What We Do in the Shadows is a wonderfully macarbre comedic journey following the story of four vampires - Nandor (played by Kayvan Novak), Nadja (played by Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo (played by Matt Berry) and Colin Robinson (played by Mark Proksch). Based on the film "What We Do in the Shadows" written by Jemaine Clement, the series of the same name follows the lives of these vampires living on Staten Island, New York in 2019.
The show is a mockumentary horror comedy, a hard sub-genre to pull off you might think. But the writer succeeds amazingly, providing many moments of sublime farce and awkwardness in the same vein as The Office. I personally think What We Do in the Shadows kicks The Office's ass in the 'laugh out loud' stakes.
The main character Nandor is served by his bumbling familiar Guillermo (played by Harvey Guillén) who is desperate to become a vampire. As the first series progresses a lot of the humour revolves around Guillermo desperately serving Nandor's ridiculous orders in the hopes of being rewarded with eternal life, only to be brushed aside as 'not vampire'.
The comedy elements of this series are so cleverly done. The three main vampires are constantly becoming perplexed by the complexities of the modern world. The writer expresses well just how disconnected an immortal being would become as the centuries pass. Then there is Colin Robinson... he is the only modern vampire and can go out in the daytime. This character is an interesting addition, as an 'energy vampire' he drains his victims by boring them and making them feel awkward. He constantly pops up around the other vampires to subtly point out their failings and try to feed on them.
Beyond the clever socio-political dissonance there are also hilarious nods to popular culture such as the 'twilight-esque' rivalry between vampires and werewolves in episode 3 of the first season, and references to interview with a vampire.
The interplay between 'married' Laszlo and Nadja is also comedy gold. We learn that Nadja and the sexually ambiguous Laszlo have both enjoyed an affair with the master vampire Baron Afanas (played by Doug Jones), only to be left wondering how this worked when we meet this character as they're distinctly lacking in genitalia.
All three series boast so many ‘laugh out loud’ moments, and the special effects really add to the show and are not for the faint of heart.
Spoiler alert... one of my favourite moments of series one is when the Baron convinces Nandor, Nadja and Laszlo to go out on the town. The night culminates with them all dancing at a rave where they drain the blood of a few hapless victims. The scene which ensues is among one of the funniest I've seen on a TV show. The three vampires realize they've drank what they call 'drug blood' and start acting like they've all taken a cap of ecstasy. The Baron, high and full of beans, decides to try a slice of pizza, to the protestations of the others "we can't digest human foods." He then projectile vomits in a scene to rival Montey Python's Mr Creosote, shooting 50 foot into the air before taking off around the parking lot, vomit acting like a jet pack.
There are so many more similar scenes that would have you laughing so hard you'd choke on your nachos. Like the moment Laszlo reveals his topiary collection... shaped as his favourite vulvas. Or when Nadja is showing us around her taxidermy collection and tells us that she imagines that if she and Laszlo ever had a child, she’d like to imagine it would look like an aardvark. Or when the trio visit an old vampire friend who owns a downtown New York club and we meet manhattans only rapping vampire, count brapula... you get the picture.
I highly recomend watching What We Do in the Shadows as long as you can handle gore, spooky moments and choking with laughter 😂
Likes:
Amazing special effects.
Hilarious physical comedy.
Intelligent writing.
Believable complex characters.
Dislikes:
Some of the special effects might be too gruesome for some.
There are moments where some of the situational comedy is a bit ridiculous.
IMDB Score: 8.5/10
My score: 9/10
Available on FX Now app, BBCiplayer and YouTubeTV
Thanks for reading 🙂
If you have enjoyed this review please check out my homepage @raj808 for similar creative content. Thank you.
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Fun review, bravo!
Cheers dude.
Yeah, it is a fun show. Check it out when you get a minute 🙂
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
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Amazing series, it really deserves more recognition, great to see other people talking about it!
I agree, it really is a cracking show.
Glad you enjoyed the review :)