love for her, only to discover she does not reciprocate and has been working with Kathryn in a secret plan to dupe him. Defeated, Sebastian states, "If you can't beat them, join them," leading to a threesome with Danielle and Kathryn, followed by an alliance of the three to dominate and manipulate others.

In his limousine, Sebastian opens a gift from Danielle — a journal. While riding her bicycle, Cherie is nearly run over by Sebastian's limousine. After the driver offers Cherie a ride, Sebastian takes photographs of her and they eventually have sex, while in the front seat, Kathryn and Danielle exchange glances before smiling mischievously.

Originally produced for the Fox network as a television series entitled Manchester Prep for the 1999–2000 television season, 13 episodes were ordered with original Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble writing and executive producing the series.^[3] During production, there were conflicts between production company Columbia TriStar Television and the Fox network.^[4] Only the pilot and one further episode were filmed before the series was canceled due to network executives' uncertainty of the long term viability of the project.^[4] In addition to creative concerns, executives were also uncomfortable with the themes of teen sexuality and incest; Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox parent News Corporation, was said to be outraged after seeing a news story about Manchester Prep that previewed a scene in which one of the young female characters is sexually aroused by a horse.^[4] After the cancellation, Columbia TriStar Home Video repackaged the two existing episodes of the show as a direct-to-video film.^[5]

As the film was constructed from material originally shot for the Manchester Prep series, some subplots and supporting characters were removed in order to reduce the overall running time of the film. Some of this deleted storylines and characters were later leaked and uploaded on YouTube, including :

• Sarah Lancaster playing the character of Millicent Davis, a rival for Kathryn who aims to usurp her as the leader of the school community. Millicent tries to undermine Kathryn by running a strict anti-drugs campaign which forces Kathryn to help expel her friend Blaine from Manchester in order to save herself. Kathryn later gets her revenge by stealing Millicent's thunder through a TV interview and sabotaging her application to Yale. Excerpts from this are included in the film's trailer
• Sean Patrick Thomas playing the character of Todd Michaels, a replacement for Blaine who is keen to act as Kathryn's chief informant for the Manchester Tribunal. Thomas played the character of Ronald Clifford in the first film, although the character is implied to be a completely different one in this prequel.^[6]
• Rel Hunt playing the character of Nigel Danby, a British overseas student who quickly becomes a rival of Sebastian for Danielle Sherman. Sebastian forms a temporary alliance with his stepsister Kathryn in order to bring Nigel down
• The opening of the new school library is shown, whilst Tiffany is thanked for her hard work, the library is ultimately named after Bunny Claymon due to her sizable donation. Kathryn is shown to be disgusted and wants to leave but Tiffany orders her to stay, vowing revenge for being overlooked after all her hard work.
• There are more clips of the secret Manchester Tribunal, including Kathryn lamenting Blaine's expulsion and her desire for more power within the school.

In the film credits, Edward Shearmur's music from Cruel Intentions and Stephen Endelman's music from Jawbreaker are listed as being used in the film.

Other songs used in the film include:

• Thin Lizard Dawn - Weed
• Thin Lizard Dawn - "Under the Wing"
• Jessica Theely - "In Good Time"
• The Julie Band - "Bad Day"
• Cupcakes - "Blood Thirsty"
• Treble Charger - "Left Feeling Odd"
• Gearwhore - "Passion"
• Jessica Sheely - "No Regrets"
• Bernie Barlow - "I Wanna Know Where Nowhere Is"
• Thin Lizard Dawn - "Turn Yourself In"
• Michael Greenspan - "I Want You"
• Lorna Vallings - "Taste"
• Shelly O'Neil - "Best Friend"
• Shelly Peiken - "Good to Me"
• Shelly O'Neil - "Make It Happen"
• The Julie Band - "Julie Goes Home Now"
• Jessica Sheely - "Feel Something"
• The Smithereens - "All Revved Up"
• The Smithereens - "The Last Good Time"

Cruel Intentions 2 received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 17% based on reviews from 12 critics.^[7]

• List of television series canceled before airing an episode

• Cruel Intentions 2 at IMDb