What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) – J. Clement & T. Waititi

Ha, ha – the Kiwi sense of humour is droll but ridiculous.  Think about “Flight of the Conchords” – hilarious, right?  But what’s the formula?  Silly, but intelligent.  Rarely crass (which seems to be the flavour of much American humour).  Willing to poke fun at themselves.  Perhaps whimsical at times.  Now take all that and apply it to the situation of three vampires living as flatmates in Wellington; that is, think about the problems that all flatmates face and then make them vampires.  Then pretend there is a documentary team following them around as they engage in their usual routines (which include nightclubbing and hunting for victims).  NZ superstars Taika Waititi (director of Boy, 2010, and Thor: Ragnarok, 2018) and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), co-directed and co-star alongside Jonny Brugh and a few other familiar Kiwis (Rhys Darby appears as a werewolf).  You probably need to be in the right mood for this but I enjoyed it and laughed (there are some great bits).  Of course, even at just 86 minutes, you start to feel the material get stretched out – the concept can only be pushed so far, perhaps.  That said, I understand that the movie has spun off a TV series already. Worth a look!