What We Do in the Shadows: The Best Vampire Mockumentary Ever Made

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What We Do in the Shadows is a glorious comedy/horror mockumentary that centers around four vampires who live in New Zealand. The horror hybrid blends comedy with lots of gore and features some of funniest characters of the last several years. It is a creative blast of niceness and violence that will most certainly become a cult classic. The 85 minute film is so full of one-liners, sight gags and hilarious characters you need to watch it more than once.

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The movie revolves around a film crew following around a quartet of vampires. They are a ragtag group whose ages range from 183 to 8,000. Their personalities collide as they struggle with washing dishes, getting into night clubs and dealing with an 8,000 year old vampire named Petyr who looks a lot like Nosferatu. They live in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of town and entertain themselves via torture, dancing and developing household chore flow charts. I love how Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) all differ yet seem to have a genuine appreciation of each other. They look out for each other and have a familial relationship built from decades of living together.

Throughout the film they deal with werewolves (not swearwolves), new vampires and exploding blood geysers due to jugular punctures. Their routine gets disrupted when one of their kills escape and is turned into a vampire by the 8,000 year old Petyr. The new vampire named Nick opens up a new world to them. Bouncers start letting them into clubs and Nick starts bringing them unwanted attention as he tells everyone in town he is a vampire. The unwanted attention brings forth vampire hunters, stolen wardrobes and blood vomiting due to chip consumption.

What We Do in the Shadows is a bloody little film that does a lot of things I didn’t expect. For instance, Viago goes out of his way to make sure his victims have a good time before he kills them. He listens to their stories, feeds them wine and engages in small talk before the inevitable blood sucking.

Always make sure to lay newspaper down before you drink blood. Saves the carpet.

My favorite aspect of the film is the relationship between the vampires. They form a neat little musical band and watch intently as Deacon shows off his new erotic dances. I love their interactions with Nick’s best mate Stu. Stu is a nondescript human who becomes ingrained in the group. He teaches them about selfies, Skype and martial arts. He is a really nice person who everyone seems to love.

I love movies like this because they explode with creativity and give the world fantastic new characters. They flip a familiar genre on its head and somehow maintain a feature films worth of gags. If you are a fan of Flight of the Conchords and Christopher Guest (Spinal Tap) mockumentaries you need to watch this film.

Watch What We Do in the Shadows. Appreciate the vampire shenanigans. Check out Flight of the Conchords.