Review: Widow’s Bay is a boldly original take on comedic horror

剧评：《寡妇湾》（Widow’s Bay）——对喜剧恐怖题材的大胆原创演绎

Widow’s Bay, the delightfully eccentric new comedic horror series from Apple TV, is easily one of the best new series of the year. There’s a reason everyone from Guillero del Toro and Ben Stiller to Damon Lindelolf (Lost) is raving about the show. It’s an eminently binge-able, addictive series that pays tribute to all the classic horror tropes while reinventing them in surprising ways. Think Stephen King meets Parks and Recreation, with a dash of Twin Peaks—except Widow’s Bay is very much its own refreshingly original beast. (Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)

Apple TV 推出的全新喜剧恐怖剧集《寡妇湾》（Widow’s Bay）古怪而迷人，绝对是今年最优秀的剧集之一。从吉尔莫·德尔·托罗（Guillermo del Toro）、本·斯蒂勒（Ben Stiller）到达蒙·林德洛夫（《迷失》编剧），各路大咖都对该剧赞不绝口，这绝非偶然。这部剧集极具“刷剧”吸引力，它在致敬所有经典恐怖桥段的同时，又以令人惊喜的方式对其进行了重塑。你可以把它想象成斯蒂芬·金遇上《公园与游憩》，再加一点《双峰》的味道——但《寡妇湾》本身就是一部令人耳目一新的原创作品。（下文包含部分剧透，但无重大情节泄露。）

Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is a widower and mayor of Widow’s Bay, a quirky little seaside town that has a colorfully bizarre history marked by periodic tragedies. Tom is eager to elevate the town into a trendy summer tourist destination. But the arrival of New York Times travel writer Arthur Lloyd (Bashir Salahuddin), who has the clout to make Tom’s aspirations for Widow’s Bay come true, coincides with the onset of a mysterious fog. Local resident Wyck (Stephen Root) warns Tom that the fog is an omen that the island is “waking up,” meaning more supernatural occurrences are bound to happen.

汤姆·洛夫蒂斯（马修·瑞斯饰）是一位鳏夫，也是“寡妇湾”的镇长。这是一个古怪的海滨小镇，有着一段充满离奇色彩的历史，并不时发生悲剧。汤姆渴望将小镇打造成热门的夏季旅游胜地。然而，《纽约时报》旅游作家亚瑟·劳埃德（巴希尔·萨拉赫丁饰）的到来——他拥有让汤姆的愿望成真的影响力——恰好与一场神秘迷雾的降临撞在了一起。当地居民怀克（斯蒂芬·鲁特饰）警告汤姆，这场迷雾预示着岛屿正在“苏醒”，这意味着更多超自然事件即将发生。

Initially skeptical, Tom becomes increasingly paranoid after a sailor who got lost in the fog essentially goes mad, with his eyes turning white just before dying. But by then Arthur has published a glowing account of his time in Widow’s Bay and tourists start flocking to the island for the summer season. Tom gamely tries to put a positive spin on things. He stays in the local haunted hotel alone overnight to prove it’s safe (it isn’t), and runs afoul of the legendary Sea Hag during the traditional mayor’s inaugural swim to open the beach. But Tom still refuses to close everything down, despite Wyck’s warnings.

起初汤姆对此持怀疑态度，但在一名在迷雾中迷路的船员发疯、并在死前双眼变白后，汤姆变得愈发多疑。然而此时，亚瑟已经发表了一篇关于他在寡妇湾美好时光的赞美文章，游客们开始涌向岛屿度过夏季。汤姆硬着头皮试图往好的方面引导。他独自在当地的闹鬼酒店过夜以证明其安全（其实并不安全），并在传统的镇长开海游泳仪式上与传说中的“海巫”发生了冲突。尽管有怀克的警告，汤姆依然拒绝关闭小镇。

Tom’s assistant, Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), has her own disturbing supernatural experience when she tries to host a “sunset cocktails” event to boost her social status in the town. It doesn’t go well and the mayhem is next level. That’s all I’m going to say, because the fun lies in the finding out. Meanwhile, Tom’s rebellious teenaged son, Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick), has fallen in with a delinquent crowd out of sheer boredom, resentful that he’s never been allowed to leave the island. That’s because local legend holds that anyone born in Widow’s Bay cannot leave.

汤姆的助手帕特里夏（凯特·奥弗林饰）在试图举办一场“日落鸡尾酒会”以提升自己在镇上的社会地位时，也遭遇了令人不安的超自然经历。活动搞砸了，混乱程度更是升级。我就剧透到这里，因为探索真相本身就是乐趣所在。与此同时，汤姆叛逆的十几岁儿子埃文（金斯顿·鲁米·索斯威克饰）因为极度无聊而与一群不良少年混在一起，他怨恨自己从未被允许离开这座岛屿。因为当地传说，任何在寡妇湾出生的人都无法离开。

The supernatural energy keeps escalating with each subsequent episode, eventually delving into the island’s early history and the town’s founding by one Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). That history still has repercussions for Widow’s Bay in the present.

随着剧集的推进，超自然能量不断升级，最终深入挖掘了岛屿的早期历史以及由理查德·沃伦（哈米什·林克莱特饰）建立小镇的往事。那段历史至今仍在影响着当下的寡妇湾。

A “dangerous excitement”

一种“危险的兴奋感”

Series creator Katie Dippold is best known (until now) as one of the writers on Parks and Recreation, and Widow’s Bay actually started out as a spec script for that earlier series. “That version was much jokier,” she told Deadline Hollywood earlier this month. “It was more comedic and I think it gave a good idea of my sense of humor.” But she described that script as feeling more like a spoof, “and as a horror fan, I just wanna be immersed into the island,” she said. “I wanna feel like I could go explore this island and find all the little nooks and crannies and terrifying little spots. That’s my dream, but I’m strange.”

剧集创作者凯蒂·迪波德（Katie Dippold）此前最广为人知的身份是《公园与游憩》的编剧之一，而《寡妇湾》最初其实是她为那部剧写的一个样片剧本。“那个版本更像个笑话，”她本月初告诉《Deadline Hollywood》，“它更偏喜剧，我想那很好地展现了我的幽默感。”但她形容那个剧本更像是一部恶搞作品，“作为一个恐怖片粉丝，我只想沉浸在这个岛屿中，”她说，“我想感觉自己可以去探索这座岛，找到所有的角落和那些恐怖的小地方。这是我的梦想，虽然我很奇怪。”

Clearly millions of viewers share Dippold’s strangeness. By the time the Patricia-centric fourth episode (“Beach Reads”) aired, viewership numbers had tripled since the launch, and those numbers have kept growing as positive word of mouth rapidly spread. The most impressive aspect of the series is its mastery of tone: a perfect balance between quirky humor and spine-tingling horror that is incredibly difficult to consistently maintain.

显然，数百万观众都和迪波德一样“奇怪”。当以帕特里夏为核心的第四集（《海滩读物》）播出时，收视率已比开播时翻了三倍，并且随着口碑的迅速传播，收视数字仍在持续增长。该剧最令人印象深刻的是对基调的掌控：在古怪幽默与令人毛骨悚然的恐怖之间达到了完美的平衡，而这种平衡在整部剧中保持一致是非常困难的。

“I used to get into all sorts of antics when I was young, me and my friends going to check out the abandoned house and then running off,” said Dippold of the tone she wanted for the show. “It was almost kind of a dangerous excitement. And I just love that feeling because you’re so scared, but you’re laughing so hard, and I just wanted to get that feeling on television.”

“我年轻时常做各种恶作剧，我和朋友们去探险废弃的房子，然后落荒而逃，”迪波德在谈到她想要的剧集基调时说，“那几乎是一种危险的兴奋感。我非常喜欢那种感觉，因为你既感到恐惧，又笑得停不下来，我只是想在电视上重现这种感觉。”

It also helps that Dippold has populated her fictional town with such well-drawn, unique characters; even one-off side characters, like Todd the Shaman (Chris Fleming) feel fleshed out and fully realized. That’s thanks to the show’s terrific cast, of course, but the actors are given a lot to work with in the smart, snappy scripts. And the series’ structure is very well plotted: it’s part monster of the week.

迪波德为她虚构的小镇填充了如此鲜活、独特的角色，这也大有裨益；即使是像萨满托德（克里斯·弗莱明饰）这样的过场配角，也显得有血有肉、形象饱满。当然，这要归功于该剧出色的演员阵容，但演员们在聪明、干练的剧本中也确实有很大的发挥空间。此外，该剧的结构设计也非常精妙：它采用了部分“每周怪物”的叙事模式。