Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement basically caught lightning in a bottle with a budget that wouldn't even cover the catering on a Marvel set. It’s wild to think about now. Before the hit FX series and before Taika was a household name directing neon-soaked superhero flicks, there was just this weird, scrappy mockumentary about four vampires living in a flat in Wellington.
Honestly, What We Do in the Shadows 2014 shouldn't have worked as well as it did. The "found footage" or mockumentary trope was already feeling a bit tired by the mid-2010s. We’d seen the office antics; we’d seen the haunted houses. But this film did something different. It stripped away the gothic romance of Twilight and the brooding intensity of Interview with the Vampire and replaced it with the most mundane, relatable human garbage you can imagine. Like doing the dishes. Or trying to get into a nightclub when you literally need a formal invitation to cross the threshold.
It’s genius.
The Wellington Vampire Scene You Never Knew You Needed
The premise is dead simple. A documentary crew—wearing crucifixes for safety, obviously—follows four vampires sharing a house in New Zealand. You’ve got Viago, the 379-year-old dandy who’s basically the "mom" of the group. Then there’s Vladislav the Joker, played by Jemaine Clement, who used to be a powerful tyrant but now mostly just pouts and fails at shapeshifting. Deacon is the "young" rebel at 183 years old, and Petyr is the terrifying, Nosferatu-esque monster living in the basement who’s 8,000 years old and mostly just eats chickens and turns people into vampires by accident.
Most of the movie's charm comes from the friction of these ancient beings trying to navigate the 21st century.
They argue about the chore wheel. They struggle with the fact that they can't see their own reflections, which makes dressing up for a night out a total nightmare. Imagine trying to put on an elaborate 18th-century cravat when you’re literally flying blind in front of a mirror. It’s pathetic. It's hilarious. It's exactly what would happen if immortals actually lived among us.
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The film relies heavily on improvisation. Waititi and Clement have spoken in interviews about how they filmed over 120 hours of footage. They didn't show the script to the actors playing the documentary crew or some of the side characters because they wanted genuine, awkward reactions. This "fly-on-the-wall" energy is what makes What We Do in the Shadows 2014 feel so authentic despite the fangs and the levitation.
Why the Comedy Actually Lands
Comedy is hard. Horror-comedy is harder.
Usually, one side of the equation suffers. Either the jokes are too broad and ruin the tension, or the horror is too grisly and kills the vibe. This movie nails the "deadpan" New Zealand humor that has since become a global staple. It’s that dry, understated delivery where characters say the most absurd things with a completely straight face.
Take the werewolves.
The scene where the vampires run into a pack of werewolves on a suburban street is arguably the funniest bit in the whole film. Instead of a cinematic showdown, it’s an awkward verbal spat. Rhys Darby’s character, Anton, is the alpha, but he’s less of a "leader of the pack" and more of a frustrated middle manager trying to keep his guys polite. His line, "We're werewolves, not swear-wolves," is legendary. It perfectly encapsulates the movie’s ethos: even monsters have social anxieties and rules of etiquette.
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It’s also surprisingly sweet.
Beneath the blood-splattered floors and the accidental killings, there’s a real core of friendship. When Stu—the human friend who teaches them how to use Google and Facebook—enters the mix, the vampires don't just see him as food. They genuinely like him. He’s the bridge to a world they’ve been left behind by. Seeing a 19th-century vampire react to seeing a sunset on YouTube for the first time is weirdly moving. It reminds you that being immortal is actually pretty lonely.
The Legacy Beyond the 2014 Original
If you've seen the TV show on FX, you know it’s a massive success. But it’s important to remember where those roots are. The 2014 film was a labor of love that took years to get made. Taika and Jemaine first did a short film with the same concept back in 2005. They sat on it. They let it ferment.
When they finally shot the feature, they did it with a tiny crew and a lot of help from the Wellington film community.
Key Differences Between the Movie and the Series
- Setting: The movie is firmly Kiwi. The accents, the locations, the specific brand of politeness—it’s all Wellington. The show moves the action to Staten Island.
- The Vibe: The film feels more like a true documentary. It’s grainier, darker, and a bit more "indie."
- Characters: While the show’s characters are archetypes of the original housemates, the movie versions (Viago, Vlad, Deacon) feel a bit more grounded in their specific historical traumas.
Technical Brilliance on a Budget
Don't let the lo-fi look fool you. The practical effects in What We Do in the Shadows 2014 are actually incredible. Since they didn't have a massive CGI budget, they used old-school trickery. Rotating sets for the "ceiling walking" scenes, clever wirework, and lots of practical blood pumps.
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There's a scene where a character is being chased through the house and the camera follows them as they run up the walls. It was done by literally spinning the entire room. This gives the movie a tactile, physical feel that a lot of modern big-budget comedies lack. Everything feels lived-in. The house is dusty, cluttered, and gross—exactly what you’d expect from four bachelors who haven't cleaned since the Victorian era.
Real-World Impact
This movie basically launched Taika Waititi into the stratosphere. Without the success of this cult hit, we probably don't get Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and we definitely don't get Thor: Ragnarok. It proved that there was a global appetite for this specific brand of dry, eccentric humor. It also turned "vampire roommate" into a legitimate sub-genre.
How to Watch it Properly Today
If you haven't seen it in a few years, it’s worth a rewatch just to catch the background gags. The photos on the walls, the costumes in the background, and the subtle ways the characters react to modern technology are all packed with detail.
Next Steps for the Ultimate Experience:
- Watch the 2005 Short: Find the original short film online. It’s shorter (obviously) but shows the raw DNA of what became the feature.
- Follow with "Wellington Paranormal": Many people miss this spin-off series. it follows the two cops from the movie, Karen and Mike, as they investigate supernatural occurrences in New Zealand. It's the same universe and just as dry.
- Check the Deleted Scenes: The DVD/Blu-ray extras for the 2014 film are gold mines. There’s a lot of improvised riffing that didn't make the final cut but is arguably just as funny as the main movie.
The brilliance of the film is that it doesn't try too hard. It’s comfortable being small. In an era where every movie feels like it needs to save the universe, watching four idiots argue about who didn't lay down towels before a bloodbath is incredibly refreshing. It’s a masterpiece of the mundane.
If you're looking for a deep dive into the mythology of the undead, you won't find it here. But if you want to know how a vampire uses a silver-plated spoon without burning their hands, this is the only documentary that matters. No other film captures the specific tragedy of being an immortal being who still can't figure out how to pay the power bill on time. It’s a classic for a reason. Go watch it again. Be the Stu of your friend group and introduce someone to it for the first time. They’ll thank you, probably. Or they'll just be confused by the werewolves. Either way, it's a win.