'What We Do in the Shadows' TV Series Is Every Bit as Hilarious as the Original Film

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 21^st 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.