Witch Girl
2014 · 7m · España
Directed by Ricardo Uhagon Vivas
Genres: coming-of-age, fantasy, horror
Tones: dark, theatrical
A dark prequel to Sabrina the Teenage Witch: in the late 1950s, young Sabrina grows up in a mysterious house full of secrets, magic and surprises.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A Sabrina prequel that actually *interrogates* the source material instead of genuflecting to it—trading saccharine teen-witch comedy for genuine dread and moral ambiguity in a 1950s gothic bottle. The fact that this exists at all, unsanctioned and darkly theatrical, is the whole point.
Vivas positions this squarely within the literary gothic tradition (Shirley Jackson's shadow is unmistakable) while engaging formally with the Archie Comics lineage; the period constraint and theatrical staging demonstrate real command of tone as a compositional device.
The decision to drain the color palette and keep the camera still, letting the house itself become the antagonist rather than relying on effects or performance histrionics, is what transforms a premise that could've been gimmicky into something genuinely unsettling on a minimal budget.