Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Violence starts out gothic, becomes more intense and gory as episodes and seasons continue. Gothic trappings like foggy nights, lonesome cemeteries, spiders, bats add spook factor to on-screen deaths and dead bodies. Characters are killed suddenly, with pooling, spurting, dripping cinematic blood. Blood plays a part, too, in witchcraft; it's collected, used in ceremonies. Dead bodies of witches hang from trees in an unearthly red light; a scarecrow comes to life and attacks Sabrina; Zelda makes a joke about having "long pig" (human flesh) for dinner while standing over a recently murdered teen. A man performs a gruesome autopsy on himself, makes reference to eating his own heart. Cannibalism in later episodes; a witch dies by slicing her own throat, is then consumed by fellow witches. Demons, hell, Satan play a major part, particularly in later seasons. There's a scene in which adult characters are telling a sort of fairytale that involves a child being cooked alive to be fed to Satan; viewers see the hapless child in the oven. Expect bloody deaths, rituals involving human flesh and sacrifices, demonic rituals, spells, characters who have died appearing later as revenants, many more boundary-pushing images and plot devices.

Sexual content starts out light (sweet kisses and declarations of love between Sabrina and Harvey) and gets heavier in later episodes. Some talk is mature: Witch initiation requires virginity, which Sabrina questions; a character is teased and physically assaulted for nontraditional gender presentation. A witch orgy happens at Sabrina's home; she's not involved. Male characters are tricked by a spell into kissing each other, then mocked for appearing gay. A teen asks another to examine her naked body for a demonic mark; we see her breast briefly from the side. Two teen boys have a relationship; we see them kissing and removing their clothing before camera cuts away and they presumably have sex. An adult character begins having an extramarital sexual relationship with another adult that renders one part of the couple powerless in a spiritual sense: We see them kissing passionately, but the camera cuts away before sex occurs.

Language includes "bastard," "freaking," "a--hole," "hell," "bulls--t," and made-up slang with a vulgar edge, like when Sabrina calls fellow witches "succubitches." A character teased for their gender presentation is called "freak."

An adult character smokes frequently and theatrically; the camera lingers on smoke in the air, and the character doesn't suffer any visible consequences for smoking. Teens drink and it's seen as no big deal. In one scene, an adult discovers a teen has been drinking absinthe and seems unfazed.

Parents need to know that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a dark drama about a teen girl (Kiernan Shipka) with magical powers. Existing in the same world as Riverdale and classic Archie comic characters, it's an edgy retelling of the young witch's story. Violence includes deaths, stabbings with spurting blood, images of witches hanging from a tree, a character making a joke about having human flesh for dinner while standing over the body of a recently murdered teen, and more. Gothic imagery -- bats, fog, cemeteries -- may spook younger viewers. A teen is bullied for having an androgynous gender presentation. Sexual content consists of loving kisses between Sabrina and her boyfriend, talk about virginity (and why it's a requirement for a new witch), and an orgy that takes place at Sabrina's home (she's not involved). Language is infrequent but includes "bastard," "a--hole," "hell," "bulls--t," and made-up slang with a vulgar edge, like when Sabrina calls fellow witches "succubitches." An adult character smokes frequently with no visible consequences, and teens sometimes drink, which adults seem not to mind. Women and people of color have strong roles with agency; a main character is nonbinary. Sabrina in particular is tough but kind; she stands up for herself and for others against intense opposition, and she's a good role model for teens in many ways. That said, this magical world is darker, bloodier, sexier, and more shocking than Harry Potter; think Buffy the Vampire Slayer with even more focus on the occult and evil. As Sabrina's seasons move on, the action is even edgier and darker, with sudden bloody murders, disturbing imagery (like a scene in which two characters suddenly find that they've been sewn together to be conjoined twins), rituals that involve cannibalism, demonic possession, evil spells, and the resurrection of the dead. Many scenes feature characters visiting hell and communing with demons and/or Satan.