The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
A remake of the comedy series “Sabrina the Little Witch” (1996-2003). Netflix promised viewers a dark and adult version, but the adventures of the updated Sabrina played by Kiernan Shipka (19) (Sally, Don Draper’s daughter from “Mad Men”) are chilling. The result is a refined and somewhat blood-and-demon-flavored teen tale. The plot is still centered on the same young half-witch who is raised by her two witch aunts, Hilda and Zilda, and cared for by Salem, the mascot cat. On the threshold of the 16th birthday Sabrina must undergo a rite of devil initiation and finally bid farewell to worldly life and friends. But she wants to live a normal life more than she wants to devote herself entirely to the service of Satan.
Ghosts of the House on the Hill
Based on the novel by Shirley Jackson there have already been made two pictures – “The Devil’s Lair” from ’63 and the ’99 version with Catherine Zeta-Jones (50) and Liam Neeson (67) in the leading roles. Here the ghosts of the cursed house return and drive the grown-up Crane children crazy. The eldest son Stephen does not remember anything supernatural from their former abode, except his mother’s sudden insanity. He does not believe in ghosts, but despite his family’s entreaties, he has written a book about them, which has become a bestseller and pays him appetizing dividends. His older sister opened a funeral home right in his home and sheltered a lesbian sister, a child trauma psychologist. The younger brother has been wandering around drug dens and rehabs since he was a toddler, and the twin girl, after tragic events, is once again plagued by nightmares from her childhood, slowly driving her over the edge (of that very house). A promising plot and skillful suspense, but, alas, a blurred ending. However, I’m sure the suspense and curiosity will keep you going until the denouement.
Castle Rock
The series was produced by J.J. Abrams (53) and horror master Stephen King (72) (which is already a recipe for success). The characters and plot lines from King’s selected novels — “It,” “The Green Mile,” “Dreamcatcher” and “Misery” — are intertwined here, and it’s truly dark and thrilling! After the warden of Shawshank Prison commits suicide, a cage with an emaciated young man is found in an abandoned part of the building – by all accounts, he’s been there for more than a year. The mysterious guy with the obsessive look stubbornly silent and says only the name of lawyer Henry Deaver, who used to live in Castle Rock. Deaver returns home to free the strange prisoner and unravel a tangle of eerie events, including the tragic death of his adoptive father. It’s impossible to tear yourself away!
Terror
The plot centers on the true story of explorer John Franklin’s lost polar expedition with fiction speculation by writer Dan Simmons and the show’s creators. In 1845, two ships, the Terror and the Erebus, set out in search of a northern passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific across the Arctic and find themselves trapped in the ice. The crew members will have to escape not only the elements of nature, hunger and cold, but also the demonic polar bear coupled with unseen mystical forces that inspire real horror.
Rain
With the rain comes a deadly virus that destroys most of the planet’s population. The virologist, aware of the deadly danger, manages to hide the children in a bunker and sets off to save the Earth himself. Six years later, the now fully grown daughter and teenage son (who is somehow the key to saving them from the virus) are forced to leave the shelter and go in search of food and their father. All around are cities scorched by death and the remains of people distraught by hunger and fear. You can’t call “Rain” a model thriller (and definitely a horror flick), but the atmosphere of hopeless apocalypse was conveyed quite well by the Danes.
Scary Tales.
One of my all-time favorite TV series (to use the occasion, that is), not only because of the gripping plot and impeccable stylization, but also because of my favorite actors, Eva Green (39) and Josh Hartnett (41). Victorian London is filled with demons and all sorts of evil spirits, eager to get hold of the souls of the townspeople. Besides mystical creatures roam here and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Frankenstein and his creepy brainchild, and bored Dorian Gray, and Count Dracula with an army of bloodsuckers. Confronting the evil are the captivating psychic girl Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), American gunslinger (and bit of a werewolf) Ethan Chandler (Hartnett), and explorer Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton (73)).