What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand horror-comedy mockumentary film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The film stars them, alongside Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Cori Gonzalez-Maucer, and Stu Rutherford. The plot concerns several vampires of various ages who live together in one house in Wellington. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014, and was released theatrically in August 2014 by Madman Entertainment. It spawned a television series based on it, also created by Clement and Waititi.

Plot
Vampire housemates (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh) try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) some of the perks of being undead.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It portrays vampires of different ages and cultures well, showing that not all of them have to be sparkly pale teens like Twilight.
 * 2) Great performances all around, with the vampires being very memorable and Jackie Van Beek pulling off an awesome supporting performance, for example.
 * 3) Many hilarious, yet shocking moments, especially the scenes related to people turning into vampires.
 * 4) Great dark humor related to various subjects, even jokes about death are done right.
 * 5) The mockumentary format works really well in the movie, particularly in the beginning.
 * 6) Some great plot twists (which aren't spoiled in the description of the plot) in the end.
 * 7) The scene where Stu shows the vampires technology is very funny and one of the most well-made and iconic moments in the film.
 * 8) Great editing by Jonathan Woodford-Robinson, Yana Gorskaya, and Tom Eagles and shooting by Wellington, playing with the typical mockumentary editing style.
 * 9) Plan 9's is excellent. The film's opening credits feature the song "You're Dead" by Norma Tanega, after Clement and Waititi were introduced to the song by film editor Tom Eagles. The film's trailer and ending feature the song "Lastochka" by the Russian rock band Leningrad.
 * 10) It is very timeless.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) The humour can be a bit silly at times.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 187 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Smarter, fresher, and funnier than a modern vampire movie has any right to be, What We Do in the Shadows is bloody good fun.". On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".