“October Country” is witching good

Creepiness is a lifestyle in “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” pilot episode

Kiernan Shipka in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”/Netflix

Halloween came and went, but “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is here to stay with 10 episodes to binge on Netflix. Disregard everything that you remember about “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” because this Warner Bros.’s pilot is something else.

Well, the premise is there. Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) is still half teenager and half a witch, with her cat, Salem that follows her around to be her familiar. Familiars are witches that commit serious crimes and as their punishment are turned into animals. Does no one realize how weird that is? A cat following Sabrina around and no one wants to ask why? The only thing different about Salem is that he doesn’t talk, and that’s a dealbreaker so far.

But, Sabrina is the definition of an empowered woman. The short bob hairstyle pulls her bad ass nature together. She uses her powers to do good, tormenting bad people, like her sexist principle George Hawthorne (Bronson Princhot). Her human school Baxter High School is every girl’s worst nightmare. Girls should have supernatural powers if it meant they could stop sexual harassment easier.

Thankfully, one normal boy attends Baxter, Harvey Kinkle, (Ross Lynch) an angel who truly deserves a normal, happy life. Their relationship is textbook puppy love, which tugs at the heartstrings. His innocence needs to influence the boys in high school. But his innocence will ruin him if he doesn’t open his eyes and figures out his girlfriend is a half witch.

Let’s take a look at the first 10 minutes of this episode. Mrs. Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) dies.


Don’t worry, she comes to life possessed by Madam Satan in order to fulfill Satan’s orders to persuade Sabrina to become a witch fully. Mrs. Wardwell’s oddball personality could of been a charming aspect to relief the creepiness of this episode. Madam Satan needs to get a new hobby and stop messing with a 16 year-old girl.

Those teenage witches are the mean girls of the Academy of Unseen Arts. They go as far as cast a curse on Sabrina, just because they don’t like that she’s different, which in Sabrina’s defense was way beyond her control. The level of pettiness is unreal.

Sabrina’s aunts Hilda Spellman (Lucy Davis) and Zelda Spellman (Miranda Otto) are also extremely hard on Sabrina and take it to the next level with treating her poorly. How does anyone expect her to make a life changing decision when she has been living in the human world? They couldn’t hide their jealousy of Sabrina’s freedom if their lives depended on it.

How the camera blurs the edges really pulls together the peculiarity of this pilot episode. The dark film effect also makes this episode so intense. It’s almost too much, where it becomes hard to focus on what is actually going on. The effect is not like any other series and paves the way for other productions to step up their game.

Honestly, Warner Bros. is in tune with what is necessary and released another comic book remake. “Riverdale” has become a CW favorite, and compels comic connoisseurs to watch and now Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, producer of both “Riverdale” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” has changed the game for Netflix dramas. Although, some characters are portrayed in a different perspective the underlying plot is interesting to see unfold. The same goes to “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” but Netflix can have less limitation on what it can and cannot air. Plus, the ability to binge-watch is a huge pro of this season. Even after a one hour long pilot, the eerie episode will make it hard not to watch the next.