In 2014, comedians Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement brought a low-budget horror mockumentary comedy called "What We Do in the Shadows" to the big screen. The film was highly praised, and five years later, the FX channel adapted a new vision, created and produced by Waititi and Clement, this time to the small screen, with brand new characters and a similar yet fresh new take on the story.
"Shadows", a la "The Office" and shows of its liking, follows a documentary crew, who are filming an inside look into the lives of a group of vampires in New York. We see through the lens and experience the everyday misadventures of Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry) and his wife Nadja (Natasha Demetriou) and Colin Robinson (Mark Protsch), who all reside together in their ancient Staten Island home, where they have lived for hundreds of years. Accompanying his master Nandor is the human Guillermo (Harvey Guillen), who serves the vampire daily in order that he can someday become a vampire too and live forever.
This show is one of my favorite comedies of all time. There have been many film-to-TV adaptations over the years, but I truly think this is one of the rare few that actually is better than its movie predecessor. It's that good. Each member in the ensemble cast truly shines in their individual performances, and together they have wonderful chemistry as well. My personal favorite character is Colin Robinson, an "energy vampire" who doesn't feed off of human blood but rather drains their energy by boring them or aggravating them with his dry sense of humor. Mark Protsch is constantly stealing the show as Colin in practically every scene and moment he appears. Harvey Guillen is also phenomenal and so fun to watch, as the mild-mannered human servant who helps the vampires adjust and get up-to-date on modern customs and ways of life.
The writing for this show is just so sharp and witty and absolutely delightful. It's a blast seeing these fish-out-of-water characters, a misfit group of ancient, dim-witted vampires, deal with situations in modern society, such as getting kidnapped by Animal Control in bat form, attempting to take over Staten Island through persuading the city council, or mistaking a Super Bowl party invitation for a celebration held for a "superb owl". Regardless, if you're in the mood for a spooky great time and plenty of laughs, look no further than "What We Do in the Shadows". Catch up on seasons 1 & 2, which are streaming on Hulu today!
Rating: 5/5
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