Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Reboot with attitude

THIS is one of those very rare TV shows — a reboot that actually works. By departing so much from the original, this darker version gets to have a lot more fun.

THIS is not the Sabrina you grew up with.

The Melissa Joan Hart Sabrina the Teenage Witch was all lightness and fun — prank spells that were the equivalent of placing a whoopee cushion on Principal Kraft’s chair.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not here to play, unless it’s Russian roulette or another particularly macabre game where people die — oh, yes, there is death here.

A spin-off of Riverdale and adapted from the same Archie comics universe the nineties version came from, this Sabrina reboot is probably the closest heir to Buffy the Vampire Slayer we’ve had in the 20-plus years.

To be precise, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been adapted from the comics run, under the Archie Horror imprint, that started in 2014, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa who created this show and Riverdale.

And while it certainly dips into the horror pool — demons, ghostly spirits, beasts that can trap you in your nightmares — it’s not going to haunt you too much. Like, you could watch two episodes and enjoy a night of peaceful slumber.

Played by Mad Men alum Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper, all grown up), this Sabrina Spellman is less innocent and a bit more kickarse.

The daughter of a High Priest of the Satan-worshipping Church of Night and a mortal woman, this Sabrina has known of her powers and her legacy since childhood.

With her 16th birthday and her dark baptism approaching, she must choose between the mortal world and the magic world.

Since her parents’ death (plane crash, apparently), Sabrina has lived with her aunts Hilda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto) and her under-house-arrest cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) in their house/mortuary on the outskirts of Greendale.

Much like the rest of the very sunshine-deprived Greendale, their house is dark and full of nooks and crannies with an air of mischievous malevolence.

The mortal world she’s so reluctant to leave behind include sweet boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch), her outspoken friend Roz (Jaz Sinclair) and the non-gender-binary Susie (Lachlan Watson).

This Little Red Riding Hood knows how to take care of herself

And much like Buffy before her, Sabrina’s choices and fate are tied to what happens to Greendale. There are forces tussling for her loyalties and her soul, both overtly and covertly and where she lands could doom or save them all.

Shipka is the perfect choice for Sabrina — the kind of self-assurance and confidence that comes from experience. Shipka’s Sabrina is playful, righteous, vulnerable, strong and rebellious.

In other words, she’s a proper teenager, a lived-in character that girls will relate to, even though she can astral project and they super can’t.

There’s a definite feminist slant to the series, with girls, women and outsiders’ stories taking centre stage, plus a deep mistrust of the patriarchy and antiquated institutions.

Sally Draper is all grown up

The first two episodes capably build the world and establish the tone of the series. And while the next two episodes are weaker, it’s in episode five that the show really arrives.

In that story, Sabrina, her aunts and Ambrose are trapped inside their own nightmares by a sleep demon, who take them on a ghastly journey through their subconscious fears.

It’s a familiar concept but Buffy didn’t get to its own nightmare-trapping chapter until its 10th episode and for Sabrina to plunge into it quite early is a good move. It’s a well-executed, tight script and it gives viewers a greater sense of these characters.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina may traffic in ghouls and devil-worshippers but it doesn’t take itself too seriously with a campy, morbid sense of humour. It’s what keeps it light enough to have fun with.

And fun you will have, whether you’re a 16-year-old girl looking for a powerful feminist figure or if you’re an adult looking for a wicked, spooky tale.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is available on Netflix from tonight at 6pm AEDT.

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