What We Do in the Shadows (2015) Film Review: Into the Depths of the Homoerotic Dick-Biting Club

From the guys that brought you Flight of the Conchords, comes an awesome new horror comedy. Take all of your favorite parts of the mockumentary style made popular in This is Spinal Tap and The Office, mix in some vampire film history, and you have a really fun piece of work.

I don’t  make the comedic horror film genre a priority in my viewing life. I usually get around to seeing the ones that everyone is talking about; but, I’m usually very late getting to them. I just feel like I will be let down most of the time. When I’m in the mood for them, however, I am rarely let down. Some are better than others of course. I am a huge fan of Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and John Dies at the End. I have been pleasantly surprised by  some films in the genre; take Hell Baby for instance, it was just okay, but still better than I expected. Occasionally a film like Burying the Ex comes around and I do find myself a little bit let down. So when I went to get this from the Redbox yesterday, I didn’t know into which of these categories it would fall.

I ended up loving the format of the film. The mockumentary style, championed by Christopher Guest and popularized by Ricky Gervais, is a technique that I absolutely love. TV shows like Reno 911 and The Office have always been favorites of mine; so, it is no surprise that I liked this film so much.

What We Do in the Shadows casts a satirical lens on vampires throughout film history. It does this by placing them in present time and satirizing modern-day issues ranging from roommates to technological advances. Watching these vampires adjust to the changing society around them, while getting along as roommates is great fun. They argue about things like doing dishes, getting blood all over the furniture, and what kind of vampires they need to model themselves after. They make references to genre classics like Nosferatu, modern gems like The Lost Boys, and laughable crap like Twilight.

The minor characters in this film are even memorable. Since these characters are all being interviewed, they all get a chance to be in on the jokes. One human, angry that the main vampire won’t turn her, has a memorable little rant. It is in this rant where she refers to their living situation as a homoerotic dick-biting club. Aside from the occasional angry human, the rest of the supernatural world also gets involved. You have an angry zombie, upset about how humans portray their walk, a pack of werewolves led by a hilarious egomaniac, and much more.

This film has easily jumped into my top five horror/comedy films of all time. It may even be in my top 3. That, however, is a list that will need a post some other day. Since it is in a very specific sub-genre that some wouldn’t consider horror, I cannot call it a must-own film for horror collectors. It is, however, a great new film that everyone should at least give a chance. It is, after all, very accessible. It is available in the Redbox, so it is probably the closest I have come to pop-culture horror on my blog thus far.

I give it a 4 out 5, which is a must-see film for all horror fans.