Apple TV+ has released Widows Bay, a series that blends coastal drama, supernatural horror, and dark comedy with rare effectiveness. Created by Katie Dippold, the plot follows Tom Loftis, a mayor played by Matthew Rhys who dreams of turning a cursed town into a luxury resort. The 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is no coincidence: the series masters the difficult art of making you laugh while fearing for the protagonist's life. 🎬
The CGI of Curses: Practical Effects vs. Digital 🎨
The technical team behind Widows Bay opted for a hybrid combination to bring the town's curses to life. The sequences of supernatural fog and marine apparitions were achieved with practical effects on set, using water tanks and live projections. Only for the more complex transformations, such as the aquatic lycanthropy of certain characters, was CGI developed in Unreal Engine 5 used. The result is a visual texture that avoids the artificial gloss of other genre productions, maintaining the damp and oppressive atmosphere of the coast.
Matthew Rhys vs. a Curse: Who Wins, the Mayor or the Poltergeist 👻
The best part of Widows Bay is watching Rhys sweat bullets while trying to sell plots of land on a beach where tourists show up floating face down. The Welsh actor spends half the episodes arguing with a neighborhood board that believes opening a beach bar will summon the Leviathan. Spoiler: the beach bar opens, the Leviathan arrives, and the mayor ends up requesting an audit of supernatural damages. A marvel.