There’s something special about watching students’school experiences in films. We either feel gratitude that our own schools weren’t filled with rigid clique structures and uptight staff. Or we lament that our teen years weren’t spent breaking out in song in between classes. A particular niche is boarding school films. Again, depending on personal circumstances, living where you also study can seem like a total paradise or a nightmare come true.
Boarding schools are great settings for a variety of genres. The insular location can lend well to isolation-trope thrillers and horrors. Or can make shenanigans in comedies that much easier to pull off. Because if you put a bunch of kids together in one place without parents, chaos is sure to ensue. While filmmakers should utilize the advantages of boarding school settings more, several movies out there do it well. Here are 11 fun boarding school movies.
11Flirting
Flirtingis an early-90s filmfeaturing Thandiwe Newtonand Nicole Kidman, though it remains a severely underappreciated project in each actress' extensive filmography. We follow a teenage boy named Danny who goes to an all-boys boarding school in New South Wales, Australia. Though he is incredibly smart, he hasn’t clicked with his classmates and certainly the ladies from the nearby all-girls school.
A girl from the school named Thandiwe catches his eye. She’s confident and outspoken, his opposite in many ways. A friendship starts to shift into a romance, but they face resistance due to racism and sexism aimed at Thandiwe. Filled with classic coming-of-age tropes mixed with social commentary,Flirtingis a great teen film.
10Au Revoir, Les Enfants
So, “fun” may not be the word to describe the overall tone inAu Revoir, Les Enfants(Goodbye, Children). In fact, the film overall is quite heavy as ittakes place during the Holocaust. Julien Quentin is a young boy who attends a boarding school in Nazi-occupied France. He hides his emotions from his classmates, though there’s a lot of unhappiness brimming under the surface. He befriends a new student named Jean who is pretending not to be Jewish.
While the boys can be quite cruel to one another, the most heartwarming and fun moments in this relatively heavy film come when the boys' friendship is strengthening. They play together, keep each other’s secrets, and recognize that even if their religion is different, they still have so much in common.
9Wild Child
Are the acting and dialogue inWild Childa bit over-the-top and cringe? Yeah. Does it rely heavily on British and American stereotypes? Sure does. Is it still a guilty pleasure sleepover film for many? Absolutely. Poppy Moore is a spoiled rich girl from Malibu who is sent to an English boarding school with the hopes that it’ll help straighten her out. But Poppy is not about to fall into the background.
Even when encountering a well-established clique of girls, she is determined to infiltrate. Poppy storms through the school with all her Americanisms and draws people in as well as sets a few people against her. It’s a fun, lighthearted film that’s a quick watch.
8Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
This boarding school horror film is definitely fun for the viewers, not necessarily the characters experiencing it.Halloween H20: 20 Years Lateris the seventh addition to thepopularHalloweenfranchisewith the notable killer Michael Myers.
Michael’s sister Laurie faked her death hoping it’d cool her homicidal brother’s obsession with her. She’s taken on a new name, is employed as the headmistress, and is in a relationship. Laurie never truly shakes her fears about Michael returning, but things are looking up. That is until it becomes clear that Michael has located her and nobody, not even her students, is safe from his wrath.
7She’s the Man
She’s the Manis a quintessential 2000s teen rom-com and is entertaining through and through. Viola’s soccer team is cut ,and when her attempt to join the boys' team is laughed off, she thinks the most rational thing to do is assume the identity of her twin brother and join the rival school’s team. No biggie.
But her new Illyria teammates and dorm mates aren’t openly receptive to “Sebastian” Hastings. There’s something off about him, they just can’t quite put their finger on — him using tampons for nose bleeds, never showering with the others, and preference to have emotional talks. But little by little they warm up to him, and the lines between who is Viola and who is Sebastian start to blur.
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6A Little Princess
A Little Princessis a simultaneously sad and uplifting children’s movie based on a book by classic British novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett. Sara and her father live in India. She’s a sheltered, wealthy little girl, but in a nice change of pace isn’t a spoiled rotten child. Though she may not understand the plights others less fortunate go through, she is a sweet, caring, and curious child.
Her father has to join the Great War effort, so he sends Sara to a boarding school in New York. While she enjoys luxuries there at the start when word of her father’s death reaches the school, the cruel headmistress throws Sara in the attic where she now must serve the other children. This is a simple yet beautiful story about kindness, hope, and friendship.
Cry Wolfis a slasher film that follows a group of bored and rich boarding school students who start a game they don’t want to finish playing. The small town is still whispering about the “townie” who was killed in the woods, the murderer still unknown. Owen is new to the school and falls in with his roommate’s friend group. These students like to go to the church at night and play a lie detection game.
Soon, Owen and the cute girl he fancies Dodger become bored and want to up the ante. They create their own fictional killer, dressing him in particular clothes and giving him the moniker of The Wolf. It’s just supposed to spook a few people on campus out, but when an actual killer starts showing up on campus looking like The Wolf, they realize they’re inside a game they can’t exit out of.
Madelineis a children’s comedy adapted froma book series. Madeline is an orphaned girl living in Paris and attending a Catholic boarding school alongside eleven other girls. She is constantly up for adventure, often looking for opportunities to break the rules in even the smallest ways she can. T
he beginning of the film shows the girls' adventures on daily walks, a brief stint in the hospital, and Madeline standing up to the brash little boy named Pepito who just moved in next door. But her joyous days become a bit heavier when Madeline discovers that the school is at risk of being sold. Now, Madeline must enlist the help of Pepito to save the only home she’s known.
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3The Woods
The Woodsis an atmospheric boarding school thriller with a supernatural kick. Heather has a knack for getting into trouble, so her parents send her to a secluded boarding school located in the woods. Heather befriends a girl who seems to be on the fringes of the social circle like her.
But not even this burgeoning friendship can distract Heather from the nightmares of former students covered in blood plaguing her at night, as well as other haunting experiences. Everyone from current students to the staff seems like they have something to hide, and Heather has to determine who to trust before she’s the next in this school’s long list of victims.
Dead Poets Societyis a beloved coming-of-age drama thatfeatures Robin Williamsas a passionate English teacher named John Keating, who brings together his students through poetry. At the elite Welton Academy, the curriculum and rules are strict and proper, not allowing much rule for innovation or individuality.
Keating has a different approach. Whether it be ripping out pages of their school books or allowing his students to stand atop their desks, his teaching style is certainly unique. When he restarts the Dead Poets Society club he fosters an appreciation for literature and poetry with his students, allowing them to connect with themselves and each other in new ways.
