Review of What We Do in the Shadows (2014) by Lee W — 13 Apr 2015

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Four disparate ne'er do wells share a squalid flat, arguing over who should do the washing up, failing to get into pubs and having the occasional physical altercation. But rather than Young Ones Rick, Vyvyan, Mike and Neil, What We Do In The Shadows has four centuries-old vampires sharing digs in modern-day Wellington.

There's effete, lovelorn Viago (Taika Waititi), semi-reformed pervert/torturer Vladislav the Poker (Jemaine Clement), former Nazi vampire Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and 8000 year old Nosferatu-alike Petyr (Ben Fransham). Ahead of the vampire social event of the year, The Unholy Masquerade, Petyr decides to make young Wellington native Nick into a new vampire, who introduces the guys to modern culture. They take martial arts lessons, they bid on eBay, they finally get a TV. And there's still time for them to have a series of altercations with a pack of werewolves led by Clement's old Flight of the Conchords manager, Rhys Darby ("we're werewolves, not swear wolves.").

It's a one-gag concept, but one executed brilliantly. Like This Is Spinal Tap, Shadows hangs its central idea over a mock-documentary framework, with a narrative so slight it's barely there. And like Tap, it succeeds through likable characters (murderous creatures of the night though they are), a gag-ratio with many more hits than misses and buckets of charm - not to mention blood, guts and viscera.