Now we’ve all finally had time to enjoy, luxuriate in, and inevitably fall in love with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, it’s time to look back on some of the most shocking moments from the sumptuous show. From the outset we knew that this new take on Sabrina was going to be uniquely scary and strange, but Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and co. definitely didn’t hold back, letting their horror influences from Hellraiser to Suspiria be known. From cannibals to brutal sororicide, from demon hazing all the way through hangings, resurrections, and beyond, we’ve picked out our most memorable, horrible, and of course enjoyable moments from the thrilling first season.
“We haven’t had long pig in ages.”
The comics make it very clear that Sabrina’s beloved aunts Hilda and Zelda are cannibals. So we probably shouldn’t have been surprised when Zelda, looking over the dead body of a young murder victim, longingly sighed, “It’s a shame they wanted an open casket—we haven’t had long pig in ages.” For those not in the know, it’s a term that refers to human flesh, and the casual, calm longing accompanying Miranda Otto’s delivery of the line was truly chilling.
Zelda Kills Hilda
Apparently, randomly murdering your younger siblings is just the done thing in the witch world of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. But after Hilda was honest with Sabrina about her feelings on the patriarchal structure that guides, constricts, and ultimately rules them, Zelda was quick to let her feelings be known by smashing her loving, nurturing sister over the head and burying her in the garden that Hilda was tending to.
Hilda Returns
If her murder wasn’t horrifying enough, Hilda’s return was truly grotesque as she reappeared after digging herself up. This was one of the moments where Chilling Adventures of Sabrina really established itself as a horror show. Hilda’s bloodied visage was a statement of intent, just like Zelda’s threat that at some point during the many times that Zelda killed Hilda she wouldn’t be able to dig herself out. Bewitched this is not.
The Mines
This is one of the few disappointing moments in first season that we otherwise generally really loved. When the girls headed down to the mines to take some good old fashion revenge on the jock bullies (a moment that gave us scary glimpses of the Weird Sisters as they allowed their true forms to be seen in the light of Sabrina’s camera flash), instead of just terrifying them half to death, the show relied on the patently regressive “gay panic” trope that seemed utterly jarring in a series that seems so focused on progression.
The Harrowing
After Sabrina joins the Academy of the Unseen Arts, she’s tortured and tested by the Weird Sisters. She’s locked in a cell to drive her insane and forced to endure other trials known as Harrowing. Based on the suffering of the women who were killed during the historic witch trials at Greendale, over a long dark night Sabrina has to suffer listening to her loved ones being killed over and over. But it’s really the moment that the true deadly nature of the Harrowing is revealed that took our breath away.
The Revenge of Quentin and the Harrowed Children
If the Weird Sisters thought that the Harrowing was bad, then they definitely weren’t prepared for what happened when they tried to string Sabrina up and hang her. The dead children of the academy who were killed during historic Harrowings use their magic to instead hang the sisters from invisible ropes. A truly unsettling and brutal moment in the often campy and cute show.
Sabrina Solves the Achyron
In a massive Hellraiser homage Sabrina solves a puzzle box created by her father. Just like the Lament Configuration in the classic Clive Barker chiller, when she solves the complex Achyron Configuration puzzle a demon is released and it’s honestly terrifying. The moment is a great example of the incredible practical effects that the team at Chilling Adventures of Sabrina do such a great job of crafting. Of course once the demon is free that’s when things get really scary as she torments the family in their dreams.
Zelda Cooks a Child and Hilda Serves the Dark Lord a Veggie Pie
Well, we knew they were cannibals. In the horrific nightmare demon episode we see Zelda—in a dream—try and impress the Dark Lord by cooking a young boy and presenting it to him at a dinner party. If seeing a young child trussed up and roasted wasn’t shocking enough that fact that Hilda serves him a vegetable pie, which he chooses over the human flesh is a twist we definitely didn’t see coming.Have you watched this radical witch fest? Are you a Sabrina fan?? Let us know below!
Images: Netflix, Warner Bros.
