Courtesy of Apple TV
Apple TV’s Unique Horror Comedy Is Like If “Schitt’s Creek” and Stephen King Novels Had A Baby
Besides maybe “Twin Peaks,” filmmaker David Lynch’s quirky and surreal opus of small town oddities and terror, there really hasn’t been a TV show like “Widow’s Bay,” Apple TV’s new horror comedy. Not to say it’s a perfect, all-time season of TV or anything — its ambitious blend of scares and laughs doesn’t always blend smoothly, and there’s a flashback episode that really doesn’t need to exist. But damn if that ambition doesn’t succeed way more than it fails, offering a thrilling, hilarious, and still frightening ride.
“Widow’s Bay” has all the tropes and beats of Stephen King at his best, evoking the setting of the likes of “Salem’s Lot” and “It,” those sort of “quaint small town where everything isn’t as it seems” sort of horror stories. But it populates that setting with bumbling, fumbling characters more at home in something like “Schitt’s Creek” or “The Simpsons.” Moira and David Rose and Homer and Marge Simpson would deal with classic horror bits like a murderous fog, a Jason Vorhees-like bogeyman, and a haunted hotel. It’s just what you’d expect — legitimately scary but with bursts of killer humor.
But make no mistake, the cast of characters is still unique and not as satirically cliche as other aspects of the show, and the actors portraying them nail the shifts in tone the series demands. “The Leftovers” alum Kevin Carroll, newcomer and scene-stealer Kate O’Flynn, and comedy vet Stephen Root are awesome, but it’s leading man Matthew Rhys who is the true standout here. He maybe even tops his Emmy-winning work in “The Americans” in his role as the titular town’s naive mayor, as he’s asked to fulfill the demands of horror, drama, and cartoonish comedy. It’s a performance that is representative of what the show is going for overall and, like the show, is pretty much resoundingly successful.
