What We Do in the Shadows
Entry updated 21 March 2022. Tagged: TV.
US tv series (2019-current). FXP, Two Canoes Pictures, 343 Incorporated. Created by Jemaine Clement. Based on the 2014 film of the same name (directed and written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi). Directors include Jemaine Clement, Yana Gorskaya and Kyle Newacheck. Writers include Jemaine Clement, Marika Sawyer and Paul Simms. Voice cast includes Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Doug Jones, Kayvan Novak and Mark Proksch. 30 20-23 minute episodes. Colour.
Four Vampires live in an old house on New York City's Staten Island: Nandor the Relentless (Novak), former warlord of the Ottoman Empire and committer of numerous atrocities, though now prone to vacillate; Nadja (Demetriou), originally a poor Greek villager, and usually the most intelligent and empathetic character; and braggart Laszlo (Berry), an ex-Elizabethan nobleman sired by Nadja (to whom he is married), who was Jack the Ripper. Members of this trio dress and behave in an appropriately Gothic manner and have European accents (see Clichés). The fourth, normal-looking Colin Robinson (Proksch), is an "Energy Vampire" using boring conversation and irritating behaviour to drain the energy of others, whether at the office or as an Internet troll.
Nandor has a familiar, Guillermo (Guillén), who does the housework (including burying the bodies) and desperately wants Nandor to make him a vampire (Nandor only makes vague promises). Discovering he is a descendant of Dracula's nemesis Abraham Van Helsing (see Bram Stoker), he is appalled when circumstances result in his becoming a ruthlessly efficient vampire killer. Though the show is largely episodic, the second season ends with the quartet accused of murdering the vampires killed by Guillermo – he saves them, but only by dispatching dozens of vampires before their eyes. Nandor, reproachfully: "Guillermo, is there something you haven't been telling us?"
Guillermo's killing of New York's senior vampires means the quartet become the region's new Vampiric Council, with Nandor and Nadja as squabbling co-leaders. But by the end of the third season the group has dispersed: a discontented Nandor departs to travel the world; Nadja accepts an invitation to join the Supreme Vampiric Council in England; Colin dies; Laszlo discovers a baby Colin has crawled from the corpse and – as they had been friends – decides to raise it. Since he is supposed to accompany Nadja, Lazlo dumps Guillermo in his coffin – the latter displeased by this turn of events, not least because he was to travel with Nandor, who had finally agreed to make him a vampire.
The show, like the film, is in the form of a mockumentary: the camera crew are often caught up in events. Set in a contemporary Earth where Supernatural Creatures such as Werewolves and real witches (see Magic) exist, having constructed overly elaborate and arcane societal structures to remain secret. One vampire, the incredibly aged Baron (Jones), wants the New World conquered (see Imperial Gothic), but the trio just want a quiet life (they have an elderly worldview, usually finding the modern world and its Technology worrisome, yet sometimes delighted by small things) – fortunately Guillermo accidentally kills the Baron (though this proves only temporary). There are also ghosts, including those of the trio's original selves – Nadja's ghost possesses a doll and they become friends; a botched attempt to revive a dead familiar creates a Zombie; Nadja's human lover is Reincarnated through the ages, each time murdered by Lazlo. There are numerous nods to the vampire mythos: for instance, actors playing The Vampire Council resemble their roles in other works, including Tilda Swinton from Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and Wesley Snipes from Blade (1998).
What We Do in the Shadows is a series that divertingly blends Humour with Horror (there is some gore and decapitation) and whose gothic mood is nicely evoked; time is spent on characterization, whilst the mundanity of the main characters' bickering interactions – one of the show's strengths – contrasts amusingly with the supernatural elements. [SP]
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