At a glance, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Haunting of Hill House don’t share much in common aside from horror, Netflix and those tongue-twisting titles.
The two shows briefly connected when the actress who played a young Theo Crain in Hill House stepped in as a childhood version of Sabrina for A Midwinter's Tale, but any link between the pair still seemed superficial at best.
That’s all set to change now that Sabrina has been joined by a strange new character for the second instalment of her rebooted show.
Beware of spooky spoilers for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Haunting of Hill House from here onwards.
After signing the Book of the Beast at the end of Part One, Sabrina and her Aunt Zelda spend more time than ever at the Academy of Unseen Arts. The Spellmans have always ruffled feathers, but their increased presence in the realm of magic draws the ire of one witch in particular whose name might be rather familiar to those who enjoyed The Haunting of Hill House.
This new character just so happens to be named after Shirley Jackson, the author who originally wrote The Haunting of Hill House as a book back in 1959. The legendary novelist influenced an entire generation of horror writers before her death in 1965, including genre stalwarts like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman.
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Now a whole new audience is enjoying the influence of her work thanks to the ghoulish success of the Hill House Netflix adaptation.
The first season of Sabrina contained an entire cauldron’s worth of horror movie references, including Suspiria, Nightmare on Elm Street and many more. However, there’s a scene which takes place early on in Part Two where the writers reveal how The Haunting of Hill House had an even bigger influence on them – and not just because of Shirley’s name either.
Fans who binged The Haunting of Hill House will remember the tragic fate of Nell Crain, who broke her neck after being tricked into falling from a great height. Well, after Shirley decides to mess with Aunt Zelda, the vengeful witch seeks payback by taking control of her body via magic.
Just like Nell, Shirley is also manipulated to visit a higher level in the building and she almost steps out to her death as well. The difference in Sabrina is that Zelda doesn’t outright kill Shirley, instead using her gifts as a warning.
It’s no coincidence that the most memorable death in The Haunting of Hill House plays out almost identically here with a character who’s named after the woman that first wrote this story. Perhaps The Haunting of Bly Manor might return this favour later down the line with a cheeky reference to characters from Sabrina…
After all, neither show appears to be leaving us any time soon and for that we must praise Satan.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part Two is now available on Netflix.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
