Old vampires add biting humor to ‘Shadows’

What We Do In the Shadows

Paramount, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99

Available now on VOD.

New Zealand comedians Taika Waititi (best-known for helming “Boy”) and Jemaine Clement (best-known for “Flight of the Conchords”) have re-teamed for this horror mockumentary, writing, directing, producing and starring as centuries-old vampires leading a fairly pathetic life in a dingy house in Wellington. Initially the movie derives most of its humor from putting vampire mythology in the context of mundane roommate squabbles and everyday tedium, but gradually “What We Do In the Shadows” develops an actual plot, having to with the addition of new, younger monsters to the group. It’d be an overstatement to call the film deep or poignant, but Waititi and Clement do take care to make sure that these are well-developed characters. They also tie the laughs — of which there are plenty — to the angst of some very old men who are having a hard time adjusting to the modern world. The DVD and Blu-ray add deleted scenes, featurettes and a commentary track.

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Jauja

Cinema Guild, $29.95; Blu-ray, $34.95

Viggo Mortensen plays a Danish engineer leading a military expedition in late-19th century Argentina in this muted quasi-Western from director Lisandro Alonso. When the hero’s teenage daughter disappears into the Patagonian wilderness, he goes after her and ends up in a strange landscape that’s like another planet. Though slow-paced and hushed, “Jauja” features striking locations and has such a soulful performance by Mortensen that it’s utterly absorbing even when not much is happening. The DVD and Blu-ray include a 2011 Alonso short film, plus a New York Film Festival Q&A with Alonso and Mortensen.

Wild Horses

E1, $29.98; Blu-ray, $29.98

Robert Duvall returns to the director’s chair for the first time in more than a decade for this Western/mystery/melodrama hybrid. He also stars as a rancher who tries to reconnect with his estranged gay son (James Franco), just as his family’s being implicated in a missing-persons investigation. Unlike 1997’s magnificent “The Apostle” (Duvall’s best film as a director) “Wild Horses” is kind of a mess, awkwardly trying to fuse local color, a procedural and sensitive social issues. But Duvall remains an American treasure, and it’s a treat to watch him on screen even in a lesser work — especially when it’s something that obviously means a lot to him personally.

Tangerines

First Run, $27.95

A foreign language film Oscar nominee this year, this Georgian anti-war drama is about neighboring Estonian farmers who help wounded soldiers from opposite sides of a civil war after exacting promises from each that they won’t kill each other after they recover. Writer-director Zaza Urushadze takes this basic situation — rooted in the radical notion that even during wartime, people can be decent to each other — and uses it to impart essential truths and to explore the madness that ensues when politics turn violent. This is a film designed to move people whether they’re deeply involved in the conflict in Georgia or if they have no idea of what it’s all about.

And…

Kung Fu Killer

Well Go USA, $24.98; Blu-ray, $29.98

Love Unto Death / Life Is a Bed of Roses

Cohen, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

My Beautiful Laundrette

Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95

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