Four vampire flatmates are being filmed
by a New
Zealand documentary crew for six months in
this latest spin on the vampire genre as comedy is mixed with the mockumentary
style. They act in the old ways as they
try to get into 21st century nightclubs, get victims (preferably
virgins), trade insults with werewolves (not swear wolves), share household
chores, and learn to use the internet.
Their lives are complicated by the human friend of Nick, one of the
people they turned into a vampire. The
documentary leads up to and after the Unholy Masquerade where vampires,
zombies, and witches get together to mingle.
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is an instant cult
classic as you
can believe there are vampires out there living mundane lives except for the
whole having to live at night and get victims bit. I was laughing at how they
have no idea why
they don’t appear in the mirror (and yet they can take pictures and be on
video) and even the fake New Zealand Documentary Board bit that appears during
the opening credits. It is a nice tongue-in-cheek
movie and vampire fans should love it.
SPECIAL FETAURES:
The audio commentary with co-writers/ co-directors
Jemaine
Clement and Takia Waititi is a little dry and boring as they provide details
about the making of the movie, but the rest of the extras are fantastic.
BEHIND THE SHADOWS is a 17 minute behind-the-scenes
featurette with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
The rest of the extras are tied into the movie’s
in-joke of
being an actual documentary.
12 deleted scenes (about 31 minutes) show a cut
funeral
scene and a scene cut from the end while the fifty minutes of video extras
present the original 30 minute short the movie is based on and other deleted
bits from the movie (including a vampire and werewolf dance). The interviews
with three of the four
flatmates, the police, werewolves (who talk about the people they killed when
transformed), and a zombie are also a delight to watch. Six promo videos
and 50 artist posters for
the movie round off the extras.
FINAL ANALYSIS:
WHAT
WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is a delightful vampire comedy with an almost perfect
selection of extras you should also watch as you can see how they could have
crafted the final movie.
This review is ©7-28-2015
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
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