"CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA"..........HEART OF DARKNESS........LITERALLY.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina (2018)  We remember Beloved Daughter watching the first TV version of this comic book character, as played by the ever-bubbly Melissa Joan Hart.......a frothy series with dumb gags and a barely animatronic talking cat........

                As re-invented by producer-writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, it's a fantasy-supernatural carbon copy of "Riverdale", his reboot of the Archie comics........teen angst taken to epic, ultra dark extremes.

                  Essentially it's teens lives as they perceive it.......a living hell, a nightmarish struggle against malignant forces.......mostly parents and other adults who don't understand them.

                  Throw witches, warlocks,vengeful ghosts and Satan himself into this brew and you've got the all new, extra dark Sabrina the teenage witch, as played by Kiernan Shipka with a permanently pained expression through ten episodes.

                  Unfettered by the more grounded reality forced on him in "Riverdale", Aguirre-Sacasa and his writing team freely pile a parade of famtastical horrors on to poor little Sabrina......in plotlines that blend in undigested chunks of the Harry Potter films with whatever the last PG-13 horror film snuck into the multiplex.

                   Naturally the new Sabrina's fully empowered and wants it all.........the ability to function as some sort of independent freelance witch without having to pledge allegiance to the Dark Lord......which involves signing her name in blood in his unholiness's Big Book 'O Witches.......

                  This lofty goal of hers doesn't sit well with the wide variety of demons and fellow witches who populate the series.........kicking off all the gruesome story complications, none of which we'll belabor here, including an extended re-do of the classic 'The Monkey's Paw'......

                  .......except to leave this vital BQ memo to the people who concocted this show........TURN ON AT LEASE ONE GODDAMNED LIGHT SO WE CAN SEE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN YOUR GODDAMNED SHOW!!!

                    Given the dark nature of the material, the series' creators thought themselves clever by having the entire ten hours shot with as little light as possible.  So the entire series is filmed as if it's taking place in one of your clothes closets......with the door closed.  It's not so much a TV show.......it's more of a young adult audio book.

                    For the sake of Beloved Daughter, with whom we watched this (and who enjoyed it)......we'll afford "Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina " the benefit of the doubt with 2 stars (**)......meaning that we might have viewed some decent acting, writing and direction here.......but we can't be sure......we don't see well in the dark.

                    Lighten it up a little, folks......and we don't mean the story.....no one loves weird 'n creepy more than the BQ.......we're talkin' actual illumination here.