What We Do In The Shadows: TV Review

What We Do In The Shadows: TV Review

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's seminal What We Do In The Shadows movie was unshakable in its commitment to the absurd and the mundane.

Spawning a TV spinoff in the form of TVNZ's Wellington Paranormal, starring the two inept cops O'Leary and Minogue, the 2014 film has been ripe for a spinoff itself, with talk of a werewolves show evolving, but not quite coming to fruition.

However, the Soho screening What We Do In the Shadows US TV series is every bit as funny as the original movie was - and it's no surprise that Clement and Waititi return (albeit behind the scenes) for the first episode.

Set in Staten Island, and with Brit comedians Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou and Kayvan Novak taking the leads, the fresh blood approach to widening the universe out works rather well.
Novak is Nandor The Relentless, the de facto head of the household and whose quibbling reminds very much of Waititi's Viago from the movies. His fellow housemates include the ever brilliant Matt Berry and Nastasia Demetriou as husband and wife Laszlo and Nadia.

The series also brings new life to the sidekicks, in the form of Nandor's familiar Guillermo (Guillen, the series' human edge) and the energy vampire Colin. Colin in particular is one of the best additions to the show - a spoof in many ways of the US Office's HR rep Toby, Colin's Mark Proksch is a genius touch.

The show's MO kicks in when after 200 years on Staten Island, the oldest vampire arrives to ask if they've conquered the country, sending Nandor and the group into a tailspin and fearing for their own lives.

It's here that What We Do In The Shadows earns its place as a spinoff; while the first episode feels a little like a compressed version of the film in terms of moments and plot, the subsequent three episodes show a more impressive approach to the mundane humour that's permeated the deadpan ways of the original film.

Laconic, demonic and moronic, the US remake of What We Do In The Shadows is hands down still incredibly funny. While the initial thrust of conquering America falls a little by the wayside in prior episodes, the scripts show real promise and humorous bite in expanding the universe.

Largely overshadowed by Berry's foppishness, Novak brings an A game to the head vampire, and his ineptness. In the first episode alone he uses glitter so that he can shine like the Twilight vampires to impress others. There's a feeling of comedic hubris here which is well-exploited and has been seen in the likes of The Office and Parks And Recreation.

Fangtastically funny, and hopefully worth every episode of its ten episode run, What We Do In The
Shadows US is well worth watching and treasuring. It deserves more than cult love, and thanks to its adaptation of the workplace comedy and the great British sitcoms of oddfellows, it's easily one of the best shows of 2019.