WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS: Hilariously Human Vampires

What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary that expertly takes the piss out of the currently very glamorous pop culture status of the historic monster, the vampire. It initially features four vampires who live together in a flat in Wellington, New Zealand. All have arrived there for different reasons: one chased love, one fled there after a nasty bout as a Nazi vampire… And Nazi vampires were looked upon even worse than just Nazis after the war, of course.

The flat mates

They’re a cheeky group, each with their own distinct characteristics: there is Petyr (Ben Fransham), who closely resembles Nosferatu and is 8000 years old, there is Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), who is 862 years old and has inherited some odd habits from the Middle Ages, there’s is Viago (Taika Waititi), the giggly 18th century dandy with a preference for frilly shirts and cleanliness, and finally, the young ‘un of 183 years old is Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), who has some issues keeping his hormonal flares in check, but loves to knit. All of them, except Petyr, love to party.

During this mockumentary, the filmmakers follow the group of four in perfect cinematographic documentary style and script (including a melt-down where the crew is forcefully asked to shut down their cameras). You would almost forget this fake documentary is, in fact, fiction (if you have a lively imagination like I do); the characters feel “real” and are actually kind of relatable. These vampires, you see, are not cool, intelligent and superhero-like, or (please), hot. Instead, they’re pretty much huge dorks. They’re as human as vampires come.

A breath of fresh air in vampire fiction wasteland

Notwithstanding the attempt to make you feel it’s a real documentary with its style and compelling characters, if you look closely, you realise how carefully crafted the sets and costumes are in every shot, giving you hints about each character, their histories and their current situation. Multi-talented directors Clement  and Waititi (who co-wrote the script and radiate on-screen as Viago and Vladislav) created a movie that is wholly unique and a terrific addition to the wasteland that is vampire pop culture – it’s truly a breath of fresh air.

In that vein, not only do they take the piss out of the romantic vampire drivel that we’ve been bombarded with for the past decade, but they do mock us, the audience, too, for gobbling it all up (collectively – not saying you do). Nick, the latest addition to the group of Wellington vampires (portrayed by Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) goes around town telling people he’s a vampire because he thinks it’s so cool. Until he realises, it’s really not. Poignantly, Clement and Waititi remind us of what it would be like to be a vampire according to old lore: you’re still technically dead. The people you once loved die long before you do – if you’ll ever, and to survive, you need to catch and gruesomely kill your victims. You can’t watch the sun rise or set because you’ll catch fire. And you can’t eat chips.

They used old vampire tropes and cliches abundantly and to great comedic effect – for instance, one of them, after a serious defeat in battle, can no longer transform into beasts properly anymore, resulting in some horrific half-transformations…. Ah, I’d love to spoil all the jokes because they’re really good, but I won’t! You’re promised a good laugh.

Never-ending bombardment of jests

Admittedly, it’s a good thing the movie lasts for 85 minutes only – at some point, the ever on-dragging barrage of quips gets a little tiring, and the plot isn’t as good as you’d hope it to be. But then again, it’s a mockumentary, and the lives of vampires (if they were real) wouldn’t necessarily make much sense.

What We Do In The Shadows is a terrific comedy and mockumentary, and at points is even a little creepy (but whether that warrants the placement in the “horror” category, I’m not sure). If you’re tired of all the romantic vampire muck of the past decade, you’ll greatly enjoy this little, original movie.