Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay owes every little thing to The Wicker Man

Apple TV has one other breakout hit on its palms. After making a reputation for itself as the perfect streaming platform for science fiction, the service is increasing into the horror style with Widow’s Bay, which options scares and comedy in equal measure due to its Babadook-loving showrunner Katie Dippold, a murderers’ row of administrators (Hiro Murai, Ti West, Andrew DeYoung, Samuel Donovan), and a stellar forged (Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root). However the breakout star of Widow’s Bay is, with out query, Katie O’Flynn.

The British actress, beforehand finest identified for her work within the theater, performs the anxious, insecure Patricia, who works as assistant to the city’s bungling mayor (Rhys). O’Flynn brings a delicate however campy efficiency with unbelievable bodily comedic timing to the position, which is why it is no shock that the 2 highest-rated episodes to this point on IMDb are each Patricia-centric tales.

Earlier than Widow’s Bay premiered, I had an opportunity to interview the present’s trio of stars. And after I requested for his or her favourite scary film suggestions, O’Flynn arguably had the perfect reply. (Root recommended an express ’90s B-movie slasher he acted in.) Not solely did O’Flynn suggest an all-time basic of the style, however she picked one which helps clarify the numerous influences that make Widow’s Bay so nice — whereas additionally offering a possible clue about the place the present is in the end headed.

“I’ve a smooth spot for Wicker Man,” O’Flynn tells Polygon.

O’Flynn is referring to the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, which is streaming without cost on Tubi. It follows Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), who travels to a distant Scottish island city to research the case of a lacking lady. In his encounters with the locals and their chief Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), Howie discovers that your complete city has shifted from Christianity to Celtic paganism, and so they could also be training human sacrifice.

Thought-about a basic of the people horror style, The Wicker Man started with a request from Lee to create a task that will transcend the extra conventional ones he was identified for, like 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein. So screenwriter Anthony Shaffer started working on a script that will substitute supernatural film monsters with the horrors of paganism.

The human sacrifice idea got here from the Gauls (early Celtic tribes in what would finally grow to be France) as described by Julius Caesar himself in his historic writings, Commentaries on the Gallic Conflict. “Others have figures of huge dimension, the limbs of which fashioned of osiers they fill with dwelling males, which being set on fireplace, the lads perish enveloped within the flames,” Caesar wrote.

The Wicker Man is fantastically shot by Robin Hardy, with a naturalistic strategy that emphasizes the real-life Scottish cities the place he filmed. The film can be filled with convincing performances by numerous minor characters, constructing as much as what looks like an actual city with a spooky secret. The varied songs and rituals carried out all through the story give your complete expertise a surreal wrinkle.

No person breaks into track in Widow’s Bay, however the idea of a spooky island full of strange locals the place every little thing feels slightly bit off will really feel acquainted to The Wicker Man followers. And whereas Rhys’ mayor is not a complete outsider, his character was notably born on the mainland earlier than transferring to the island, creating a transparent parallel with Sergeant Neil Howie. There is not any clear equal to Patricia, nevertheless; O’Flynn’s character looks like an entirely distinctive creation.

As for the human sacrifice, nicely, we’ll simply have to attend and see what occurs within the closing two episodes of Widow’s Bay. But when it seems that is the place the present is headed, now you realize the place Dippold seemingly acquired the concept.

Widow’s Bay is streaming on Apple TV. The Wicker Man is free with advertisements on Tubi.