User reviews

Lot's of people are disregarding this movie due to "Lack of plot" or "Poor cinematography".

This isn't supposed to be that sort of movie, it's a mockumentary, done in the style of a documentary.

They have nailed that look perfectly, and the plot doesn't matter in a comedy.

The comedy is great, the deadpan nature of it is hilarious, the jokes are brilliant.

Go in with the open mind that it's not your classic style of comedy.

I think it's a great movie.

I watched this movie, knowing nothing about it before, and it completely blew me away. It had me gut-busting from the very first scene throughout the entire movie. The premise of vampire flatmates is absurd, but it works great, because the movie takes its characters just serious enough for the audience to be somewhat emotionally invested in them. The chemistry between the actors is also great. But of course, the biggest strength of the movie is, that it delivers laughs on a very consistent level. Seriously, there was probably a joke every minute, that made me laugh so hard, I cried. I really don't wanna oversell this one, but I think this might be the funniest mockumentary since "This is Spinal Tap". If you like mockumentaries, dark comedy, vampires, or are just generally into humor, definitely go see this one. This is the funniest movie of the year so far, but I'm sure, that won't change.

The comedy horror is so hard to get right. Then using the Vampire genre and the equally overused mockumentary style you are pushing a boulder up hill. So the mere fact that this film feels fresh and leaves me wanting more is more than a poke, yes there is more than a poke, in the right direction. Great performances by all, apparently a lot of it is improvised but the script is well versed in vampire lore and flatting mannerism, nicely produced and well paced. New Zealand seems to have a talent for comedy horror. Peter Jackson's Brain Dead is perhaps the pinnacle and this from Taika Waititi and Jermane Clement is close on it heels. Gags and gore in equal abundance with a beating heart at its center, entrails to the left. Check it out!

"What We Do in the Shadows" is a mockumentary about four vampires sharing a flat together.

Going into this movie knowing nothing but the above, I did not have any idea what to expect. What I got was one of the funniest movies of this year or any year for that matter. The jokes where brilliant and more importantly, they were frequent and consistently brilliant. I loved the interaction of the main characters with each other and the supporting characters.

Each of the main vampires had their moments and were all equally funny. The movie even had werewolves and they were also hilarious. I was also surprised by the special effects which were really well done.

At one point it did feel like the jokes were getting old, but just as I had finished that thought, the movie changes and ends brilliantly. Even though there isn't much of a story, it doesn't really matter for this movie. Just watching some of the hilarious chaos that ensues in their everyday life is enough.

There are not many movies that make me actually laugh out loud, but this one did on several occasions (usually comedies, even great ones, just keep me grinning through out). This is easily one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had at the cinema.

When you very nearly spray a mouthful of drink over the person in front of you, its generally a good indicator the movie is pretty funny. The sandwich joke had me in stitches! This movie doesn't rely on just a few jokes to carry it, they maintain a subtle layer of humour throughout and then have you in stitches with some brilliant jokes. The cast in this movie are well picked, and Stu was brilliantly played by...well Stu. Taiki Waititi & Jemaine Clement really get the whole dilemma of everyday life as a vampire! Hopefully this gets picked up and the masses get a chance to enjoy this wee gem. Loved this movie and would definitely recommend it. Gave this a 10. A must see!!

you'll probably love this- it follows the mockumentary format excellently but ups the ante because its following a cast of actual (in the worldof the movie) vampires. (oh and some werewolves make a hilarious cameo.). But within the conceit of being a mockumentary its played totally straight.

The few special effects scenes are really well done for the budget and all the more powerful because they knew to do it sparingly.

What We Do in the Shadows is a low-budget, horror comedy about a small group of vampires that live in an apartment together in modern day New Zealand. The plot focuses on how these vampires adapt to a new vampire joining their group. The four initial vampires consist of Deacon, Petyr, Viago and Vladislav. Each of these vampires come from drastically different backgrounds and range from a couple hundred to a several thousand years old. This variety in backgrounds allows the characters to be very unique and it makes their interactions funny and interesting. This movie has one goal and one goal, only: the make you laugh. The plot is not very deep and can sometimes lack flow, but the jokes are consistently funny so you really don't care. The film is shot like a documentary. Characters will occasionally talk to the camera similar to Modern family or the Office. The quick cuts and explanatory dialogue allows fantastic comedic timing. The special effects are low budget but are most of the time done very well. Some of the camera tricks are very impressive and make the scenes feel quite real. The flying effects are quite poor, though. It is obvious that the actors are just suspended by wires. This might seem like a negative, but the way it is portrayed on screen makes it quite hilarious. There are a couple of brief action scenes which are done well enough. The chases can get quite shaky, though. This is a rated R film, but the graphic material was handled very well. There are a few f-words, but they are rare enough and used to appropriate places most of the time. The blood is so over-the-top and silly that it didn't bother me at all. If there is anything that would be extremely graphic, it is blurred out. I wasn't expecting much when entering the theater, but I left thoroughly entertained. If you want to laugh and if don't care that the plot is somewhat irrelevant then you will have a blast.

I wasn't sure about this one, I cannot remember anything about Flight of the Concords (sp?) and comedy is a sticky thing for me. I find that I laugh out loud more often during dramas, horror, thrillers etc than comedies. I thought GRAND BUDAPEST, ZERO THEOREM and THE DOUBLE were hilarious. But this surprised me... a lot.

Blade, Twilight, Werewolves, Zombies, they all make an appearance. The plot is actually quite funny in itself... it isn't meaty by any means, but it is also a joke: as the documentary team follows three vampires 'flatting' together: one who is very... camp, shall we say, another who is self-described as being hot... because he is a vampire, of course, and another who seems like a satirical-take on your stereotypical long-hair/metal-head. Oh, and an 8,000 year old friend who doesn't seem to possess the skills of communication.

They begin to talk the crew through how they try to socialise, which leads to some amusing scenes of vampires trying to have a nightlife. Then they talk the crew through how they capture/seduce people in order to drink their blood. More funny scenes follow, leading to one of these victims escaping from the flat. Of course he doesn't die, he becomes the new vamp in the gang. But.. He's young, he's stupid, he is not even over a hundred years old! When he introduces his human friend to his vampire friends, you just know its not gonna go well. I won't go any further, but from here the plot delves the movie into comedic chaos. I was missing jokes because I was laughing at the ones previous! There are no immature fart jokes here, there aren't any jokes that make you cringe in their lame delivery.... Even though they are throwing a lot of crud at the wall, most of it sticks. It is also filled with comedic variety. Physical humour, plain old slapstick, facial expressions/body language (especially that camp vampire who always leads the doco crew around, his facial expressions and eye-movements when following the cameras cracked me up every time), and obviously sarcasm and satire are underlying themes.

This thing felt that it was running on all cylinders for the entire movie. It also manages to feel effortless; there was no sense of them trying too hard for laughs - the mockumentary setting helped the film in this sense, despite the plot being thin. But, the wide range of comedy used, from slapstick to satire and everything in between, is probably the biggest reason why this movie does not feel forced.

I walked out of this movie in pain from laughter. After only 87 minutes! The entire place was in stitches for the entire movie, and I saw people from all ages as I walked out, all with giant grins, talking about this or that scene. I'm chuckling as I am writing this as its stimulating my memory and I am seeing it in my head.

www.epilepticmoondancer.net

The premise is fun, Jemaine Clement is in it, I thought this was going to be a cool movie no matter what. It was not.

They went too far with the reality TV documentary style and after one hour and a half of following silly people around who are just incidentally vampires or werewolves or whatever, I was just praying for it to just end.

Some jokes were funny, but certainly not laughing out loud stuff. The acting was OK, given the plot, but really, it was a total bore. Add to this the overwhelmingly positive reviews that made me expect something so much better and it all resulted in a terrible disappointment.

A Flight of the Conchords mockumentary inspecting the logistics of the vampire social scene in modern-day New Zealand. I was hoping for better. It seems like it's constantly right on the verge of doing something really hilarious, but can't quite flip the switch. The landscape is ripe for this kind of a satire, too, with so much empty romanticism hovering around the fantasy genre. Most of the fun comes from picking apart the hallmarks of the bloodsucker game, exposing them for the lame parlor tricks and absurd handicaps they really are. Mystically swapping a plate of noodles for worms, for example, to the mild annoyance of the victim. Failing to enter a nightclub because the bouncer doesn't explicitly invite them in. In most films, these would be appetizers for the main entree, but in this case there's no second course. This would've made for a brilliant skit on a sketch comedy show, but it just doesn't have the depth for its own feature-length. Even a very short one.

I laughed and laughed and laughed.

This is not a Vampire Movie, this is a mockumentary about some flatmates who happen to be vampires, just, y'know, incidentally.

It is laugh-out-loud (LOL, young people) funny for extended periods. There is a lot of under-stated humour, but it has the feel of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, made on weekends over an extended period - "what can we do in this scene to make it even funnier?"

Being from NZ, I feel unsure whether I am on the the inside of an in-joke (the police officers, for example) but plenty of people seemed to get the Conchords, so who knows, really.

If you "get" The Office and you "get" The Conchords, you'll love it.

For true.

Bro.

What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy/horror focusing mainly on a group of vampires living together in modern New Zealand. There are also some other creatures briefly included like werewolves and zombies.

The idea is unique and there are definitely some funny moments. For example the vampires are learning about the internet and social media. Vladislav is taught how to poke people on Facebook, "Yes do it, let's poke her"! There's another scene where they have a house meeting to discuss chores and cleanliness. Viago comments on how he puts down towels and newspaper when killing his victims to not ruin the furniture. He expects the others to do the same.

All of the actors have really done a great job getting into character; especially Taika Waititi as Viago and Jermaine Clement as Vladislav.

For me the biggest problem with the movie is that there really is not much of a plot. The majority of the film is improvised and it moves from scene to scene without much direction. The characters and scenarios are very well done but it doesn't work for me as a full length movie.

I watched this for about half an hour. A mockumentary about vampire roommates is a cute idea, mixing the day-to-day challenges of shared living with vampire challenges like finding victims, and it was all kind of amusing. But I wouldn't go so far as to call it funny, and the fact that I wasn't actually laughing or feeling interested hinted to me that this wasn't the movie for me.

It's very low-key humor. It's so low-key that even the moments that might feel horrific instead just seem bland. In theory, this is a dark comedy, but it never felt that dark or that funny.

To be fair, I don't like some mockumentaries that other people love. While I loved Spinal Tap, I never understood the appeal of Waiting for Guffman. So if you just love all the mockumentaries, you might like this better than I did.

This is one very amusing movie. Not taking itself too seriously, but managing to bring freshness and originality and many many new angles to the vampire genre. It is witty, it looks nice and is wholeheartedly recommended.

Let me start with: I don't like "reality TV" at all. And there is a reason you have to put "", because it is anything but real. And while this isn't real either (obviously), it is so much more fun than anything and feels more like what good reality TV could be ... if there where Vampires that is.

The basics are clear. As is the fourth wall that is practically not existent, because we are in the middle of it all. Does it always make sense? Of course not, that is the nature of shows like that. How did the camera get in there beforehand? But at least the camera (or the guy holding it) get recognized a lot. The group of people behind this are popular, maybe not worldwide, before this movie came out, but at least "at home". And it shows, because of the chemistry they have. This is very well written and acted. Comedy timing is essential and in this case awesome.

What a movie! It's so fresh, funny and strange! That's a perfect recipe for a cult movie. When you love vampire, you want to spend some time in the darkness with them. You want to know how they live, how it is. The movie is directed as if you were with them in the shadow. It's definitely the kind of movie you want to watch again and again.

Every few years in New Zealand, a secret society holds The Unholy Masquerade. A film crew is allowed into the lives of some vampires who are part of the secret society of supernatural beings such as witches, zombies and werewolves. Viago (Taika Waititi), Nazi vampire Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) and ancient Petyr live together in a house in Wellington struggling with everyday vampire drama. Jackie is Deacon's human familiar who is frustrated with the lack of upward mobility.

This is a great concept, a funny group and terrific deadpan humor. It's a brilliant entry into the mockumentary genre. It's too warped of an idea for Christopher Guest to come up with. This comic group isn't always the funniest for me but this movie hits all the vampire tropes on the head. It also works as a horror spoof. It's loads of fun.

Summary: This movie is a mockumentary movie about a group of 4 vampires called Deacon, Viago, Petyr and Vladislav. They are flatmates in New Zealand and they invite a documentary crew to film their daily activities that are very similar to our lives but with a vampire twist, like bringing people home from nightclubs to suck their blood, or going to undead festivals..

What I like: This is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. Normally I never laugh at movies, I just get amused, but this one I was laughing every few minutes, it's exactly my type of humour. The funniest moments only work with the expert delivery by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi who star in the movie as Viago and Vladislav as well as writing and directing it. If you told most of the jokes to someone they probably wouldn't get it but with the awkward pauses and absurdity that you see and hear in the movie, it makes you laugh every time.

What I dislike: The way that the story is structured it just seems like a series of skits with some connection in the story and personally I prefer stories with more of a plot. I would have also prefered if we got to see more of what the 4 main vampires lives where like in other time periods

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement seem to understand misfits. Waititi explored them in his first two films, Eagle vs Shark and Boy, and Clement's partnership with Bret McKenzie as Flight of the Conchords was an object lesson in not fitting in. Their early works were loved both here and abroad. Between them, Waititi and Clement have been nominated at the Grammys, the Emmys and the Oscars, hardly a pedigree to be sniffed at. I guess the domestic appeal of this is born of New Zealand being a strange little country down the bottom of the world, whose national bird doesn't fly, who dared stand up to the Americans and say "No Nukes", and which has been the backdrop for some of the hugest blockbusters of recent years. We're proud of our strangeness. The international appeal is perhaps due in part to the same thing, our unique individuality. I guess, coming from a pair of inveterate misfits, What We Do in the Shadows, an exploration of vampires who live among humans, but are intrinsically not living humans themselves, is a natural growth of themes already explored. As this film explores vampire tropes with fresh eyes, it gives, as well, a poignant look at the value of exploring past beliefs, hurts, losses and prejudices anew and seeing what can grow. As each of us age, it becomes easier to get stuck in our ways, how much more so for vampires whose age is counted not in decades but centuries. For Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr there are many challenges. Viago faces the classic immortal's dilemma; his beloved growing old without him. Vladislav has a beast from the past which could rear its head again. Deacon faces the challenge of meeting a new generation and realising his own youth is slipping away. Petyr is growing ever more ancient, and is working to create a legacy. From these challenges come a fresh look at relationships between old enemies, at the cost of indiscretion, at unfulfilled promises and at the need to sometimes sacrifice your own desires out of genuine affection for another. This is a quirky film, slightly disjointed in places. But it delights in its lo-fi quirk right from the very 1970's looking "New Zealand Documentary Board" credit at the beginning. There's plenty of laughs to be had. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, it might be hard for some to follow, but there's entertainment to be found here for all. And now to the reviewer's bias. My grandmother, with whom I attended the Wellington première. Ethel Robinson assured me leading up to the movie that hers would be a very small part. It was, but it was a very necessary component part. And she filled it admirably, as did each of the performers in this piece. From the puzzled police, the frustrated familiar, the affable alpha-wolf, all the way to the venerable vampires themselves, no-one seemed out of place in this gentle comedy. Though it is about the undead, you can feel the warm heart beating below the surface of What we do in the Shadows, a film which will leave you thinking about vampires, and maybe about the world too, in a new way.

What we do in the shadows was a witty and entertaining movie that covered a large amount of ground, and was filled with plenty of genuinely funny humor. Being some what of a fan of the directors prior movie "eagle vs shark," i found "What we do in the shadows" to be significantly better, all the while keeping the dry sense of humor and laid back style of storytelling.

This movie was well shot, and did not seem overly cheap in production value. The satire found throughout was well executed, and it felt that no stone was left unturned in its analysis of the vampire mythos.

Being a mockumentary, everything was done right and explained, and a feeling of realism emanated as the movie progressed. A degree of true horror aspect was held throughout the main backdrop making the humorous aspects all the more enjoyable.

Exceeded my expectations, and I highly recommend giving this one a watch for any fans of mockumentary films, vampire/horror movies and comedies.

8/10

The three lead vampires in this film were absolutely fantastic, especially Jonathon Brugh (His solo dance routine was one of the most awkwardly hilarious things I have ever seen!). I loved all three of the main characters and their interactions with Stu. I was laughing the whole way through this film which is continuously funny.

I actually found some of the scenes to be quite frightening, especially when the vampires are chasing one of their victims through their home! This scene was one of my favourites.

I don't think it needed to be a mockumentary though. Sometimes the shots were purposefully too long which felt unnecessary and just slowed the pace of the film. Some of the jolty, hand-held camera shots could be a bit annoying too. Otherwise, I loved it and definitely recommend it! I hope it claims top spot for its opening weekend in NZ.

Ahaaaa, what is this for a weird flick I can tell you. It's pure stupidity and the kind of humour that isn't for anybody but I enjoyed it somehow. Let me be clear, it isn't for all the geeks out there.

I can't say that I laughed it out loud like some British zomcoms for example. But what makes it also worth seeing is that you are just looking for the jokes here and there and the fact that you forget to watch the effects used, they are worth seeing, climbing on the walls, changing into bats, you know your typical vampire stuff.

You love or hate this flick, as simple as that.

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 2/5

they say that "More than 120 hours of footage was shot, most of which were improvisation from the leads." And improv sometimes works, but it usually works best when actors are working from a strong script and when the story has at least some structure.

this movie had a great idea behind it and had a lot of potential. it was actually a pretty genius idea, and to be fair there were some really hilarious scenes too. But I just felt like the movie needed stronger direction. a lot of the jokes fall flat because they feel like they either run for too long or they are too awkward and they just didn't know when to cut.

I would have loved to see a different edit from those 120 hours of footage actually. (maybe there were funnier moments that got cut because the jokes left in the movie ran for too long) Or I wish they had focused a little more on making the jokes stronger rather than what we got. So, to me this was a great idea, but not as great of an execution of the idea.

If you like vampires this is a good movie full of inside jokes on the genre. they definitely did the research on vampire lore

A few months ago, thanks in part to a Kickstarter campaign, What We Do in the Shadows arrived in film festivals all over the world...and audiences were stunned! Why? Because it's one weird, very weird movie!

The film is a marvelous mockumentary that makes fun of the current reality television fad. In many ways, it's like an MTV series like "The Real World" or "Jersey Shore"....meets "Twilight"!! Somehow, a film crew gained access to a strange home where four vampires lived. And, it's in tiny Wellington, New Zealand of all places! According to the film, this unlikely place is actually a hotbed of vampires, werewolves, zombies and more...and these four undead guys are allowing some humans to come into their previously hidden lives. The residents of this home are a motley and mostly lovable group of loser vampires ranging from the rather likable Viago to the incredibly scary and Nosferatu-like Petyr and you follow them through the course of their evenings over a period of many months.

While this idea is crazy and a bit silly, the joke could have worn thin very quickly--and it probably would have with lesser filmmakers and actors. Instead, the film maintains a wonderful tongue-in-cheek mood throughout and constantly delivers laughs...and, oddly, a lot of charm (well, that is when the guys aren't feeding off Wellingtonians). It also really helps that you like these folks! The bottom line is that this film is completely unique and fun...and if you see it with your friends, they won't believe what they're watching! And, they'll thank you for suggesting it.

By the way, I happened to have actually been in Wellington last September and I don't recall having seen any zombies, witches, werewolves or vampires. Of course, I didn't happen to be there at night....