The blend of horror and comedy — two genres driven by tension that culminates in a cathartic payoff — has thrived in recent years at the box office, championed by auteurs like Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger. With the droll, authentically creepy Apple TV series “Widow’s Bay,” creator Katie Dippold has successfully transplanted the hybrid to the small screen. One would expect nothing less from the woman who turned Australian cult hit “The Babadook” into an immortal meme , on top of other accomplishments like penning the scripts for multiple Paul Feig movies. It’s a feat worth celebrating nonetheless.

The namesake of “Widow’s Bay” is a fictional island off the coast of New England that Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is determined to make “the next Martha’s Vineyard.” All he has to do is dispel the superstition that the island is somehow cursed: a serial killer took the lives of several teen girls in the 1990s; it’s rumored anyone born there will die if they set foot on the mainland; a host of local legends…