Another day, another comedy. I think Entrails of a Virgin bummed me out on more than one level, and I overcompensated by watching three comedies in a row. Don't get me wrong - What We Do in the Shadows was on my To Watch List for a long time... and it's really funny. But like I said yesterday, writing about comedies kind of sucks. So this will probably be a short one.
It's not a great comparison, but What We Do in the Shadows kind of reminds me of The Office, with it's documentary-style camera work and interviews, and it's reliance on awkward pauses and kind of nerdy characters. Only instead of an office setting, you have a bunch of vampire roommates renting out a house. And it's hard to deny that the set-up works. While the style may not be particularly innovative (it's got a little bit of reality show feel to it too), the jokes come in a steady flow and have a near perfect hit/miss ratio. And all of the characters are interesting, have diverse personalities, and are fun to spend time with. It's the sort of comedy where I never really belly-laughed or anything - it's just consistently clever, which worked for me.
Your basic set-up kind of stretches credibility - but again, vampire comedy, so whatever. A team of documentary filmmakers have been given access to this house rented out by four vampires. They are documenting the months prior to a big monsters-only ball - a big party thrown by witches, zombies, and other creatures of the night. The documentarians follow the vampires around as they bicker about the chores, try to find good outfits, and seek out their next human meal. So most of the comedy comes from these larger than life - or, larger than (ahem) death - characters as they are absurdly put into ordinary situations.
The four vampires are basically all from different eras - the common ground being that they are all outsiders in the present day. But despite them occasionally killing people, three of them are also kind of fun-loving. They are clearly meant to be goofy, endearing characters, and we are never really meant to be frightened by them or anything like that. They are the good guys - and even the bad guys (the werewolves, witches, and zombies they encounter) aren't so much bad or evil as they are just born that way. It's the sort of film where we aren't even supposed to care about the people they kill... it's just the nature of the beast.
Horror-wise? What We Do has some fun with a lot of traditional horror-tropes, so I think it's helpful to at least know some vampire/monster lore going in. But as far as actual scares go, there isn't much here. There are one or two scenes that almost have a found-footagey monster/chase feel and there's a bit of comedic gore. I'd guess the violence is R-rated (if you are into our stupid rating system), but it's a soft-R. But the horror/scares/tension aren't really the point. This is a film that is much more about twisting the horror movie conventions into comedy rather than actually being scary.
I don't really want to spoil any of the story - there's nothing mind-blowing (or even all that unconventional) here, but it's probably best if you don't know where it's going. If Office-esque vampire mockumentary sounds appealing to you, it's absolutely worth checking out. Personally, over my three day mini comedy-fest I had a better time with yesterday's The Editor, but I'm guessing What We Do in the Shadows would work better for a general audience.
I would recommend this film.
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