If You Like Widow's Bay, Watch John Carpenter's Cult Classic Horror Movie Before It Leaves Streaming

Published Sep 15, 2026, 11:35 AM EDT

Senior Music Editor at Screen Rant, Sarah's love of sound and story drive the beat. A globetrotting brand whisperer and award-winning journalist, she’s built cross-cultural narratives around the world—but music has always been her true north. She launched DJ Mag North America, successfully introducing the iconic UK brand to the U.S. market. Previously, she carved a space for EDM inside the pages of VIBE, blending electronic and hip-hop culture long before it was trendy.
 

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Widow's Bay has quickly become one of the year's most talked-about horror-comedies, and its appeal goes well beyond the jokes. The fictional New England town feels genuinely haunted, with strange local legends and an atmosphere that can turn ominous without much warning. Fresh off its huge Emmy showing, the Apple TV series has also become one of 2026's clearest examples of horror working just as well on television as it does in theaters.

Part of what makes the show so effective is how comfortably it draws from older horror without feeling like a collection of references. There is plenty of Stephen King in the isolated coastal setting and the idea of ordinary townspeople living alongside something deeply wrong. John Carpenter's influence is just as easy to spot, especially when fog rolls into Widow's Bay and the supernatural threat becomes impossible for the town to ignore. Fans looking for something with the same creeping seaside dread already have a perfect follow-up waiting for them.

That movie is John Carpenter's 1980 cult classic The Fog. Set in another coastal town with a dark history, the film follows the residents of Antonio Bay as a mysterious fog brings something deadly back from the past. The Fog is currently available on Prime Video, but viewers have just over 2 weeks left to catch it there before it leaves the service.

John Carpenter's The Fog Is Perfect For Widow's Bay Fans

The similarities between Widow's Bay and The Fog start with their settings. Carpenter's movie takes place in a small California coastal community preparing to celebrate its centennial, only for the town's hidden history to come back in the worst possible way. A strange fog begins moving inland, carrying the ghosts of sailors deliberately killed by the town's founders 100 years earlier.

Carpenter keeps the horror atmospheric rather than overwhelming the movie with gore...

That setup gives The Fog the same feeling that makes Widow's Bay so effective: a seemingly quaint seaside town that becomes much less welcoming once its history starts surfacing. Carpenter keeps the horror atmospheric rather than overwhelming the movie with gore, while Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Tom Atkins anchor the story as residents slowly realize what has arrived with the fog.

The movie also comes from one of Carpenter's strongest creative periods, arriving between Halloween and Escape From New York. His ability to make ordinary places feel threatening is a huge part of why The Fog has endured as a cult favorite. In ScreenRant's exclusive interview with John Carpenter, the legendary filmmaker discussed his continued work across horror and other projects decades after helping redefine the genre.

For viewers who just finished Widow's Bay, though, the appeal is even more immediate. The fog itself is not merely visual decoration in either story. It signals that something old has entered the present, and the residents are about to learn that their town's past is far more dangerous than they realized.

John Carpenter & Other Horror Icons Were A Big Influence On Widow's Bay

The connection is not accidental. In an interview with The Wrap, Widow's Bay director Hiro Murai has openly discussed the influence of Carpenter's movies on the series, while the show's premiere has specifically been compared to The Fog. The opening episode uses its own rolling fog and supernatural coastal mystery before later installments begin playing with different horror traditions.

Murai has also pointed to Stephen King's influence on the show's larger world, describing Widow's Bay as operating inside a tradition King helped establish: ordinary people confronting extraordinary horror in an isolated Northeastern setting. Rather than recreating those movies and stories beat for beat, the series tries to capture the feeling audiences remember from them.

That helps explain why Widow's Bay can shift between comedy and genuine dread without feeling completely disconnected from either. The show clearly knows the movies it loves, but it is more interested in borrowing their atmosphere than simply copying familiar images.

Anyone still looking for something similar after finishing the season can also check out this horror-comedy recommendation for Widow's Bay fans. But while The Fog is still available on Prime Video, Carpenter's eerie coastal ghost story should be near the top of the list.