Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tibor Takács directs. Bernard Salzmann behind the camera. Greg De Belles scores. Daria Ellerman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 130 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Directed by Tibor Takács, shot by Bernard Salzmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Greg De Belles. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Daria Ellerman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Melissa Joan Hart and Sherry Miller and Charlene Fernetz carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Do homework, buy prom dress, learn how to fly.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0117534 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 10 themes, including "witch", "high school", "magic", "birthday".

The technical file

Cinematography

Bernard Salzmann

Original score

Greg De Belles

Editing

Daria Ellerman

Production design

John Kavelin

Stunt coordinator

Ben Derrick

Runtime

91 min · 1h 31m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) ↗

IMDB rating

6.1/10 · 8,527 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Tibor Takács

• 
  My Babysitter's a Vampire

  2011 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

  1996 · ★ 7.8
• 
  The Outer Limits

  1995 · ★ 7.7
• 
  First Wave

  1998 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Earth: Final Conflict

  1997 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Nature Unleashed: Earthquake

  2005 · ★ 6.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Sabrina The Teenage Witch (1996) Official Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2018-10-04
  ★ 6/10

  Sabrina goes to a new high school where she learns she’s a witch Released to TV in spring 1996, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” was the pilot movie for the series that ran for seven years from 1996-2003. The plot revolves around Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) having to move from Massachusetts to live with her two eccentric aunts in Rockland County, New York, where she starts attending Riverdale High, becomes besties with Marnie (Michelle Beaudoin) and contends with requisite mean girl, Katy Lemore (Lalainia Lindbjerg). After her 16th birthday, Sabrina learns she’s a witch and grapples with the morality of having powers other mortals don’t. The tone of the production is decidedly pedestrian in a mid-90’s TV manner, but the cast brightens things up with their energy and a decent script. (It was amusing to learn why Salem can talk and other cats can’t). I’ve probably watched a dozen episodes of the subsequent series and the main draw was always Melissa’s winsomeness. She was 19 years-old when this pilot was shot and just got more beautiful over the course of the series. For those interested, Ryan Reynolds has a significant role; he was 18-19 during filming. The movie runs 1 hour, 31 minutes and was shot in British Columbia with some establishing shots done in Brookline, Massachusetts (or so IMDb says). GRADE: B-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Showtime Networks

  US

Key crew

• Production DesignJohn Kavelin
• Executive ProducerKathryn Wallack
• ProducerAlana H. Lambros
• Executive ProducerPaula Hart
• EditorDaria Ellerman
• Executive ProducerBarney Cohen
• Associate ProducerBrian Irving
• ProducerRichard Davis
• Stunt CoordinatorBen Derrick
• StuntsKaren Sheperd
• StuntsClayton J. Barber
• Stunt DoubleRayVeness

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• witch
• high school
• magic
• birthday
• aunt niece relationship
• based on comic
• magical object
• talking cat
• magic spell
• magic potion

Release history · US

When it landed

• TV1996-04-07PG· Showtime

Also known as

International titles

• Сабрина юная ведьмочкаRU
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch MovieUS