What We Do in the Shadows is an American television series spin-off
– as it apparently is, not a remake,
as I first thought it was (more on this later) – of the brilliant New Zealand comedy horror mockumentery film of the same name.
Actually, it’s not the first What We Do in the Shadows spin-off TV
series; last year’s Wellington Paranormal
is. But even though Wellington Paranormal is pretty solid, it just doesn’t quite hit
the exact high notes the movie did, for it does essentially take a different
route (i.e. featuring supernatural stuff other than vampires). Meanwhile, the American What We Do in the Shadows TV series basically follows the same
formula of its source material. And it’s
the much better of the two spin-off shows for it.
It has a similar premise as the
film: four vampire roommates are followed by a documentary crew, recording the absurd
daily nightly struggles that these ancient, dark beings have to undergo
while living together in one house and going on with their existence in the 21st
century. However, the set of characters
are different from that of the film, and its setting is in Staten Island, New
York instead of Wellington, New Zealand.
The four vampires are: Nandor the
Relentless (Kayvan Novak), who fancies himself the leader of the group and who
used to be a soldier for the Ottoman Empire and the king of a dissolved
fictional country named Al Quolanudar; Laslo Cravensworth (Matt Berry), who was
an English nobleman before being turned into a vampire by Nadja, who became his
wife, and who also claims to had been Jack the Ripper; Nadja (Natasia Demetriou),
who originated from Romania and who, through the centuries, has been maintaining
a love affair with various reincarnations of a human named Greggor, who ends up
getting beheaded every single time; and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), an
energy vampire who feeds on the energies of humans and vampires by boring or
irritating them – a literal portrayal of the modern slang use of the term
“energy vampire” (which is hilariously genius!).
Also a prominent member of their
household is the human Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), Nandor’s familiar, whose
lifelong dream is to become a Latino vampire like Antonio Banderas’ Armand from
Interview with a Vampire. Even though the pompous Nandor constantly
puts him down for not being a vampire, Guillermo remains faithful because he’s looking
forward to the day when his master will finally make good on his promise, and that
is, in exchange for his loyalty and service, he will turn him into a vampire. However, after patiently serving for a
decade, Guillermo slowly starts becoming frustrated as it seems like Nandor has
no intention of keeping his word.
These main characters have
terrific dynamic, and unfailingly generate tons of potently hilarious
moments. Moreover, the recurring and
guest characters that come and go are also well-realized enough to contribute well
to the comedy.
The best set of guests is
definitely from episode 7. First, it has
a vampire Dave Bautista who does his bit with Drax-style delivery. Then, it has a vampire council consisting of actors
– including Tilda Swinton, Wesley Snipes, and Danny Trejo – playing versions of
the notable vampire characters they played in TV or film. In addition, also members of that vampire
council are Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon – three of the four vampires (if you
can remember, the fourth one, Petyr, perished) in the original What We Do in the Shadows movie!
At the very least, their
appearance – as all the guest appearances in that episode – is just a fun one-time
Easter egg for fans. But at the very
most, the implication is tremendous – a shared universe! Thus, a crossover with Wellington Paranormal should be possible. And hopefully, Viago, Vladislav, and Deacon
can show up again in future episodes.
All in all, What We Do in the Shadows is every bit as clever and humorous as
its source material. Its dry wit, lampooning
of vampire tropes from mythology and pop culture, and creativity for humorous situations
are on point. As a result, its
10-episode debut season is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen on 2019 TV so
far.
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