Five Netflix shows to watch if you loved ‘The Body’
Do you remember that one odd left-out girl at school who was either lost in her own world or adapted to the habitat since nobody wanted to include her? If so, imagine something worse: Having to prove you belong to a bunch of girls who could make your life hell with one raised eyebrow. And if you thought surviving teenage drama was a nightmare, darling, imagine being a part of a group that makes your worst school memories look like a bloody picnic: that’s Netflix’s The Body in a nutshell.
Netflix has finally brought one of its most awaited teen horrors out, and The Body takes you to the world of Grace, where she finds herself at the centre of a Halloween initiation organised by her Catholic school’s dance team. If that sounds like some juvenile teenage nonsense to you, believe that you’re too pure for this world.
Of course the ritual goes wrong, and the girls begin experiencing prophetic visions while their town descends into hysteria. Just when you think this lot have suffered enough, the show’s religious themes make it feel like the girls are being punished for having desires they’ve always been told to hide… So yes, there is more to it than just the supernatural element.
It’s impossible that after this “all hell breaks loose” show, you’re not hungry for more, so take these five Netflix shows and dive into the world of teenage horror.
Five Netflix shows to watch if you loved ‘The Body’
The Girl in the Mirror (2022)
As if surviving a horrific bus crash that kills most of your classmates wasn’t traumatising enough, you wake up in hospital with absolutely no memory of what happened. Oh, brilliant… just what you needed! That’s the absolute state of things for poor Alma from The Girl in the Mirror, whose school trip ends in tragedy. And you’d think coming home might offer a bit of peace, wouldn’t you? Ha! Fat chance. Instead, she is seeing all sorts of terrifying things and barely recognising her own life.
Now the more Alma investigates the accident, the more it looks like something supernatural has been meddling in everyone’s business. Much like The Body, this Spanish thriller throws its teenage characters into a mess of disturbing visions and buried secrets. And if those prophetic nightmares in The Body had your head spinning, this one is going to leave you questioning everything. Don’t you just hate it when a character is lost in a maze as such? That paranoia is something worse than being dead, which might sound like a big stretch, but dead.
The Order (2019–2020)
Jack Morton arrives at Belgrave University with a personal vendetta, only to get caught in a secret society called the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose. Wow, so fancy, except, oh, they’re dabbling in dark magic, and people are turning up dead. Brilliant! The lad’s barely started university, and he’s already got more problems than most people have in a lifetime.
But here’s where things get mental because Jack soon finds himself caught between dangerous magical rituals and werewolves. Honestly, it’s one disaster after another! The Order takes the whole secret-society business and transforms it into a supernatural nightmare. Only this time, there’s an entire university caught up in the mess. Good luck getting through your first year, mate!
First Kill (2022)
If the queer coming-of-age themes in The Body caught your attention, then people, how come First Kill isn’t the first show that came to your mind? It’s like the Romeo and Juliet of queer vampiric romance! Wow, some mixed-genre experiment that.
It takes you back to the world of teenage romance: you’ve got the butterflies and the awkward crushes, and oh, don’t forget the unbearable agony of wondering whether your feelings are reciprocated. Except in First Kill, falling for the wrong person could leave you with a stake through your heart. The series tells the tale of Juliette, a teenage vampire whose powerful family expects her to make her first kill, and she sets her sights on Calliope, a new girl who turns out to be a vampire hunter. Talk about the opposite attracts, but here, that attraction is fatal.
With both families expecting their daughters to fulfil their duties, the girls find themselves caught between their growing attraction and the bloodshed their parents have spent years preparing them for.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–2020)
Turning sixteen is supposed to be all about birthday presents, but that’s not the case if you’re Sabrina Spellman… because this poor girl’s got one hell of a birthday coming! Being half-human and half-witch means she is expected to pledge herself to the Dark Lord and follow the Church of Night’s rules. Oh, and did we mention she’s got a mortal boyfriend and an entire human life she’s not particularly keen on abandoning? It’s like she lives between the devil and the deep blue sea.
And things only get worse when Sabrina decides she’s had quite enough of her coven telling her what to do. Cue sinister rituals, supernatural horrors and religious authorities breathing down her neck. Much like The Body, the series has plenty to say about religion policing young girls and their desires.
Tiny Pretty Things (2020)
Right, forget the demons for a moment, because the ballet students in Tiny Pretty Things might give you enough reasons to sleep with the lights on. Set at Chicago’s prestigious Archer School of Ballet, the series begins with star dancer Cassie Shore suffering a devastating fall, which opens a coveted place for newcomer Neveah Stroyer, all while the other dancers are prepared to fight tooth and nail for their careers.
If The Body had the Lions, Tiny Pretty Things brings Neveah into an atmosphere thick with suspicion, where the circumstances surrounding Cassie’s fall become the centre of a disturbing mystery, and the competition between dancers takes a vicious turn.