Skip to main content

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Source
During a badly hungover train journey from London back home last weekend I turned to some classic Flight of the Conchords tunes on my iPod to get me through. The New Zealand duo have a back catalogue of parody songs and two HBO television series, and if you haven’t checked them out before then I strongly recommend. When I got home and collapsed on the sofa I began scrolling through Netflix for an easy to watch film to nurse me through the dying embers of my killer headache, and turned to a comedy co-created by one of the pair, Jermaine Clement. He and Taika Waitiki co-wrote, directed and starred in this hilarious horror mockumentary about cameramen granted full access to the house of a Wellington based vampires. What We Do in the Shadows was exactly what I needed.

Source
I missed the film during it’s original release in cinemas. To my mind it wasn’t out for long, and that was a shame as I was huge fan of Clement’s Flight of the Conchords work in particular. He and Bret McKenzie make up a great double act, and eventually transferred their live deadpan delivery of surreal and hilarious songs to a cult favourite television show. ‘Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros,’ ‘Too Many Dicks,’ and ‘Albi the Racist Dragon’ were played to death while I was at uni, and when I heard one half of the group had been heavily involved in this new comedy I was gutted to have missed it. Catching it on Netflix for the first time a few months ago I was blown away with the originality of the take on what had become a heavily over-saturated market of vampire films. The FOTC sense of humour runs right throughout it (there’s even an appearance by Rhys Darby), and the jokes hit home every time.

Source
Based on a 2006 short by Clement and Waititi, the film tells the story of the tensions that can arise in a house full of killer vampires that have been around for hundreds of years, and their place in modern society. Waititi is excellent as the film’s uptight guide, 379 year old Viago. He’s so fussy about house cleanliness that he feels the need to ask his housemates to wash the blood off cutlery, lay newspapers and towels on the floor around their soon-to-be prey, and pick up used spinal columns after themselves. Clement plays 862 year old Vladislav (“Vlad the Poker”), whose past powers in torture and mind control are waning. Jonathan Brugh plays Deacon (183), a serial knitter and bad boy, uses his human slave Jackie to lure unsuspecting virgins for the group to devour. Finally there is 8,000 year old “sweet” Petyr, a Nosferatu look-a-like who does little more than kill, eat and snarl. The film never lets up as the semi improvised jokes come thick and fast. The actor’s deadpan delivery and a brilliant set lead you to really fall for the world they inhabit and rules they live by. The special effects and wire work are subtly brilliant. Vampires raise from their coffins, fly up in to the air angrily hissing, and the moment Deacon clambers out of a small rucksack is actually pretty scary too. There’s even a great Inception-esc spinning corridor fight scene which I really enjoyed.

Source
If you’re a fan of horror, comedy, or Flight of the Conchords, looking for something new on Netflix, or nursing a banging headache, then What We Do in the Shadows will fit the bill. It’s so good that I’ve watched it twice now in relatively quick succession and just writing about it now makes me want to sit down and put it on again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Star Trek (2009) / Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Source Ahead of watching the new Star Trek film, Charlotte and I decided to go back and revisit JJ Abrams’ Star Wars audition and its sequel. The first I knew quite well, but I had only seen the second the once at the cinema, and it became one of many DVDs I have sat on my shelf still in its cellophane.  I’ve never been a Star Trek fan by any stretch. I’ve probably seen a little of the original series, and then the odd episode of Star Trek Next Generation TV series as a kid while waiting for The Simpsons, Robot Wars or Malcolm in the Middle to come on. I was always a big Star Wars fan and seemed to think you could only be in one camp or the other for some reason. As far as I’m aware Trekkie reception to the 2009 and 2013 reboots were largely positive bar the pretty one dimensional villain in the first, and the whitewashed return of a popular villain from the Star Trek canon in the sequel. This film seemed to cater for all though. If you wanted comedy, you got it in abundan...

Fences (2017)

Source Based on August Wilson's 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and adapted to screenplay before his death in 2005, Fences has been long in the waiting. There had been previous attempts adapt Fences to film (the rights were first purchased in 1987 with Eddie Murphy penciled in to star), but this had repeatedly been pushed back as Wilson remained adamant that it was directed by an African-American. Having directed twice before, and knowing the source material inside out from his Tony Award turn as the lead, Denzel Washington has taken the plunge and taken his place behind, as well as in front of the camera. With much of the stage cast reunited, including now Academy Award winner Viola Davis (also a Tony Award winner for the same role on stage) it is immediately apparent this has been made without a lot of love and respect for the original source material. Source Fences is a family drama in 1950s Pittsburgh, honing in on Troy Maxson (Washington), and his views on the...

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Source Tom Cruise and director Edward Zwick reunite after their successful 2003 collaboration, The Last Samurai, in the second of the Jack Reacher movie interpretations: Never Go Back.  If anyone actually got over the choice of Cruise to play Lee Child's title character of his long running novel series, they were left with a movie that had a lot going for it.  Unfortunately, it's follow up may have killed the franchise in it's tracks... [insert 'Never Go Back' pun].   Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher, an ex army major who "they ran out of medals to give" but eventually decided to leave and live his life roaming the streets.  Never Go Back tells the story of his budding friendship with a current army major (Cobie Smulders), and his decision to go on the run with her when she is wrongly framed for espionage.   Source The books are a bit throw-away, but really good fun, and I enjoyed the two I've read.  Reacher's part investigator, part hard m...