Friday, March 20, 2015

Movie Review #232: "What We Do in the Shadows" (2015)

Movie"What We Do in the Shadows"
Ticket Price: $9.75
Director: Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 26 minutes
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A documentary crew follows a group of vampire roommates Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and Petyr (Ben Fransham), who are living in New Zealand while they deal with the mundane, everyday life in the modern world, all while leading up to an annual masquerade ball for the undead. 

Mockumentary films have a great tradition of poking fun at certain modern subcultures through satire. "This is Spinal Tap" did it with aging rock bands, "Best in Show" did it with dog shows, and now, "What We Do in the Shadows" does it with vampires, a subject that has been heavily in cinematic rotation for the last two decades or so. Knowing nothing about this film, we were surprised to see it come to one of our local theaters. This film is absolutely, positively hilarious. Most movies about vampires romanticize what it's like to be a centuries old undead bloodsucker, but here, we get a group of vampire roommates who have arguments over simple things like household chores, such as who will clean the dishes when, whose turn it is to do the vacuuming and how to properly not get blood on the furniture. Each person, errrrrrmm, vampire, represents a specific 'style' of vampire, one adapted from a different film or book. Viago, played by Taikai Waititi, is clearly the Anne Rice "Interview with the Vampire" style vampire, dressing in frilly blouses and possessing more classical mannerisms. Jemaine Clements' Vladislav "The Poker" is a obvious representation of Bram Stoker's take on "Vlad The Impaler." Deacon, played by Jonathan Brugh, seems to be an homage to "The Lost Boys" as he serves as the younger, more hip in comparison vampire at just 183 years old. Deacon also has a familiar, or a human servant, by the name of  Jackie, played by Jackie van Beek. She is the one tasked with doing all of their outside chores, from wiping up blood on the street to getting their dry cleaning done to disposing of bodies. Jackie does it all for them, and in return, Deacon promised that he would "turn" her into one of them, a promise, for years it seems, he has yet to fulfill. Then, there is the 8,000 year old Petyr, who is a clear representation of Nosferatu's Count Orlak. Together, this boy band-esque troupe of undead, hundreds of years old roomies spend their nights trolling for victims to satisfy their cravings for blood at all the local hot spots in New Zealand...well, at least the ones that will invite them inside. Though the prefer virgins, they will take almost anyone they can get that will hit the spot, and upon meeting Nick, played by Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, the gang find themselves stuck with a new roommate after Petyr bites him, turning him into one of them. While at first he thinks it's cool to be one of them, Nick does not fully understand of what it means to be undead. We watch Nick transition from human to vampire, losing the ability to eat his favorite food, chips (or fries, for all of the American readers), but gaining the ability to fly and use mind control. Nick brings his friend Stu, played by Stuart Rutherford, to the house, and the flatmates take a liking to him and unanimously agree to not eat him because he's so cool, even though he doesn't say much. We also see several encounters between our vampire subjects and a group of their sworn enemies, werewolves, of course, led by Anton, the alpha male portrayed by Rhys Darby, and their mutual hatred for one another. Slinging a slew of dog related and dead-centered jokes back and forth between one another, these interactions serve as some of the most comical scenes in the film.

Wrought with all of the typically symbolic vampire items such as coffins, hatred of crosses and stakes, and of course, tons of blood and some very gory moments, "What We Do in the Shadows" gives a fresh, satirical and unique perspective of what it's like for this bunch vampires to exist in a world that has kept moving forward as they have been left behind. While they have tried their best to lay low and adapt, we see their new-found knowledge and discoveries about things we are simply used to in our culture, like the internet, which allows them to see a sunrise for the first time. We also get to know their deepest sorrows and reflections on their past lives and the loves they have lost, which weirdly enough, humanizes these soulless bloodsuckers, showing they, unlike popular culture depicts, are the ones who are stereotyped, and we, the living, are the ones who have it wrong. There is a ton of whit in this film and the laughs come early and often. Sometimes, the humor is subtle and more deadpan, and other times, it is blatantly outrageous or done in a mocking style, but the humor almost always hits its intended mark. I cannot remember laughing this hard at a movie in a long, long while, and it was a breath of fresh air for a year that has, up until now, had stagnant, stale turds passed off as comedy films. We will definitely be purchasing this movie when it comes out on DVD and will recommend it to people any time chance we get!

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 9/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

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