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What We Do in the Shadows

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What We Do in the Shadows
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Taika Waititi
  • Jemaine Clement
Produced by
  • Taika Waititi
  • Chelsea Winstanley
  • Emanuel Michael
Starring
  • Taika Waititi
  • Jemaine Clement
  • Rhys Darby
  • Jonathan Brugh
  • Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
  • Stu Rutherford
Cinematography
  • Richard Bluck
  • D.J. Stipsen
Edited by
Music byPlan 9 Music
Distributed byMadman Entertainment
Release dates
Running time
85 minutes[1]
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.6 million
Box office$6.9 million[2]

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand found footage[3] horror comedy film about a group of vampires who live together in Wellington. Directed and written by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who also star in the film, it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.[4][5]

Plot

Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr are four vampires who share a flat in the Wellington suburb of Te Aro. Although Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon are all several centuries old, they have retained normal human appearances, but the 8,000-year-old Petyr resembles Count Orlok and acts more savagely than the younger vampires. Each night, Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon prowl the streets of Wellington searching for people to kill, but must stay in the flat during the day to avoid sunlight—which is lethal to vampires—therefore they have not adapted to 21st century life. Deacon has a human servant—Jackie—who runs errands for the vampires, but she is frustrated that Deacon will not turn her into a vampire. Jackie leads her ex-boyfriend Nick to the vampire's flat so they can drink his blood, but he escapes before they kill him. As he leaves the flat, Petyr attacks him and later turns Nick into a vampire.

Two months later, the vampires accept Nick into their group, and also bond with his friend Stu, a computer programmer who shows them how to use modern technology. Nick struggles to adapt to life as a vampire and carelessly reveals his secret to strangers he meets in bars and clubs. One of these strangers turns out to be a vampire hunter, who breaks into the flat during the day and kills Petyr by exposing him to sunlight. The vampires are furious when they discover Nick has indirectly caused Petyr's death, and banish him from the flat. Some time later, the vampires are invited to a masquerade ball, where they meet other undead and supernatural beings such as zombies and witches, as well as Vladislav's ex-girlfriend Pauline, whom he nicknames "The Beast" due to their hard break-up. Nick, Stu and Jackie are also in attendance, and to Deacon's annoyance Nick has turned Jackie into a vampire. When Pauline realises Stu and the camera crew are human, the other guests try to kill them and Vladislav fights Pauline's new boyfriend. The vampires manage to escape the ball with Stu and the film crew, but encounter a group of werewolves who are about to transform in a forest. Stu and one of the cameramen are caught and attacked by the werewolves, and assuming Stu is dead, the vampires grieve for him.

A while later, Stu reappears, having been turned into a werewolf himself—eventually reconciling them with the vampires, as do Nick and the other vampires. Despite their differences with Nick, the other vampires have adapted to early twenty-first century life, relationships, and technology by the film's end.

Cast

  • Taika Waititi as Viago, aged 379
  • Jemaine Clement as Vladislav, aged 862
  • Jonathan Brugh as Deacon, aged 183
  • Ben Fransham as Petyr, aged 8,000
  • Jackie Van Beek as Jackie
  • Cori Gonzalez-Macuer as Nick
  • Stu Rutherford as Stu
  • Rhys Darby as Anton
  • Ethel Robinson as Katherine

Production

The film is based on a 2006 short film of the same name by Waititi and Clement. The new film was shot in Wellington in September 2012, and is Waititi's first feature since Boy.[4][5]

Release

The film was released in a limited release on February 13, 2015 in New York and Los Angeles, followed by a rare screening in San Francisco, Irvine, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.[6] The film received a regional release in the U.S. in March 2015, by Unison Films in association with Funny or Die and Paladin Pictures.[7]

Critical response

What We Do in the Shadows received very positive reviews from critics[8] and has a "Certified Fresh" score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 118 reviews with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. The critical consensus states "Smarter, fresher, and funnier than a modern vampire movie has any right to be, What We Do in the Shadows is bloody good fun."[9] The film also has a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 31 critics indicating "generally favourable reviews.[10]

Fearnet called the film "a great vampire comedy".[11] Film School Rejects wrote a predominantly positive review, commenting that some of the film's broader moments fell flat but compared it favorably to similar mockumentaries such as Best in Show.[12] The film was warmly received by UK newspapers, with The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw describing it as "the best comedy of the year",[13] while The Telegraph's Tim Robey found it "desperately funny".[14]

Film International, in a positive review, commended the film for noting, with a double of Count Orlok locked in the vampires' basement, that the true vampire film tradition is repressed by the current craze.[15]

Variety was more critical, writing that "Some genre fans who prefer the silly to the satiric may bite, but the anemic pic isn’t remotely weird or witty enough for cult immortality."[16]

References

  1. ^ "WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  2. ^ "What We Do in the Shadows (2015) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. ^ http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/review-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-is-the-first-must-see-of-2015/
  4. ^ a b "Taika and Jemaine unleash vampires in USA". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Sundance debut for Kiwi vampire spoof". Stuff.co.nz. The Dominion Post. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  6. ^ Barton, Steve (29 January 2015). "What We Do in the Shadows Is Quote Critics!". Dread Central. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  7. ^ Gingold, Michael (13 February 2015). "'WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS' creators reveal what they didn't do Critics!". Fangoria. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  8. ^ Taylor, Drew (14 March 2014). "SXSW Review: Vampire Comedy 'What We Do In The Shadows' Draws Blood". Indiewire. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  9. ^ "What We Do in the Shadows (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  10. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/what-we-do-in-the-shadows
  11. ^ Weinberg, Scott (17 March 2014). "FEARNET Movie Review: 'What We Do in the Shadows'". Fearnet. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  12. ^ Campbell, Christopher (13 March 2014). "SXSW 2014 Review: 'What We Do In the Shadows' Is Also a New Vampire Classic". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  13. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (20 November 2014). "What We Do in the Shadows review – best comedy of the year". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  14. ^ Robey, Tim (21 November 2014). "What We Do in the Shadows, review: 'Desperately funny'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  15. ^ Sorrento, Matthew (28 February 2015). "So It Goes in What We Do in the Shadows (2014)". Film International. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  16. ^ Nelson, Rob (24 January 2014). "Sundance Film Review: 'What We Do in the Shadows'". Variety. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
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