PODCAST-WIDOW’S BAY-TV SERIES

I did not have helicopter parents. My first exposure to horror films was watching The Haunting at age ten with my father. Dear Dad, always the jokester, jump scared me at a tense moment of the movie, an event that shaved a decade off my life. Years later, in college, I stupidly re-watched the film with a bad boyfriend, who jump scared me at exactly the same moment. Based on Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, this movie is the reason I can never fall asleep while staying in an Airbnb in an old Victorian mansion.

My second exposure to the horror genre was watching The Sixth Sense which I thought was going to be a simple psychological drama. I spent the movie with my hands covering eyes and my thumbs stuck in my ears. After watching this film, I’ve never viewed kitchen cabinets in the same way.

Created by Katie Dippold for Apple TV, Widow’s Bay is billed as a comedy horror television series. After reading many intriguing comments about it, I broke my “no horror movies” rule. I binge-watched the series on my iPhone on a daunting car trip from Virginia to Long Island. We drove up in a snarl of cars that were headed to World Cup events, a golf tournament, and the Knicks parade. The bumper-to-bumper traffic, coupled with unhinged New Yorkers behind the wheel, made the trip terrifying.

So, to distract me from the terror, I decided to watch Widow’s Bay on my iPhone. Brilliant logic, I know. Here’s the plot: Tom Loftis, played by Matthew Rhys, is mayor of Widow’s Bay, an island that townies believe to be cursed. Tom is a widower with one son, Evan, a teen who hates the place and takes every opportunity to engage in shenanigans. A mainlander himself, Tom’s main goal is to convince everyone that Widow’s Bay is safe and is a great tourist destination.

The old-timer residents know better than to believe Tom and impede him at every turn. The ensemble cast of townspeople is a pitch perfect portrayal of quirky odd ducks, some of whom are innocuous, and some who are not. They are given the very best comedic lines and corporately are the highlight of the movie.

Compared to the sheer terror of our drive to Long Island, I found this series more funny than frightening. The movie is filled with the usual tropes: a sea hag, boogeyman, spooky fog, black skies, howling wind, dungeon, jump scares galore, and your two, not one, off-kilter people periodically screaming about impending doom. I loved the campy humor and the straight-faced delivery of some of the ridiculous things ever said. The film never takes itself too seriously. For example, during an intense scene when Tom is alone in a dark room interrogating a menacing specter, the mayor’s secretary pops in, saying, “Oops, sorry. I forgot my purse.”

Good pacing and the ever-building narrative tension kept me engaged. The storyline is so over-the-top ridiculous and implausible that I never felt scared, repulsed maybe, but not scared. If I’d watched this on a big screen or even a slightly bigger screen, the experience would have been more immersive and possibly more frightening.

British TV series tend to wrap up each season with a definitive ending. Not so with Americans. Widow’s Bay leaves the viewer with unresolved plot points which I found mildly annoying. Regardless, I enjoyed this character-driven dark comedy and recommend it.

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Widow's Bay

(Photo by Jen Fariello)Deborah Prum’s fiction has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Across the Margin, Streetlight and other outlets. Her essays air on NPR member stations and have appeared in The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal and Southern Living, as well as many other places. Check out her WEBSITE. Check out her DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SERVICES. Check out her PAINTINGS.

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