What We Do In The Shadows Review

Director: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement.

Cast: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stuart Rutherford, Ben Fransham.

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 86 minutes.

Synopsis: A documentary crew captures the lives of a group of 4 vampires living in Wellington.

Mockumentaries have been done before, in fact, mockumentaries about vampires have been done before. The brilliant Belgian film VAMPIRES, took us into the world of the bloodsucking beasts, but now we are at it once again with some of New Zealand’s top comedic talent. What do we get? The funniest film of the year? That would be an understatement.

Written and directed by stars Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS exposes the harsh and vicious world of vampires in the most hilarious ways imaginable. In many ways this house of 4 very different vampires, have become an archaic coven of monsters that have long since vanished. They may murder innocents, but they aren’t exactly threatening, and they certainly don’t understand the world around them. This brings us to the inclusion of Nick (Gonzalez-Macuer), a human with his finger on the pulse of pop-culture.

Throughout the film we are given hilarious set pieces, each one refusing to take jokes too far. The film is incredibly inventive with how the vampires use their powers and how they interact with other characters. This is more than just a succession of set pieces though, as we see great friendships develop as the vampires try and integrate themselves into the 21st century. Whether it be hypnotising the police into not seeing what’s going on, or confronting a gang of werewolves (not swearwolves), the script constantly throws in excellent surprises all kept fresh with improvised dialogue.

Every cast member adds something different to the painfully lovable characters. Waititi is a riot as the camp and loving Viago, while Clement compliments him well as the more medieval and traditional Vladislav. Brugh plays Deacon, a ladies vampire with a need to party and Fransham is a NOSFERATU inspired beast who loves to hiss. Even the humans stand up to their larger than life vampiric co-stars, with Rutherford giving a calm and childlike naivety to his role as the human the vampires come to like.

As a mockumentary it allows for the cast to riff to the camera, and anyone familiar with Flight Of The Conchords will enjoy the same type of humour that mixes quotable dialogue with great back and forths. It’s been a long time since I didn’t want a film to end, and 86 minutes is far too short for such quality. This is worth every penny, and if it doesn’t become the hit it deserves to be on screen, it can fully expect a resurgence on home entertainment, but do yourself and this film a favour, and watch it on the big screen. We need more comedies like this.

[usr=5] WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is out now.