CONSIDERING that a variety of ghosts and ghouls and women in bunny ear costumes were prowling through the past week on account of Guyana’s newest importation from the West – Halloween – I took it upon myself to return to the horror roots of my childhood. I have memories of watching various horror films in the late 90s when I was a child.

The variety of horror films and TV shows that emerge during this time of the year always takes me back to the midnights of my childhood, when I would stay up late with my father and my aunt and uncles and we would watch everything from the ghost-filled, “Poltergeist,” to the slasher films like “Scream.” Those were happy times.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of good horror films after an interim in the 2000s when it seemed like Hollywood directors and screenwriters forgot how to scare people. This year alone gave us a strong stream of horror, in movies such as “A Quiet Place,” “Hereditary,” “Halloween,” and in TV, with shows like “The Terror,” and “The Haunting of Hill House.”

However, the one new element to come out of the modern pop culture landscape is not the cinematic experience that one would immediately equate with true horror. I’m of course talking about Netflix’s darkly wicked adaptation of the “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” saga into the contemporary, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” It is as far removed as one can get from the original TV show and its comic book source without losing the template of the basic plot, and yet, strangely, one cannot possibly envision this show existing today, in the midst of everything that is happening today without being as twisted and darkly beautiful as it is.

Kiernan Shipka stars as the titular character, born of a witch father and a mortal mother. On her 16th birthday, she is expected to sign her soul over to the Devil so she can gain full control of her powers. However, Sabrina’s birthright – being half witch and half mortal – forces her to straddle a line that many other witches do not have to grapple with. This presents an interesting inner conflict for our heroine who would have to give up her mortal friends and boyfriend as she transcends into a full-fledged witch.

Though Sabrina’s conflict is peculiar to herself, the writers and directors are undoubtedly aware of the ways in which it can be applied to many people, particularly those in the younger demographics – teenagers who often are forced to face similar conflicts that force them to choose between things that are important to them: a social life or a relationship with God, good grades or friends, etc.

As the lead actress, Shipka turns in a winsome and highly-skilled performance, holding scenes firmly on her despite her slight frame and the possibility of losing out to the other extremely talented actors, such as Miranda Otta, bewitchingly good as Aunt Zelda; Lucy Davis, as the sweet and sincere Aunt Hilda; Tati Gabrielle as the saucy and sensual, Prudence; Michelle Gomez as the deviously fine Madam Satan, and Ross Lynch doing quite well (after an immensely remarkable turn in “My Friend Dahmer”) in his role as Sabrina’s boyfriend, Harvey.

Of course, besides the talented cast, the show also has its own personal aesthetic going for it. Its style is built on the gothic, on the fairytale-like, and on the elements of folklore that have long haunted small towns in America. The canvas on which the directors, screenwriters, and actors paint is vivid and fresh, making subject matters as ancient as witchcraft and devil-worship feel new, interesting, and even essential.

The lure has to be that which has always interested humankind – the supernatural and the unknown, but “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” presents these ideas to us with a heroine who is half of us – half mortal – and so we root for her, but it also helps that the production design and characterisation are darkly, properly, witchy – exempt from the cute kind of witchcraft that had emerged with the Harry Potter franchise. “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is sufficiently dark – oftentimes toeing the line between what is socially acceptable and what is not.

The darkness of the show can be explored in one way if we pay attention to the constant allusions to the Devil himself, who is worshipped blatantly throughout the series. Further exploration comes when we observe the show stepping beyond the allusions to introduce the Devil himself, a snarling, grotesque goat-monster in all of his glory. It is safe to say that this show is not for conservative Christians or anyone else without an imagination and an open mind.

However, more important than the instances of curses and spells and witches and Satan is the meaning of all of the symbolic representations littered throughout the show. For example, it is hard in the age of the #MeToo movement to ignore the way a teenage girl, in Sabrina, is forced to go head to head with the Devil, who is associated with the patriarchy in numerous overt ways in the show.

In this way, and in others, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” makes itself socially conscious and relevant to modern society, therefore rendering itself more meaningful and escaping the label of being a work of art that exists merely for the sake of entertaining. This show has a lot of say, beyond the spook and camp and devil-worship – and the young people better listen keenly.