Netflix’s ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Is a Dark, Feminist Halloween Treat

Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a candy-apple confection. It’s giddy, beautiful, fun, and occasionally hard to get a full grasp on. The first two episodes double as a sort of feature length film introducing us to a gloriously gothic battle for the soul of one young woman, but as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina finds its groove, it morphs into a cheeky supernatural soap reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Syfy’s The Magicians. It’s a show that’s doing a lot — it’s a teen drama, a kitschy gothic fairy tale, and a meditation on what demands our loyalties — but it works best when it embraces the decadent madness.

If you’re looking for a modern reboot of the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch, you will be sorely disappointed. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is almost the complete opposite of that chipper multi-cam show. While Melissa Joan Hart’s Sabrina was non-threatening, sweet, and family-friendly, Kiernan Shipka’s version of Ms. Spellman is rebellious, prickly, and defiant. She sticks up for the rights of the disenfranchised and flouts tradition. With her indefatigable spirit and feminist beliefs, she is a teenaged witch for 2018.

Nevertheless, the basic DNA is the same. Sabrina Spellman is a pretty, blonde, teenaged witch, juggling high school with the mortals and the labyrinthine rules of her magical background. An orphan, she lives in the fictional hamlet of Greendale with her two witchy aunts, the brittle Zelda (Miranda Otto) and soft Hilda (Lucy Davis). She’s got a cute human boyfriend named Harvey (Ross Lynch) and a snickering black cat named Salem. (Though this Salem doesn’t throw quips so much as he snarls at demons.)

As the mesmerizing opening credits show, the series is not just rooted in one of Archie Comics’ oldest titles, but a revamped version of the title that leans heavily on the macabre. But Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s influences are legion. It has the glossy, sexy horror of the long-rambling cult hit Supernatural, and later episodes have the riot grrl wit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are throwbacks to older fare, too. After kissing sweetheart Harvey goodbye, Sabrina breaks into a Dirty Dancing-esque dance of exaltation on the staircase — all to the The Ronnettes’ “Be My Baby.” I even saw touches of Pushing Daisies in Sabrina’s home-life: She’s a cursed child with two oddball aunts.

But what makes Chilling Adventures of Sabrina so fun is how it’s different from anything else on TV — including Riverdale. It’s unapologetically dark, and lets its heroine dabble with that dark side. As Sabrina starts to come into her powers, she also leans into her own rage. Luckily, since she is our heroine, most of that ire is directed at those who would do harm to her and her loved ones. This Sabrina uses her powers to stand up for the disenfranchised, which actually might be the witchiest part of the show. In a recent essay, writer Sady Doyle points out that a “witch is a woman pushed to the edges of society,” and that’s what Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is about. It’s about a young witch, her outcast friends, and her quest to figure out where she fits in.

Ironically, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s biggest liability might be Sabrina herself. Kiernan Shipka is in that awkward transition between precocious child star and legit grown actress, and it shows. While she has overwhelming star quality — and an exquisite face that clamors to be on camera — some of her line readings lack conviction. On Mad Men, her somewhat shallow delivery only made Sally Draper’s lines sound more profound; here, she seems to be skimming the surface of Sabrina’s potential emotional depths. While everyone else in the cast understands the joyous camp of the storytelling, Shipka seems almost in a dreamy haze. That said, she does seem to settle into the role as the series progresses and finds a more conventional narrative rhythm. But I can see how her casting could divide viewers. She’ll simply work for you or she won’t.

What does work is the rest of the cast. Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis are perfect as Sabrina’s aunts, forever locked in a tense, brutal cycle of sibling rivalry. Otto is deliciously imperious and Davis is funny, as always, but both actresses manage to convey that what Zelda and Hilda care most about is Sabrina’s well-being. (Albeit, they have different philosophies about what’s best for their niece.) Relative newcomer Chance Perdomo steals every scene he’s in as Sabrina’s louche, housebound cousin Ambrose. And as “Madame Satan,” Michelle Gomez is the giddiest villain I’ve seen in years. She plots, monologues to the moon, and cackles like a champion.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an intoxicating blend of old and new, light and dark, teens and witches. It’s strangely seductive in precisely the best way. Just don’t expect a talking cat.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina hits Netflix tomorrow, October 26. 

Watch Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix