What if the mayor from Jaws was the hero and had to deal with a cursed island? That’s basically the premise of Widow’s Bay, a new Apple TV horror comedy, this one from Parks and Recreation writer Katie Dippold. And like much of Apple TV’s recent output, notably Severance and Pluribus, it’s another surefire hit.
Mayor Tom Loftis (The Americans’ and Perry Mason’s Matthew Rhys) is convinced the small town of Widow’s Bay can be the next Martha’s Vineyard, so much so that he’s managed to get a travel writer from the New York Times to visit. The first problem is bad things are known to happen on the island, from a plague in the 1700s to a masked serial killer decades ago. And now, with a mysterious fog rolling in and someone going missing, locals like sailor Wyck (Stephen Root) are worried the bad times are back. “The island’s waking up,” Wyck says.
The second problem is that Mayor Loftis is incredibly cowardly and self-interested and is determined to make the island a recreation spot come haunt or high water. The question becomes what will push him over the edge into believing Wyck’s stories of violent revenants (“like a zombie”) and if it’ll be too late to save the island and its tourists from a horrible fate.
Horror and comedy have gone together since the days of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. But while most horror comedies are known for mixing splatter gore with outrageous laughs like in Evil Dead 2 or Dead/Alive, Widow’s Bay takes a different approach. Here the comedy comes from things like Loftis butting heads with Wyck on what a “haunt” is. “A haunt is worse than a spook but not as bad as a fright?” asks Loftis. Or a conversation with the Times writer as Loftis insists there was no cannibalism, which cuts immediately to an old-timey newspaper headline that reads, “CANNIBALISM!”
A lot of the humor also comes from Rhys’ reactions, from screaming like a girl after encountering a mysterious woman on the road to just his facial expression as he gets roped into staying the night at a supposedly haunted inn. Surprisingly, the often-hilarious Root (Office Space, King of the Hill) stays primarily in drama mode here, playing Wyck as a man who knows instinctively what’s wrong with his home island and keeps butting heads with the mayor about it.
Stealing the show out from under both is Kate O’Flynn. A British actress recently seen in series like Everyone Else Burns and My Lady Jane, she plays the mayor’s assistant, Patricia, who’s terribly insecure and may or may not have barely escaped a serial killer back when she was in high school. Now, she’s desperate to make friends and move on from her high school reputation, leading to what may be the season’s best episode, when she comes across a self-help book and decides to throw a cocktail soiree that, let’s say, goes askew. Her mixture of nervousness and desperate energy makes every scene she’s in a little awkward and a little sad but always funny and worth investing in.
That’s not to say the show isn’t scary. Through expert sound design and directing, Widow’s Bay builds a sense of dread from Scene 1. Unsettling music by composer David Fleming (The Last of Us) pricks the ears, while barely heard words and ominous voices seep out of your speakers. Hiro Murai, who directs half the episodes of the season, uses plenty of slow zoom-ins to establish a great feeling of doom. And then there’s an episode set in the island’s distant history helmed by House of the Devil director Ti West which features plenty of period-piece scares.
Any flaws in the show are mostly nitpicks. The different types of frights the characters encounter make the overall supernatural element seem somewhat incohesive, but it’s all pretty well glued together by the kind of Northeast-Atlantic atmosphere and mythology that would please H.P. Lovecraft. And, with its long history of haunts and murders, there’s no way Widow’s Bay itself wouldn’t already be a destination crawling with ghost hunters and true-crime podcasters. Those minor caveats aside, with its entertaining characters and winning mix of horror and comedy, Widow’s Bay is a perfect stopover for those looking for their next streaming addiction.
Widow’s Bay
Starring Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, and Stephen Root. Created by Katie Dippold. Streaming on Apple TV. Rated TV-MA.
