Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a refreshing take on the comic, giving an updated, woke perspective to the story that isn’t only a breath of fresh air for the series, but for media in general. The original saccharine series was certainly funny and light, but this dark new entity is addictive and delicious, embracing fans from every corner with its representation and delivering unique chills and thrills that the original certainly avoided.
Many of the gruesome moments of Sabrina are just spookily delightful, but others give us the honest heebie jeebies. Whether it’s the stuff of our nightmares or a mashup of elements of horror we’ve seen elsewhere, Sabrina has been known to make us jump or stay up late.
Sabrina’s Hazing
Hazing is already problematic, no matter where it’s occurring, but at the Academy of Unseen Arts it’s particularly harrowing. Sabrina is not only mentally tortured by the Weird Sisters, but nearly murdered by them as many other students have been over the years at the school.
Creepy little kids are a surefire way of adding scariness to a horror program, but fortunately these kids turned out to be not-so-evil. They only wanted some peace and for the torture to stop. Luckily for Sabrina, she also had her trusty familiar, Salem, to help with the hazing. Aunties Zelda and Hilda also lent their hands.
Batibat’s Torment
Batibat herself wasn’t all that scary, but the horrific things that she makes Sabrina and her family endure at night sure are. The show tends to deal the psychological torture out just as much, if not more often than, the physical torment, and the nightmares the Spellmans face at the sleep demon’s hands are the kind that make sleep impossible for viewers.
None of the nightmares are pretty, but it’s Ambrose’s super gory nightmare where he dissects himself that gave fans actual, real nightmares. Many reported it as the scariest scene they’ve ever seen on Netflix, if not television altogether.
Scarecrow Chase
When Sabrina is chased by a scarecrow in a corn maze on the way to the apple orchard, it’s such a classic scary movie moment that it’s almost not scary because we expect it. It’s well done and fun, though, in a jump scare way that reminds us of Supernatural, another YA horror that delivers the chills and thrills.
The tension in this scene is delightful, and some of what we don’t see is actually scarier than what we do, which is a great tactic to use. Seeing Salem’s “real” form destroy the maze as the familiar went after Madam Satan’s voodoo-powered scarecrow was such a fun moment that many fans had to pause and rewind to see it again.
Susie’s Possessed Uncle
This version of “Uncle Jesse” is far less “Have Mercy” worthy than the other one. Susie is left to care for her sick uncle, who is actually possessed by a demon, and it’s so creepy it’s hard to watch. Viewers expect every scene of caring for a sick or possessed person, from Pet Semetary to The Exorcist, and it doesn’t disappoint, complete with the record amount of vomit.
There’s a reason many of the most terrifying moments of the series are nods to previous horror films and TV shows: they totally work. They make us gasp, hide our eyes or even bark out a nervous laugh when they scare us to pieces.
Punishment Via Weird Sisters
When Sabrina sought out the help of the Weird Sisters to punish the boys who had been harassing Susie/Theo at school, she got a little more than she’d bargained for. The sisters, who happily took up the challenge to punish mortal boys, are downright scary in the mine shaft, first appearing as seductresses before revealing their devilish nature–and using the boys’ own homophobia against them.
Not only are the sisters terrifying during their game of “Devil in the Dark,” but they also steal the manhood of the four jocks, capturing it as a quartet of birds in a cage.
Sabrina Burns The Witches
The 13 witches who want their revenge on Greendale sort of deserve it, but Sabrina isn’t about to let them lay waste to her home and friends. Her ultimate decision to sign the Dark Lord’s book is based not on her own desire, but on her need to save the people she loves. It’s technically still a choice, but it’s not exactly a fair one, as Madam Satan ensures.
Seeing Sabrina burn her own kind with her newfound powers was horrifying not only because it demonstrated what she was capable of and the darkness that lay ahead in the next season, but it also depicted Sabrina burning her own kind.
Feast Of Feasts
Cannibalistic witches. This is an idea that Sabrina took a bit too far in its quest to demonstrate how misogynistic her coven is, and it was beyond disturbing. During the Feast of Feasts, a bunch of tributes are pulled from witch families. One of these is treated like a queen until she is sacrificed and eaten by the rest of the coven.
When Sabrina steps in to prevent the grisly tradition, she succeeds at first–but another witch, as desperate for the title of queen as the rest of the tributes seem to be, sacrifices herself and keeps the terrible ritual alive for another year. Witnessing the coven’s blood lust as they swarm the witch to feast is absolutely stomach-turning.
The Minotaur And Hanging Witches
Even though the myth of the Minotaur is literally ancient history, it usually commands the scene when it’s used, particularly in a horror context. Many viewers have seen it used in shows like American Horror Story and it was certainly as compelling in Sabrina, sending a rush of fear into viewers as Sabrina witnesses the beast move within a trail of fire.
Of course, that’s not enough, since Sabrina also jostles a bunch of hanging witches in the trees, which is incredibly creepy and comes into play much later in the show when Sabrina chooses the dark side to save her town. The witches are nightmare-worthy on their own, but they also bring to mind other horror movies like The Conjuring.
Taking Agatha Out
In order to bring Harvey’s brother back as a zombie, Sabrina has to sacrifice a life for a life. She tries to be sneaky, taking out Agatha as an act of revenge only to bury her the same way her aunt buries her sister so she’ll rise from the grave again, but it doesn’t work out like she’d planned.
This whole episode is a train wreck of horror: Sabrina slitting Agatha’s throat is horrific to watch, even if we’re sure she’s got a card up her sleeve; Agatha’s body’s effects after resurrecting are gruesome; and Tommy’s development into a monster certainly isn’t what Sabrina thought she’d been bargaining for. It’s Frankenstein to the extreme.
The Tarot Episode
While season two’s tarot card episode certainly didn’t give us much in terms of actual plot movement, it did deliver some prime scares, including Sabrina being launched into space and Harvey’s nightmare of a roommate at art school. To be fair, Sabrina’s vision wasn’t nearly as horrifying as the time she dreamed she’d been trapped in an iron maiden thanks to Batibat.
Theo and Roz were given the most chilling fortunes, however. Theo’s quest to have the body he’s always wanted seemed wonderful at first, until he had to cut off his arm, which began to turn into a tree. Roz’s new eyes were taken from another girl who was left blinded in the process, and her father paid for the “donor” eyes through church funds.
