10s Movie Review - What We Do in the Shadows

Director: Taika Waititi, Jermaine Clement
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 86 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Taika Waititi, Jermain Clement, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stuart Rutherford, Ben Fransham, Jackie van Beek, Elena Stejko, Jason Hoyte, Karen O’Leary, Mike Minoge, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Ian Harcourt, Ethel Robinson, Brad Harding, Isaac Heron, Yvette Parsons, Madeleine Sami, Aaron Jackson, Rhys Darby

Description: Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and Vladislav (Jermaine Clement) are vampires who are finding that modern life has them struggling with the mundane – like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs and overcoming flatmate conflicts.

Review: The mockumentary “What We Do in the Shadows” shows the life of a group of vampires, who live together in a house in Wellington. Downstairs in the basement lives Ptyr, with his eight thousand years the oldest and most monstrous vampire, who even  frightens his housemates. During the sunny hours, almost two hundred year old Deacon retreats to the smallest room, some sort of broom closet. Then there is the torturing Vladislav and very neat Viago. Together they try to make something of eternal life. But how do you do that when you have infinite time on your hands and suffer from the enormous generation gap?
“What We Do in the Shadows” is based on traditional vampire conventions. No super-attractive vampires or broad, muscular werewolves that we’ve admired a lot in recent years. The vampires in this mockumentary can simply turn into bats and are invisible in the mirror to their own hilarity. Precisely this approach ensures recognition with the horror lover.
It is clever that at the same time the creators have remained very close to reality and have clearly thought about it well. Because where people live together, irritations accumulate which inevitably lead to collision. Why would that be different for vampires? In addition, with the passage of time untold changes take place. If people already experience a generation gap, how is it when you amplify it thirty times? the jokes are therefore simplistic but brilliant.
Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi have also had plenty of time to think about this. In 2000 they came up with their first sketch, which they tested six years later in a short film to see if the idea was good enough for a feature length film. However, it took another seven years before “What We Do in the Shadows” was finally made. Although they had the script, they deliberately didn’t share it with cast and crew. Because it was a mockumentary, the makers wanted to play as natural as possible, so they improvised a lot. Because Clement and Waititi themselves portray two of the leading roles, they were able to steer a bit bringing parts of the preconceived text into dialogue through their characters.
Although the interactions seem quite natural, the comic elements are sometimes bold. Like Viago’s uncomfortable smile, when he is clearly aware of the camera aimed at him. The film excels, however, because a lot of attention has also been paid to the supporting roles. All the characters are equally funny. Like Rhys Darby in the role of the nerdy werewolf pack leader and Jackie van Beek as Jackie who dreams of becoming a vampire and in order does all the dirty jobs for the groups of vampires. Refreshing to see that also the chemistry between all actors is right, regardless of the size of their roles.
“What We Do in the Shadows” is a very witty mockumentary about vampires that appeared just at the right time. Brilliant by relying on traditional conventions while remaining so close to reality. One of the funniest movies of the 2010s, for sure.

Rating: 5 / 5