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
