Jemaine Clement
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Filmography
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Nosferatu (1922)
Directed by F. W. Murnau
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals Themes Characters
The genial Viago (Waititi), a 17th-century dandy, affects the frilly shirts and jewelry of the Hammer horror movies; Vladislav (Clement), a 12th-century hypnotist and impaler, favors the swarthy pop-star look of Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula ; Petyr (Ben Fransham), apparently even older, is a mirror image of the rodentlike bloodsucker in Nosferatu ; and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), the baby at 183, is the "bad boy" of the group, Viago explains in his ongoing narration to the camera.
While individual gags and cineliterate nods (from Nosferatu to Blade ) may have comical bite, there’s not enough meat to sink its feature-length fangs into.
And they do it while paying reverent tribute to the great vampire movies of the past, from Fransham’s Petyr being a deadringer for the iconic fiend from the classic “Nosferatu,” to Waititi’s fastidious Viago (He implores his messy roomies to please stop getting blood all over his antique couch.)
Airing more on the side of comedy, Clement and Waititi poke fun at numerous vampire generations in the same movie, from Nosferatu to Twilight, and they do so through a Big Brother-esque documentary that introduces audiences to a group of vampires just trying to survive in today’s crazy, monster-hating world.
Which is exactly how What We Do in the Shadows operates; scuttling between genres, sucking in references from Nosferatu to Twilight, and spraying out comedic lifeblood by way of a banal, acerbic perspective, and fully-realised characters.
Jonathan Brugh’s Deacon nods to the bad-boy bloodsuckers of The Lost Boys, while Ben Fransham’s Petyr – bald, ghastly white and with a mouth full of crooked fangs – is a genuinely unsettling evocation of the great Nosferatu.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals Characters Themes
The genial Viago (Waititi), a 17th-century dandy, affects the frilly shirts and jewelry of the Hammer horror movies; Vladislav (Clement), a 12th-century hypnotist and impaler, favors the swarthy pop-star look of Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula ; Petyr (Ben Fransham), apparently even older, is a mirror image of the rodentlike bloodsucker in Nosferatu ; and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), the baby at 183, is the "bad boy" of the group, Viago explains in his ongoing narration to the camera.
Clement plays Vladislav, an oversexed vampire in the Bram Stoker’s Dracula vein whose demonic mojo hasn’t been the same since a traumatic encounter with a figure known only as “The Beast.”
There are nods to The Lost Boys and Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, among others, plus some set pieces that are simply genius: not least the scene where the housemates, getting ready for a night out, are unable to see their own reflections and have to rely on each other’s drawings.
Cross Bram Stoker's Dracula with the Britcom The Office, and you get What We Do in the Shadows, a brilliantly funny new vampire-themed mockumentary out of New Zealand.
Extra Ordinary (2019)
Directed by Mike Ahern
influenced by What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Themes Visuals
It also might just be the best supernatural comedy since What We Do in the Shadows (2014).
Combining What We Do In The Shadows ’ dry wit, the punchy direction and genre fun-poking of Shaun Of The Dead , plus a proton pack’s worth of Ghostbusters gags (“I haven’t read it,” says Rose when Martin references the ’80s classic), Extra Ordinary is spirited in every sense of the word.
Extra Ordinary is clearly aiming for the Shaun of the Dead / What We Do in the Shadows kind of quirky parody, and it just about makes it, though it would have been even more enjoyable if we had gotten to see more of Vincent’s instructional videos.
Extra Ordinary makes for a solid blend of spooks and laughs, reminiscent of What We Do in The Shadows or the more recent TV spinoff Wellington Paranormal, but it has its own distinct voice, never feeling too derivative of those properties and carving out its own hilarious, strangely heartwarming story that I would be happy to revisit in a sequel.
Like the equally awkward cousin of What We Do in the Shadows imbued with the sweet zaniness of Mel Brooks’ best work, Irish paranormal comedy Extra Ordinary delivers steady doses of silliness and big laughs within a surprisingly polished package.
The Lost Boys (1987)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Characters Themes
- while the script cunningly plays with your expectations (as well as referencing The Lost Boys).
Jonathan Brugh’s Deacon nods to the bad-boy bloodsuckers of The Lost Boys, while Ben Fransham’s Petyr – bald, ghastly white and with a mouth full of crooked fangs – is a genuinely unsettling evocation of the great Nosferatu.
There are nods to The Lost Boys and Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, among others, plus some set pieces that are simply genius: not least the scene where the housemates, getting ready for a night out, are unable to see their own reflections and have to rely on each other’s drawings.
By embracing a parodic self-fashioning based on films like Blade, Nosferatu , The Lost Boys, and Twilight, these vampires reveal how mainstream cinema's cultural hegemony need not be an instrument of aesthetic oppression, but can instead be one of productive self-creation.
A parody's effectiveness depends heavily on the knowledge of its subject, and the reach of directors/writers/performers Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement proves to be gratifyingly deep and wide, riffing on lore that runs the gamut from Vlad the Impaler woodcuts to sparkly Twilight pretty boys, and seemingly everything in between—one running gag will have fans of The Lost Boys plotzing.
He has history as an undead Nazi and now takes pleasure in ordering around his human servant (Jackie van Beek) and pranking people with tricks he picked up from The Lost Boys.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Directed by E. Elias Merhige
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Themes
Tomando como pretexto a tres antiguos vampiros que intentan sobrevivir a la vida moderna en Nueva Zelanda, los realizadores reflexionan sobre el verdadero peso del personaje en la cultura popular, inspirándose en trabajos como Drácula: muerto pero feliz (Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Mel Brooks, 1995) o La sombra del vampiro (Shadow of the Vampire, E. Elias Merhige, 2000).
A Mighty Wind (2003)
Directed by Christopher Guest
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals
Not for the serious or staid, What We do in the Shadows is in the vein of Christopher Guest and the mockumentaries A Mighty Wind and Best in Show (OK, you pick your favorite.)
What We Do in the Shadows is also one of the better mockumentaries to be released in a long time, Waititi and Clement showing considerable skill with the limited format, proving themselves in league with the likes of Christopher Guest (A Mighty Wind, This is Spinal Tap).
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Directed by Mel Brooks
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
This latter strategy is a tricky business that goes wrong more often than right, as you may know if you've ever seen Love at First Bite (1979) or Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) or Dark Shadows (2012).
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals Themes Characters
Jemaine Clement, best known as half of the New Zealand musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords , keeps the film more in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap, with set dressings borrowed from last year’s Only Lovers Left Alive.
Practically an absurdist comic response to last year's Jim Jarmusch-directed vampire reverie Only Lovers Left Alive (which was already pretty funny in its own right), Shadows is one macabre, amusingly farcical mockumentary.
Though conceived simultaneously, What We Did in the Shadows seems to take place in a similar world to that occupied by the characters in Jim Jarmusch’s touching Only Lovers Left Alive.
In last year’s superlative and melancholy “Only Lovers Left Alive,” director Jim Jarmusch gives us world-weary vampires burdened with the wisdom of living through countless centuries of hanging out with the world’s most talented artists, thinkers and writers.
Viago’s storyline lends some of the same sense of romantic exhaustion that defined Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive , a superior vampire film from last year.
(Did you see "Only Lovers Left Alive"?) Viago (Waititi) in particular is the gentlest heart, wanting to ensure humans have an enjoyable night before being sucked dry/murdered.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Directed by Nicholas Ray
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Themes
Films such as 1955's Rebel Without a Cause and 1967's The Graduate painted both the kids and the parents in such dissimilar terms that one group might as well have been aliens from another galaxy, futilely trying to communicate with the other species and failing miserably.
Films such as 1955's Rebel Without a Cause and 1967's The Graduate painted both the kids and the parents in such dissimilar terms that one group might as well have been aliens from another galaxy, futilely trying to communicate with the other species and failing miserably.
(Jackson, whose Forgotten Silver stands as an earlier Kiwi mockumentary highlight, gets a special shoutout in the credits.)
Best in Show (2000)
Directed by Christopher Guest
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals
Not for the serious or staid, What We do in the Shadows is in the vein of Christopher Guest and the mockumentaries A Mighty Wind and Best in Show (OK, you pick your favorite.)
Arterial spatter, aerial “bat fight” and occasional projectile vomiting aside, the vampire comedy “What We Do in the Shadows” is a very civilized mockumentary that takes its cues from Christopher Guest (“Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show”) rather than from Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”).
In recent years, the documentary-styled comedy has been at home on television, so calling this the funniest mockumentary film since Best In Show may not have the kind of value that statement deserves, even if it’s been 14 years.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Directed by Joel Crawford
influenced by What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
And before you can say “pray for mercy…” Puss is back in the saddle, joined by his old flame Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and a new canine pal named Perro (voiced by “What We Do in the Shadows” alum Harvey Guillén - who is quite terrific), an adorable pup who doesn’t possess a single negative thought and is the absolute cutest.
But when Puss catches wind of a fallen star capable of granting a wish, he sets off with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and a tiny dog named Perrito ( What We Do in the Shadows ’ Harvey Guillén) to seize the opportunity.
Puss also reluctantly winds up with a sidekick, a scruffy chihuahua (Harvey Guillén, What We Do in the Shadows ) with a sunnier outlook on life than anyone with his backstory should have.
He buries his trademark costume– feeling he is no longer worthy– and joins Mama Luna’s (Da’Vine Joy Randolph of Dolemite is My Name ) rescue house to seek obscurity interrupted often by a discarded clinger dog (Harvey Guillén of What We Do in the Shadows ).
In his version of retirement, Puss ends up in a type of old cats’ home run by the kindly Mama Luna (Da’vine Joy Randolph), where he meets an overly excited dog disguised as a cat, named Perrito ( What We Do in the Shadows ’ Harvey Guillen, a great new addition to this universe), who seems all too eager to become Puss’s new best (and very clingy) friend.
Even the antics of Stan Laurel in a feature often discredited by fans, Babes in Toyland (1934), help lead to success, when he cross-dresses in white veil as Bopeep, who’s forced to marry the villain Barnaby (Henry Brandon – yes, Scar in 1956’s The Searchers), to foil the plan.
The gag – as it was as far back as Albert Brooks’ Real Life – is that the process is inherently intrusive and contrived, leading to decidedly “unreal” complications for all involved.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by Daniel Myrick
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Visuals
Clement and Waititi, along with cinematographers Richard Bluck (second unit DP for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Avatar) and D.J. Stipsen, whose credits include several real documentaries, incorporate other “mistakes” in the production, from boom mics dropping into the frame to the use of shaky cam shots as the cast runs through the woods à la The Blair Witch Project.
This is one of those “found footage” thrillers in the overworked horror-movie genre popularized by The Blair Witch Project about a documentary film crew that sets out to cover a secret society of diverse monsters staging a ball called “The Unholy Masquerade.”
Entirely improvised around Waititi and Clement’s script, Shadows owes more to MTV’s The Real World than fake horror docs like The Blair Witch Project – at heart it’s a buddy comedy hinging on the accidental conversion of hipster Nick, which causes a rift in the group.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Directed by Edgar Wright
influenced What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Themes
The silly kind—from Young Frankenstein (1974) to Shaun of the Dead (2004)—erase the line between the two, turning the monster into an object of burlesque.
Clement and Waititi mine gold from each of its 85 minutes, giving the world its best horror-comedy since Edgar Wright’s “Shaun Of The Dead.”
Superbly written with sharp, on the cuff humor, fantastic characters, and a well-polished story completely in tune with its source material, "What We Do in the Shadows" is an uproarious horror comedy that's every bit as funny as "Shaun of the Dead," "Tucker and Dale vs Evil," and "Zombieland."
Like Shaun of the Dead, this won't be to all tastes: the picture dabbles in light gore (mostly spurts of blood), and it's irreverent in its casual disregard to human life.
As with “Shaun of the Dead,” their satire is a crude but effective tool.
Isn’t it about time someone gave vampires the Shaun of the Dead treatment?
The more anarchic entries, featuring W.C. Fields, the Marx brothers, and later, Woody Allen, portrayed rebellion against the system and, in Allen’s case, his character’s demise (in 1975’s Love and Death).
In the summer of 2012, not even the combined might of Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, and the "Dark Shadows" television series could make a blood-sucking comedy connect with broad audiences.
This latter strategy is a tricky business that goes wrong more often than right, as you may know if you've ever seen Love at First Bite (1979) or Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) or Dark Shadows (2012).
If Twilight made you queasy and Dark Shadows felt like a missed opportunity, this pitch-perfect genre spoof is worth relishing.
Waititi’s Viago is the cultured aristocrat (think Bela Lugosi’s Dracula or Tom Cruise’s Lestat).