Based on the 2014 film and using the same theme music (Norma Tanega’s You’re Dead), fans of the movie will feel instantly connected to the FX series. Although the characters are new, the production team behind the series, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, wrote, directed and stared in the movie. They maintain the documentary format of the film but shift perspective a bit. In this incarnation, Nandor’s familiar, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), is just as important a part of the group as the vampires.
Shifting the action from New Zealand to Staten Island, NY and adding a female vampire as one of the housemates helps to give the series a more modern feel than the film. The pacing feels quicker as well, trimming some dead weight from the plot.
Comedy/Horror
The show’s genre is described as comedy/horror, but it is definitely more campy than creepy. Though the occasional blood-soaked joke, ranging from spurts to buckets, may be stomach churning for some, it is a comedy about vampires so a certain amount of carnage is to be expected. When the “Baron” comes from the old country for a visit, he appears decrepit and demonic much like the demons seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but hardly frightening. The show’s content does earn it a TV-MA rating, with warnings for adult language, sexual and violent content.
It’s ok if you missed the movie.
FX has been showing the 2014 film leading up to the premier of the series, but you don’t have to be familiar with it to enjoy the fun. Interviews with the vampires (see what I did there) give you all the backstory you need and the shows first scenes are almost identical to the movie.
It’s ok if you are a fan of the movie.
With the familiar soundtrack, hissing and flying, fans’s of the movie may wonder if there is anything new for them.
No need to fear. Though Nandor and Laszlo are similar in personality to the film’s Vlad and Viago, new vampires are spicing things up. Nadja provides a feminine energy and sexuality missing from the original. The addition of Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch, Better Call Saul) as the “energy vampire” residing with our undead friends, provides another new level of humor.
I think this guy lived in my college dorm.
They really sink in their teeth.
Sometimes it takes two or more episodes for a show to hit it’s stride and pull me in, but after just the pilot I’m ready for more.
I practically died laughing when Guillermo needs to find virgins for a special feast and heads to a local LARPers (live action role playing) gathering to find them.
Everything old (hundreds of years old) is new again.
In recent years we have seen the popularity of vampires decreasing in Hollywood. We were exposed to so many of them that audiences moved on to zombies, witches and other creatures. What We Do In The Shadows has resurrected the vampire genre into a monstrously good time.
What We Do In The Shadows is now airing of FX
