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What We Do in the Shadows

Some interviews with some vampires.

2014 · 86 min · Comedy
8.0 Modest
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Comedy Horror

Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.

Country of origin
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Year
2014
Studio
Unison Films · Defender Films · Funny or Die · New Zealand Film Commission

Trivia & behind the scenes

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Origins

The film is based on a 2005 short film, What We Do In The Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires, written and directed by Waititi and Clement, starring Jonny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer and Stu Rutherford in the same roles they play in the feature.

Origins

It reportedly took Waititi and Clement seven years to write the feature film.

Origins

The production crowdfunded $447,000 towards the film from over 7,000 supporters via Kickstarter.

Casting

Taika Waititi based his performance as Viago on his own mother.

Casting

Jemaine Clement based his portrayal of Vladislav the Poker on Gary Oldman's Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Casting

Stu Rutherford, an IT technician and real-life high school friend of Waititi's, was initially told he'd only have a bit part so he would act naturally on camera, and didn't realize how important his role was until the film's premiere.

Filming

The feature film was shot in Wellington in September 2012 and was Waititi's first feature since Boy.

References

Waititi and Clement have cited The Lost Boys, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Interview with the Vampire as their favourite vampire films, and these are heavily quoted or referenced throughout, alongside genre nods to Blade, Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Music

The film's opening credits feature the song 'You're Dead' by Norma Tanega, which Clement and Waititi were introduced to by film editor Tom Eagles.

Music

A musical piece played during Deacon's dance scene, credited in the film as 'Lal Mori Pat', is actually titled 'Momil Rano' by Iqbal Jogi and Group from the Thar Desert region, meaning the film's credits misidentify the track.

Reception

After a piracy website based in Mount Wellington, Auckland was shut down, it revealed that What We Do in the Shadows had been downloaded 277,000 times, making it one of its most heavily pirated films.

Trivia

A werewolf-focused sequel, at various points rumored as What We Do in the Moonlight and later titled We're Wolves, has been discussed for years by Waititi and Clement but as of 2022 still hadn't been written.

Trivia

Minor police officer characters from the film, O'Leary and Minogue, were spun off into their own procedural comedy series, Wellington Paranormal, which premiered in 2018 and ran for four seasons until 2022.

Memorable quotes

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We're vampires. We don't put down towels.

Vladislav Explaining vampire etiquette about towels

[Nick and Deacon quarrel, Nick runs away by turning into a bat, Deacon chases after him by also turning into a bat] Ooh! Bat Fight!

Vladislav Watching Nick and Deacon fight as bats

Just leave me to do my dark bidding on the Internet! I'm bidding on a table.

Vladislav Interrupted while on the computer

When you become a vampire, you become very…sexy. [gestures to himself]

Deacon Boasting about vampire transformation

I don't think Nick should have become a vampire. He's such a dick.

Deacon Complaining about Nick

[reading text message from Viago] One message received. [turns around startled to find nothing] "Ther iz a crucifx behind you".

Deacon Reading a warning text from Viago

Yeah, some of our clothes are from victims. You might bite someone, and then you think 'Ooh, those are some nice pants!'.

Viago Explaining where vampire clothes come from

So it's 6pm in the nighttime, which is when I wake up. This is always really scary part for me [slowly peeks out of curtains] Yes! Nighttime.

Viago Waking up at nighttime

One year I went to the Unholy Masquerade dressed as Whoopi Goldberg from Sister Act 1 and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Didn't go down so well because she was a nun. Weird. Vampires don't like nuns.

Viago Recalling a costume party mishap

[talking about re-uniting with his now-elderly love, Katherine] Some people freak out a bit about the age difference. Uhh… they think 'What's this 96-year-old lady doing with a guy 4 times her age?'.

Viago Reuniting with his aged love

[about Stu] At first I wanted to kill him, but now I'm glad I spent time to get to know him.

Vladislav Reflecting on Stu

[telling a group of strangers] The mov'ie Twilight. Have you seen it? Okay, I'm the main 'in Twilight. You know the main g'uy?' Twilight? That's me.

Nick Bragging about Twilight to strangers

How the community felt

😵 Shocked 29%
😆 Amused 43%
😑 Weary 43%

What people are saying (1)

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T

Torrezno

1 week ago

Review ★ 8

Comedia muy divertida sobre la vida cotidiana de un grupo de vampiros que comparten piso, rodada en formato de falso documental, donde la hilaridad se produce en el contraste entre el naturalismo de la propuesta y lo surrealista de las situaciones con especial énfasis en el personaje humano de Stu que roba la película.

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