Hilarious With Lot's Of Great Gimmicks

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2015)

What We Do In The Shadows is a downright hilarious Kiwi mockumentary horror-comedy about 4 vampires- Deacon, Vlad, Viago & Peter- who are flatting together after having immigrated to New Zealand.
The life of a Kiwi Vampire consists of getting invited into bars, feasting on locals (preferably virgins), taking on human slaves (familiars) to do your bidding, going to masquerade balls (with other vampires, witches & zombies), and- of course- getting into street fights with the local gang of werewolves.
Deacon is sort of the unofficial leader of the group. He keeps everyone in line and drags everyone out to different events. His still pangs for the love of his life- Katharine- whom he came to New Zealand for, only to find she was taken and happy. Seeing how happy she was, he decided not to turn her and let her live her life. She's now 90, but he still digs her.
Viago- played by director Taika Waititi- is the youngest of the four. A rebel of sorts. He has a familiar named Jackie who does everything for the guys. She expects to be turned as repayment for her loyalty- but Viago keeps putting it off.
Vlad- played by director Jemaine Clement- is the most infamous of the group. Renown in legend for his torturous ways (which he has since grown out of). His ex-girlfriend- The Beast- is his nemesis.
Peter is the oldest of the group. They can't control him, so they keep him locked in a room in the basement. Unlike the others- who have retained their human images- Peter is rocking the traditional Nosferatu look. He enjoys turning people. He even turned Viago.
At one point, the guys get Jackie to round them up some virgins for a dinner party: "I think we virgin drink blood because...it sounds cool." - Viago "If you were going to enjoy a sandwich.
You will just enjoy it more if you know no one has f*cked it." - Vlad
The loyal servant that she is, Jackie lures her childhood sweetheart Nick, and an old school chum, over for a "dinner party" at the den.
But before the guys can feast on Nick, he manages to escape- only to be caught by Peter, who turns him.
Newly turned Nick keeps pissing everyone off, as he won't stop flying around the neighbours and telling everybody he's a vampire.
While out doing this, he accidentally reveals himself to a vampire hunter- who follows them home and kills Peter (before being slain himself).
For this transgression, Nick gets banished from the den...but his best human friend Stu is still allowed to stick around, because all the guys like him (and have collectively agreed not to kill him).
More trouble arises when Nick brings Stu to the annual Vampire, Witch & Zombie masquerade ball. All the other attendees can sense his humanness and want to feast on him. Forcing the group of guys to flee.
On their way home, they happen upon a local pack of PC werewolves who are trying to chain themselves to trees before they turn during the full moon. However, a full scale battle breaks out, during which the werewolves seize Stu from the guys.
The werewolves don't eat Stu though. They turn him- out of spite for the vampire counterparts. But Stu acts as a conciliatory force, and bridges the gap between the werewolves and vampires- rendering them friends in the end (even if there is still some tension there).
It's great to see the Kiwi's keeping their mockumentary tradition- established by Peter Jackson with Forgotten Silver- alive. This film is absolutely hilarious. It's chock full of clever gimmicks, great special effects (on a budget) and just the right amount of gore (nothing too over the top). There are some great quotes in there too (like noted above).
What We Do In The Shadows premiered at TIFF last year and deservingly took home the Midnight Madness prize (as the fan favourite Midnight Madness screening). If you are looking for a relatively new horror-comedy to check out this Halloween season...definitely go this route...it comes highly recommended.
7 out of 10.