"Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" - boring at first, then scary

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker tells how the new series differs from the familiar sitcom, what flaws it has and why it is still worth watching.

Sitcom first, horror later

Comics about the young witch Sabrina have been published since the 1960s, and they have been repeatedly transferred to screens in the form of animation. Still, most viewers know the heroine exclusively for the cute sitcom of the late 1990s - early 2000s "Sabrina, the Little Witch."

This is a simple and funny story where the heroine lives with her aunts and talking cat Salem. Every time Sabrina tries to use witchcraft for personal gain, she finds herself in an uncomfortable situation, and her aunts are rescued under Salem's sarcastic comments.

The TV series industry is now experiencing another wave of all kinds of remakes and sequels. In recent years, literally everything has been relaunched, from Duck Tales to Charmed. The popular sitcom could have every chance of returning in the form of exactly the same remake without innovations, where a cat instead of a doll would be made with the help of computer effects, and a social connotation was added to the jokes.

But the talented screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who launched the popular TV series Riverdale a few years ago (in the comics, Sabrina and the characters of Riverdale live in neighboring cities and meet regularly), got down to business. And he decided not to try to repeat what he had passed, but to create a completely new project in a different genre. It is based on the recent line of comics "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", where the family comedy was replaced by horror.

So, in the new version, Sabrina still lives with her aunts after the death of her parents. She knows that she belongs to the clan of witches, even though her mother was mortal. On the day of her 16th birthday, Sabrina must undergo a rite of passage and sign the book of darkness, devoting herself to serving evil forces. But she is too attached to the world of people: she meets a mortal youth Harvey Kinkle and is friends with girls from school.

And at the last moment, the heroine decides to abandon the ceremony, which causes discontent with the forces of darkness, which have their own secret plans for her. The further action represents Sabrina's attempts to decide which world is more important to her, while all sorts of villains are trying to influence her choice.

The atmosphere of the show is really completely different from a comedy. True, the horror in the spirit of "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby", promised by the creators, is also too little. The new "Sabrina" is rather a story of growing up in a dark environment. And this becomes both the main advantage of the series and its main disadvantage.

Beauty first, then logic

The first thing that attracts me is the elegance of the filming. The atmosphere of horror is perfectly conveyed, but not quite real, but a little picturesque, as if the forces of darkness broke out into the real world just on Halloween. Sabrina's red cloak often becomes a bright accent on a dark background, and rituals and witchcraft are performed very subtly, even though you take a screenshot from each frame and put it on your desktop as wallpaper.

At the same time, the heroes live in an unusual reality: it seems that the action takes place today (laptops and smartphones prove this), but there are old cars and disk phones, which adds retro style. The only negative: the picture is often blurred at the edges of the frame. Most likely, the authors wanted to catch up with more mysticism, but it seems that they tried to hide the flaws in the filming.

Most of the important characters from the world of darkness are textured. The leading actress Kiernan Shipka is very reminiscent of the young Emma Watson of the Order of the Phoenix era, only Sabrina also has a devilishness in her eyes and a smile, which is logical for a future witch.

Many minor heroes are not lagging behind. Aunties Hilda and Zelda look like complete opposites of each other in everything: from behavior to manner of speaking. Mary Wardell, played by Michelle Gomez, constantly poses and replays, but becomes a decoration of literally any scene with her participation.

The inseparable trinity of students of the Academy of the Invisible Arts looks like the embodiment of either the erotic fantasies of many men, or their hidden fears. You can list it for a long time, but it's easier to say that all this is really beautiful, and even spiced with excellent classical songs, where the lyrics are full of demons and spells.

But behind the beauty, alas, lie the wildest failures of logic. The authors forget to explain the motivation of most of the characters and the history of their relationships. Hilda and Zelda somehow live together for years and raise Sabrina, but they act as if they are not more than a couple of months: their communication is too shabby.

Faustus, the high priest of the church of darkness, looks like the embodiment of all the negative qualities of a leader and a man in general. And Sabrina herself is always fighting injustice, even in those moments when she has no prerequisites for this at all. Just for the sake of the necessary sociality in the plot.

Serious topics first, then action

Sociality can ruin the experience of a show (but don't rush to abandon it). The topics are really serious: bullying at school, hazing in educational institutions, the ossified principles of patriarchy and much more are discussed in detail. But sometimes it seems that at some points the authors worked out the obligatory topics. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why they are inscribed in the plot so crudely.

Out of nowhere, the storylines of Sabrina's school friends, the father of her boyfriend Harvey, are taken. Anyway, the whole “human” part of the picture is a set of cliches about oppression. And if in terms of phones and cars, the discrepancy between the times looks like a nice decoration, then the order at school seems like a meaningless copy of the problems of 50 years ago: they will start beating the children with a pointer. Taking into account the fictional city and magic, this is quite acceptable, but everything is presented too seriously and pretentiously.

In the world of witchcraft, things are no better: patriarchy has dominated here for centuries. And only Sabrina decides for the first time to rebel against thoughtless submission. What for? Well, just because she has to. And in a strange way, her war continues, even when the heroine's personal issues seem to have already been resolved. Needless to say, such globality only harms history.

The authors decided to concentrate all the seriousness in the first four episodes, which will surely scare away some of the audience. But then sociality will gradually fade into the background, giving way to magic, adventure and good horror.

The series opens from the fifth episode, which is almost entirely based on the logic of sleep. The series seems to act as a border between the serious world of people and a dark, but addictive story about dark forces. And this is where it gets really interesting.

First, the “Chekhov's guns” from the first episodes will start firing: all the facts that were shown for some reason, in fact, play their role and explain what is happening. Secondly, the dynamics will grow, and each next topic will be more ambiguous. Here, numerous intrigues are already emerging, in which it is easy to get confused, which is logical, but we are talking about Satan himself - the patron saint of lies and deceit.

People first, cats second

Closer to the finale, almost all of the characters will finally be revealed. And here there is already enough room for those who have risen from the dead, the spirits of death, ritual sacrifices and other expected topics. And so "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" still leaves a pleasant aftertaste: the finale provides an excellent foundation for the future (the second season has already been launched) and hints that both the main character and the action itself will subsequently change.

But still there is a feeling that 10 watch series for such a project is too much. The pilot episode seemed to be artificially stretched for 5 hours and only then they began to tell something important. But patience is rewarded, and those who have watched to the end will definitely wait for the new season.

Finally, for which many people began to read the review of this series: Salem's cat does not speak, but it seems that he will speak in the second season. It is necessary to lure the viewer with something.