What We Do In The Shadows - Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
This is part of my unedited thoughts series
What could be more normal than a documentary about a coven of vampires?
When the film opens with archaic titles for: “New Zealand Documentary Board”, you know you are in for something unique. The complete deadpan way in which the film is presented is brilliant.
A documentary crew is following a group of vampire housemates in the lead-up to this year’s Unholy masquerade. Viago (Waititi) is the narrator. Our in-shot guide into their world. He isn’t the story’s hero as this character has no arc.
The hero of the story is Nick. A guy who is going to be their dinner but he escapes and is turned by the ancient vampire Peter. He then stuffs everything up by telling everyone that he is a vampire.
This leads to a vampire hunter coming after them and the death of Peter. Eventually, Nick accepts what he has become. Bringing his human friend Stu to the masquerade at the end saves the day.
There are a lot of sub-plots and backstories to cover as well.
It does feel like a reality TV show in the way these stories are told. We get one-on-ones with all the characters explaining their origins.
The rest of the show is vignettes of life as a vampire. There is some great stuff here.
The two young girl vampires that kill pedophiles – great stuff.
The introduction to technology is fantastic as well. They also make a lot of references to other vampire myths. Vladislav (Clement) is Vlad the Impaler himself. There are also visual references to other vampire films which are great little easter eggs.
Overall it is a fantastic piece of cinema that gives you exactly what you want, just in ways that you didn’t expect. All the performances are good. Underplayed but fantastic. Highly recommended!!!
