What We Do In The Shadows - Film Review

A hybrid of Spinal Tap, Peep Show and The Addams Family, Taikia Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s deadpan mockumentary shows that even the undead struggle with the niggling banalities of night-to-night life.
Roommate compatibility, for example, can be extra tricky when there are centuries between you.
There’s Viago (Waititi), the camp 379-year-old control freak; arrogant and self-centred 183-year-old Deacon (Jonathan Brugh); 862-year-old kinky glam-rocker Vladislav (Clement); and then there’s 8,000-year-old Nosferatu-type Petyr, who doesn’t get out much.
Hoping for a quiet afterlife, the fanged posse settle in Wellington, New Zealand – but newbie vampire Nick (Cori Gonzalez Macuer) and the ego-accentuating nature of reality TV threaten to destabilise their dynamic.
Waititi and Clement perfectly pitch their mockumentary framework, allowing the film to become all about these characters and their small interactions.
As they bicker over chores, try to get invited over the threshold of nightclubs and butt heads with a local gang of werewolves, the brilliantly observed comedy is so laden with uproarious one-liners that it demands reverent repeat viewings.
The combination of the outrageous genre concepts, realistic practicalities and perfectly unique and fully rounded characters blends beautifully.
This is aided by the perfect visual design, which uses special effects that are quirky yet brilliantly rendered.
The flawless technical aspects not only ground these characters’ specific realities, but allow the audience to immerse themselves in it.
As vampires transform into bats and gruesome wounds are inflicted, the top-notch production values make these fantastical aspects seem commonplace, heightening the illusion of reality.
The specific sketch-like shtick may feel more suited to ecstatic group viewings at home rather than in a cinema – but the subtle, constant humour means either way, silly and surprising fun will be had.

IN CINEMAS NOVEMBER 21.