Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Boarding School: Las Cumbres’ On Amazon, A Reboot Of The Spanish Thriller Series That Launched Ana de Armas’ Career

Who doesn’t love a good boarding school story? Hogwarts, The Umbrella Academy, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, hell, even Riverdale sent Jughead to boarding school last season. It’s the perfect isolated setting for any number of things to go wrong. The Boarding School: Las Cumbres, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, introduces us to a dark institution where things aren’t quite what they seem. We’re here to let you know if it’s worth the price of tuition. 

THE BOARDING SCHOOL: LAS CUMBRES STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Crows pick at a rotting animal corpse in the woods.

The Gist: A reboot of El Internado: Laguna Negra, a massively popular Spanish series that launched the career of Ana de Armas, El Internado: Las Cumbres, or The Boarding School: The Summits, tells the story of a strict boarding school for troubled students located on a cliff and surrounded by mysterious woods and mountainous terrain. A typical day might involve being berated by their cold headmistress (Natalia Dicenta), being sent to the “freezers” for acting out, or getting one’s head shaved for being caught with a cell phone. Though some of the teachers seem to revel in treating the students this way, another – a priest named Elías (Alberto Amarilla) – struggles with the abuse he witnesses. Whether or not a new music teacher is friend or foe also remains to be seen, and the fear he seems to bring out in student Inés (Claudia Riera) does not make things look promising.

Las Cumbres is definitely not the happiest place on earth, and it’s not easy to leave, either – a vicious dog ensures that no students will make it as far as the gate. Despite this, Amaia (Asia Ortega) plots an escape with her boyfriend Manuel (Carlos Alcaide) and their friends Adele (Daniela Rubio) and Paul (Albert Salazar). They’ve got it all planned out, including bus tickets to the beach and money stolen from the headmistress – but their plan inevitably hits some major bumps. We won’t spoil too much here, but by the time the first installment of The Boarding School: Las Cumbres comes to an end, you’ll be dying to see what happens next. There are more than a few mysteries ahead.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The obvious comparison here is El Internado: Laguna Negra, but The Boarding School: Las Cumbres also evokes popular teen dramas like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Riverdale, and even Pretty Little Liars.

Our Take: While it took me a moment to get used to the English dubbing (I switched back to Spanish and watched with subtitles, but that’s just my personal preference – the English dubbing was fine too!), I was sucked into The Boarding School‘s pilot extremely quickly. The show immediately establishes its sinister tone, shaving a girl’s head and sending two boys down to cells they call “the freezers”. It’s dark, heavy stuff, but it’s balanced by the teen interactions typical in your run-of-the-mill high school series. Being dropped into the action in this way is an interesting choice, but it allows for more mystery; I had a million questions by the time the pilot ended, and they only made me want to continue watching.

The young, talented cast of students will undoubtedly be the highlight of the show, but I found myself totally intrigued by the school’s staff, too. There’s a lot going on here; the masochistic gym teacher, the priest struggling with his morality, the mysterious music teacher, the cruel headmistress. It’s always entertaining to watch high school drama, but I love the added layer of the adults crumbling beneath the terrifying facade of this institution, too. The dreary, imposing setting combines with these fascinating characters to create the kind of show that’s totally binge-able, the type of unsettling mystery that unfolds with twists and turns and tosses in some horror elements for good measure. It’s not all perfect and prestige TV stuff – some of it veers a little soapy – but for the most part, The Boarding School: Las Cumbres is a worthy addition to the queue, thanks to its many mysteries and an extremely talented cast.

Sex and Skin: Amaia and Manu make out a little and talk about their sexy plans for when they escape, but that’s about it.

Parting Shot: Manu is carried away by a mysterious figure in a robe and what appears to be a crow mask.

Sleeper Star: The young ensemble is really strong, but I was really enamored with Paula del Río, the young woman who plays Paz. She doesn’t get a lot to do in the pilot – she has her head shaved for using her cell phone, and later, in an emotional moment during class, she pierces her ear with a safety pin. She might not say a lot, but there is so much communicated with her eyes, especially towards the end of the episode in a soft encounter with Amaia. I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Boarding School: Las Cumbres packs a lot into its unsettling pilot, and we can’t wait to see what mysteries lie ahead.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream The Boarding School: Las Cumbres on Amazon