What We Do In the Shadows

A group of vampires living together in New Zealand being filmed as part of a documentary. ‘What We Do In the Shadows’ is certainly not your average film. Quite far from it. It is a 2014 independent New Zealand mockumentary film. The film stars and was directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.

A documentary team films the lives of a group of vampires for a few months. The vampires share a house in Wellington, New Zealand. Turns out vampires have their own domestic problems too.

The film is the much needed fresh blood in the vampire genre. It is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a while. If you’ve seen other films by Waititi, then expect that same sort of quirky humour. If you like that style then you will be laughing non-stop. Otherwise, you will still laugh here and there, but you may just find the film to be stupid and moronic.

The film pokes fun at the clichés and lore in vampire films. There is a scene towards the beginning of the film wherein the vampires are about to head out for a night on the town. However, vampires can’t see their own reflections in mirrors. Therefore in order to know what they look like before heading out they must sketch each other. This is an example of the clever yet odd humour in this film. You will either love it or be indifferent to it.

The characters in the film are also quite entertaining, and each member of the cast gave a solid performance. The vampires all come from a different time period, and represent different era of vampire films. For example the oldest of them represents the Nosferatu style of vampire whilst the newest addition to their crew represents the more modern movie vampire. It’s a great nod to fans of the genre, and provides many great laughs as they all add their own strange humour to the film.

If you love independent films, comedies, mockumentaries, or vampire films then I highly recommend this movie. If you don’t like those things then I still recommend this film but don’t go in with high expectations. This film is definitely a refreshing take on vampire films and you should definitely check it out.

Score: 9.5/10