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A Folkloric Primer for Netflix’s ‘Sabrina’ Holiday Episode ‘A Midwinter’s Tale’

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Seances, ghosts, and a demon or two…sounds about right for a scary story on the longest night of the year, and Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina gathered them all together to spin their first ever holiday episode, A Midwinter’s Tale which debuted on the streaming service today.

**Author’s Note: This article contains a few small, necessary spoilers in discussing the folklore behind the holiday episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.**

As the episode opens, we find Sabrina and the rest of the Spellman clan preparing to celebrate the Winter Solstice, but they’re also still dealing with all those loose and fraying ends from the first season finale.

Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka)is trying to find common ground with the friends who now know she’s a witch, and Zelda (Miranda Otto) and Hilda (Lucy Davis) are caring for baby Lettitia, whom Zelda abducted to protect her from Father Blackwood. All the while, Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) is testing the limits of his freedom and exploring his growing relationship with the oh-so-delectable Luke (Darren Mann).

Of course, the holidays add a layer of tension to everything, and in the Spellman house, that generally means spells to cast and demons to vanquish.

While the episode is a little uneven in its opening letting us know that things are still awkward on almost every front, it finds its feet by the 20 minute mark and it does so by digging deep into the lore of Yule, the Solstice, and folkloric traditions from around the world.

It all begins with lighting the Yule Log. A long-standing tradition with roots in Germanic pagan practices, the Yule Log was burned through the long solstice night as a reminder that the darkest night of the year and the winter months themselves eventually give way to the light of the coming Spring as the wheel of the year turned. Its bright light was a balance to dispel the darkness, but also a promise of luck and prosperity.

The tradition continues in many pagan groups to this day, when the great Yule Log is burned save for a small piece that will be used to light the Yule Log the following year.

And you thought it was just a hokey background for schmaltzy Christmas music!

Of course, letting the fire go out before the dawn could bring dire consequences, and of course, that’s just what happens in the Spellman home!

Aunt Hilda (Lucy Davis) is ready for anything when things get weird in A Midwinter’s Tale on Netflix (Photo by Diyah Pera/Netflix)

The fire goes out when Sabrina and the Weird Sisters are performing a seance to contact the spirit of her mother which opens the house to an infestation by a group of pesky Icelandic spirits called the Yule Lads.

In the traditional lore, the Yule Lads are a bit like the Seven Dwarfs with mischievous attitudes and a tendency, in some instances, to dabble in cannibalism. In more modern tellings, they run amok in the days leading up to Christmas leaving gifts or the occasional rotting potato on children’s windowsills depending on the child’s behavior throughout the year.

There’s really only one person who could ever control the Yule Lads, and that was their mother, the ogress Gryla, who as it happens, also plays a major role in the episode. Gryla also has a history of eating disobedient children, but the writers on Sabrina softened her story, portraying her as a powerful witch mother who protects wayward, orphaned children.

This latter part of her rebranded mythology comes in handy when one of Sabrina’s friends finds themselves at the mercy of Mr. Bartel, an evil demon who has apparently watched House of Wax one too many times!

Bartel, as some of you may know, is the South Austrian name associated with none other than Krampus, the Christmas Devil, himself.

If it seems like that’s a lot to pack into one episode, you’re right, but somehow it all seems to fit into the magical world of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina quite nicely.

The real Winter Solstice will begin at 5:23 pm EST on Friday, December 21, 2018, and A Midwinter’s Tale might be just the entertainment you’re looking for to kick off the longest night of the year. Of course, you don’t have to wait, the episode is available today on Netflix!

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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