What We Do in the Shadows

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What We Do in the Shadows
File:What We Do in the Shadows poster.jpg
New Zealand theatrical release poster
Directed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Taika Waititi
  • Chelsea Winstanley
  • Emanuel Michael
Written by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Jemaine Clement
  • Taika Waititi
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Taika Waititi
  • Jemaine Clement
  • Rhys Darby
  • Jonathan Brugh
  • Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
  • Stu Rutherford
Music by Plan 9
Cinematography <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Richard Bluck
  • D.J. Stipsen
Edited by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Production
companies
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributed by Madman Entertainment
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Running time
 85 minutes[1]
Country New Zealand
USA
Language English
German
Spanish
Budget $1.6 million
Box office $6.9 million[2]

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary[3] horror comedy film about a group of vampires who live together in Wellington written, directed by, and starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.[4][5] The film was theatrically released on August 18, 2014 by Madman Entertainment. The film earned $6.9 million on a $1.6 million budget.

Plot

Four vampires - Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr - 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 they 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 (familiar)—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: he escapes before they can kill him, but 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 human 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, a vampire hunter, 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. The police arrive to investigate a reported disturbance and Viago is able to hypnotize them so they don't see the blood or the dead body of the vampire hunter.

Some time later, the vampires receive an invitation 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 also attend. To Deacon's annoyance, Nick has turned Jackie into a vampire. When Pauline realizes that 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. Assuming Stu is dead, the vampires grieve for him.

A while later, Stu (having been turned into a werewolf himself) reappears—eventually reconciling the werewolves with the vampires. Nick and the other vampires also resurface. 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 - the uptight leader of the household who's very picky about keeping things clean.
  • Jemaine Clement as Vladislav, aged 862 - a former tyrant with extreme powers, fond of torture by "poking someone with implements", who lost much of his power after a defeat by his greatest enemy, "the Beast".
  • Jonathan Brugh as Deacon, aged 183 - the "rebel" of the group who is fond of knitting, erotic dancing, and "being cool".
  • Ben Fransham as Petyr, aged 8,000 - a Nosferatu-like vampire who lives on the bottom floor of the flat in a stone coffin and generally keeps to himself.
  • Jackie Van Beek as Jackie - a human and Deacon's familiar who cleans up after the vampires and connects them with potential victims.
  • Cori Gonzalez-Macuer as Nick - an intended victim who is turned into a vampire by Petyr.
  • Stu Rutherford as Stu - Nick's best friend who introduces the vampires to modern technology.
  • Rhys Darby as Anton - the leader of a local pack of werewolves.
  • Ethel Robinson as Katherine - the love of Viago's life.

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 critical acclaim[8] and has a "Certified Fresh" score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 151 reviews with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. It is rated #68 on the website's list of Top 100 comedies of all time. 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 76 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable 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]

Box office

What We Do in the Shadows grossed $6.9 million in New Zealand and $3.4 million in the USA.[citation needed]

Home media

What We Do in the Shadows was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 26, 2014 by Weltkino Filmverleih.

Soundtrack

  • Reflections Scatter - Performed by Module
  • You're Dead - Performed by Norma Tanega
  • Skocne - Performed by Black Ox Orkestar
  • I Love LA - Performed by Printz Board
  • The Captain - Performed by The Phoenix Foundation
  • Enchanted Castle - Performed by Beatbox Production Music
  • Gloria RV 589 - Written by Antonio Vivaldi
  • Cuius Anima Gementem - Written by C. Pergolesi
  • Svatovsko Kolo - Performed by The Bosnian Muslims
  • Shvartze flamen, vayser fayer - Performed by Black Ox Orkestar
  • Alagyaz Khumki Tsar - Performed by Komitas Vardabet
  • Lal Mori Pat - Performed by Igbal Jogi and Party
  • New High & Ord - Performed by Silver Daggers
  • Don't Look At Me - Performed by Printz Board
  • Another Life - Performed by Black English
  • Sex Meat - Performed by Lawrence Arabia
  • El Condor Pasa - Written by Daniel Alomia Robles
  • Om Bop Diddy - Performed by Printz Board
  • Nebuchadnezzar's Nine Wives - Performed by Niko Ne Zna
  • Leave The Door Wide Open - Performed by Black English
  • Nign - Performed by Black Ox Orkestar
  • Hypercube - Performed by Orchestra of Spheres
  • Magic (What She Do) - Performed by Dave Dobbyn
  • Largo - Written by Antonio Vivaldi
  • Fez - Performed by Niko Ne Zna
  • Lastochka - Performed by Leningrad
  • Dance of Maria - Performed by Elias Rahbani
  • Exotica - Performed by Pepe Jaramillo and His Latin American Rhythm Band
  • Dragon Man - Performed by Lawrence Arabia
  • The Warewolf - Performed by Luke Buda
  • Taku Reo - Performed by Ria Hall
  • Red Rubicon - Performed by Cloudboy
  • Joy - Performed by Silver Daggers
  • Plan 9 Original Music - Performed by Plan 9

Sequel

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. A sequel to the film, which will focus on the werewolves depicted in What We Do in the Shadows, is in production. Originally rumoured to be titled What We Do in the Moonlight, the working title was later announced as We're Wolves.[17][18]

References

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  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Chavez, Danette (2015-08-17). "What We Do in the Shadows Is Getting a Sequel." AVClub.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  18. ↑ http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/01/25/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-follow-up-gets-a-snappy-title

External links

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