Five high school seniors in detention find themselves falling prey to a terrifying monster. A transmasculine student endures merciless bullying in his high school.

Vera Miao’s horror anthology series based around two sentence horror stories returns to the CW this week with two stories set in high school. In Bag Man, a handful of students are in detention over the weekend because of the letting off a cherry bomb in gym class. Principal Rob La Belle is keeping the kids in until one of them admits to the act. This Breakfast Club scenario feels very familiar, and then a severed white head is found in a school bag.

One by one the kids are taken out by the mysterious Bag Man (a terrifying Roy Campsall) with his bladed gauntlet. There’s no explanation or resolution – but it’s a fun rush. The second episode is well intentioned, its subject matter being very serious, but is played so broad that it makes the issues trite.

Elliot (James Goldman) is a trans student who is mocked by teachers and fellow students. He’s challenged when using the men’s room and mocked by the mean girls in the powder room. Only a mysterious janitor in the basement (a spirited Janet Kidder – Star Trek: Discovery’s Osyraa) understands his pain and trades his songbook for a magical ocarina.

When the instrument is blown, those on the receiving end feel the same pain that they are inflicting on the victim. Cue a series of events where the instrument saves Elliot from a beating, reducing the bullies to writhing or disfigurement. It’s not a good message – retaliate with the same force being applied by your oppressors – though there’s a light at the end when Elliot finds new friends.

Verdict: A mixed bag to kick off the new season. Two Sentence Horror Stories works best when delivering a jolt of scary fun; the 20-minute run time doesn’t allow the time to go deeper. 7/10