Horror Beat: Come to WIDOW’S BAY for the ghosts, stay for the mayor

In Steven Speilberg’s Jaws (1975), actor Murray Hamilton played one of horror’s most despicable characters: Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity Island. Because of his insistence in keeping the beach open when a homicidal shark was prowling the waters, Amity had the worst summer in its history. People were eaten, beaches were closed. All throughout the movie, Vaughn is presented as a greedy and opportunistic figure that’ll always put profit over safety when tourist season comes around.

Apple TV’s newest horror/comedy show, Widow’s Bay, bets on a character like Larry Vaughn to tell a story about the absurdity of being in charge of a small island populated by deeply superstitious people. And when it turns out the island really is haunted, and getting ready to turn the volume up on the supernatural, we might even end up feeling a bit of sympathy for the annoying mayor at the center of it.

The show follows Mayor Tom Loftis, masterfully played by Matthew Rhys, as he attempts to make Widow’s Bay the next big vacation destination spot. One day, a strange fog rolls up and rattles the population to its core. Word is, the island is waking up. Loftis calls bull, accusing the loudest voices of being willing victims to old wives’ tales. Of course, that all changes when Widow’s Bay starts showing its mayor the very real horrors it houses.

Three episodes in, Widow’s Bay strikes the perfect balance between comedy and horror. One never infringes on the other. Showrunner Katie Dippold deserves a lot of credit for this. Her Parks and Recreation experience lends the show a great sense comedic timing and pacing that puts character work front and center.

Rhys melts into the role of the mayor, showing an acute awareness of the baggage that accompanies this type of character to find bits of humanity and relatability along the way. He mixes the anal retentiveness of an elected official with the anxious energy of a guy that wants to see his ambitions materialize all the way through. He’s stubborn, scared, a bit delusional, and resistant. And yet, he never crosses over into villain territory, as the major from Jaws does. This is Rhys’ real feat, and he pulls it off while being funny throughout.

The supporting cast is great as well, with Kate O’Flynn as Tom’s assistant Patricia and Stephen Root as Wych, the town’s biggest spewer of superstition, playing into their own horror archetypes to prop up the genre trappings the show laughs at. In a sense, Wych is Widow’s Bay Quint, the rugged fisherman from Jaws (played by Robert Shaw) that claims to know how to kill the shark. Patricia is the odd girl that’s probably hiding an important secret that’ll be revealed at just the right (or worse) time. There’s a whiff of Twin Peaks’ Log Lady about her.

When the story goes into pure terror territory, the tone switches just slightly to give the ghosts a more serious demeanor. Some comedy still persists, but horror is allowed to have its moment. The spirits Mayor Loftis encounters are creepy. They’re simple but effective, and they raise the stakes to make the island feel like a legitimate threat.

This is another of the show’s great successes. It puts in the work to be scary. It pounces on every opportunity to make the atmosphere and the supernatural elements in it stand out. So far, each episode has focused on one of the island’s haunted legends, and they’ve each gotten the chance to fully develop as part of the larger narrative rather than as a punchline. As a result, Widow’s Bay emerges as a cursed place that owns its sinister history.

There aren’t a lot of great examples of horror/comedies out there. Widow’s Bay is breaking away from this trend, and it’s setting a great example on how to be successful at it too. Strong performances and a commitment to giving both comedy and horror the love  put it on a category of its own. Upcoming stabs at this type of story should take notice. This is how you mix genres to tell a great story.

Widow’s Bay is currently streaming on Apple TV.