Film Review: Vampire mockumentary ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ has comedic teeth
Why New Zealand should have a propensity for horror comedies is anybody’s guess, but the new “What We Do in the Shadows” can proudly join the ranks of “Black Sheep” and Peter Jackson’s early low-budget “Brain Dead” (aka “Dead Alive”).
Vampire spoofs are their own subgenre at this point, but writer/director/stars Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement cleverly present theirs as a mockumentary. The idea is irresistible and obvious, yet neither the IMDb nor I can find a single precedent. And if one exists, it’s unlikely to be as endearingly amusing as this one.
Even more clever is that “What We Do...” pretends to be a “Real World”/”Big Brother”-style doc. Four vampires — housemates somewhere in suburban Wellington — have invited a film crew to try to dispel some of the silly prejudices they have to put up with. They’ve promised to control their more dangerous urges for the duration.
Viago (Waititi) acts as host, introducing roomies Vladislav (Clement), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and Petyr (Ben Fransham). The first three look reasonably normal; Petyr, however, is much older and has come to look like Max Schreck in “Nosferatu.” He may be immortal, but the years have taken a severe toll, including, it appears, dementia. The others keep him locked up in his coffin in the basement so he won’t run around outside at night and attract attention.
No sooner do we meet them than they convene a house meeting to deal with such mundane matters as who is slacking on their chores. It’s identical to what human roommates do, except when things get heated and they start flying around the room fighting.
Viago is a dandy, always dressed nicely in 17th- or 18th-century clothes. Before biting a victim, he likes to put a napkin around his own neck to protect his frilly shirt. Grooming is important to him, but (he complains) it’s nearly impossible to do when you don’t show up in mirrors. The 800something Vlad used to be tyrannical several centuries ago, but regrets it. “I was in a bad place back then.” He’s the most macho of the group, always brooding about his archenemy, the Beast. Deacon is the youngest — 188 — and consequently the most impulsive and rebellious. During World War II, he was a Nazi and, after the war, being both a Nazi and a vampire made things tough.
Eventually, Nick (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer), a newly turned vampire, joins them. He misses his old mates, so he invites Stu (Stuart Rutherford), a software designer, to visit. Everyone likes Stu, who teaches them how to use Google and eBay.
The subject matter demands a certain amount of special effects work, but, outside of a few transformation scenes, there is almost no CGI. Instead the filmmakers have used lots of mechanical effects — wire work, rotating rooms, high-pressure blood hoses, and the like. Even if this choice was mandated by the movie’s presumably small budget, it serves the material as well; glossier effects would have killed the illusion.
“What We Do in the Dark” is built around one central joke — the contrast between vampire characteristics and practical real life. It should get old pretty quickly, but it doesn’t, because Waititi and Clement keep coming up with different ridiculous juxtapositions. (It also wisely keeps its length under an hour and a half.) It doesn’t reach the heights of “This Is Spinal Tap” or the subsequent Christopher Guest movies, but then those are the golden standard of the form.
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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).