If you are a fan of vampire movies (not those like Twilight but more like the classic Dracula) and mock documentaries (like Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman), What We Do in the Shadows is for you. This mockumentary follows the lives of four vampires of various ages living together. Together, they face the same struggles most roommates do like who is going to do the dishes and who is going to sweep up the skeleton bones.
Living in New Zealand, Viago (Taika Waititi) is the chatty spokesperson of the quartet. He doesn’t like getting blood on his antique couch. Petyr (Ben Fransham) is the oldest of the four and resembles Nosferatu. He doesn’t talk much and spends most of his time in the basement. Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) is a lady killer and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) has a human servant, (Ethel Robinson), who desperately wants to be turned into a vampire. Instead, she ends up ironing Deacon’s clothes.
The end result is a silly spoof that is very funny but a little off balance. Most of the jokes go over very well, but some fall flat. There are some funny bits with the vampires learning how to use a computer and watching footage of a sunrise for the first time. They talk about drinking blood of a virgin because it sounds cool. For fun, the crew venture into town, but they cannot come into any nightclub unless they are invited in. They also get in a little trouble with a pack of werewolves who are trying hard to control their own beastly natures.
The comedy is similar in tone to The Munsters or The Adams Family TV shows, but with stronger language. Also, being a horror film, there is some blood and gore, but nothing more than what you might see in a Saturday Night Live skit (remember the one with Julia Child cutting her finger?). Is it offensive? Well, it’s not for everyone that is for sure. Nothing here is to be taken seriously though, but there is enough to sink your teeth into.