Sharp as fangs, warm as fresh blood, this could be the funniest movie of the year. New Zealand’s answer to Edgar Wright.
What We Do in the Shadows
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
New Zealand, United States · 2014
Rated R · 1h 26m
Director Taika Waititi
Starring Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Genre Comedy, Horror
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
It was with both joy and mystification, therefore, that I found myself cackling at What We Do in the Shadows like a witch with a helium balloon.
Time Out London by Cath Clarke
This isn’t much more than a series of ridiculously dotty sketches, and might have worked better as a sitcom, but it’s surprisingly hilarious.
Here it is at long last: a truly great vampire comedy. And also the funniest horror film to come out of New Zealand since Braindead.
A dryly amusing mockumentary from the Kiwis behind the similarly deadpan Eagle vs Shark and Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows unfolds like the darkest movie that Christopher Guest never made.
What We Do In the Shadows is the type of little movie that you watch and feel like you've discovered something really special. It's a total surprise; a silly, scary delight.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
A very funny Kiwi take on vampire lore and its application to the modern world.
Some genre fans who prefer the silly to the satiric may bite, but the anemic pic isn’t remotely weird or witty enough for cult immortality.
Village Voice by Stephanie Zacharek
What We Do in the Shadows is never as self-conscious as you fear it might be, and it has some of the loose, wiggy energy of early Jim Jarmusch, only with more bite. It makes getting poked a pleasure.
Users who liked this film also liked
Candy
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia • 2006
- Director Neil Armfield
- Cast Abbie Cornish, Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Budge, Roberto Meza-Mont, Tony Martin
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, History Vault, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Crackle, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Boy
In a small New Zealand town, an 11-year-old named Boy, explores adolescence with his vivid imagination and reunites with his estranged father.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- New Zealand • 2010
- Director Taika Waititi
- Cast James Rolleston, Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu, Taika Waititi, Moerangi Tihore, Cherilee Martin, RickyLee Waipuka-Russell
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Kanopy, Hoopla
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Evil just messed with the wrong hillbillies.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States, India • 2010
- Director Eli Craig
- Cast Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon Jay McLaren
- Genre Comedy, Horror
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, DistroTV, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Seven Psychopaths
A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his friends kidnap a gangster's beloved dog.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2012
- Director Martin McDonagh
- Cast Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Waits
- Genre Comedy, Crime
- Available on Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Pluto TV, Hoopla
Under the Skin
Unsuspecting men fall under the spell of a seductive alien that prowls the streets of Glasgow.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States • 2014
- Director Jonathan Glazer
- Cast Scarlett Johansson, Kryštof Hádek, Paul Brannigan, Michael Moreland, Scott Dymond, Jeremy McWilliams
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy
Calvary
Killing a priest on a Sunday. That's a good one.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, United Kingdom • 2014
- Director John Michael McDonagh
- Cast Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
The Rover
Fear the man with nothing left to lose.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United States • 2014
- Director David Michôd
- Cast Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, David Field, Susan Prior, Anthony Hayes
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy
The Babadook
A recently widowed mother battles "The Babadook,” a dark character from a children's book who is lurking in the house.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, Canada • 2014
- Director Jennifer Kent
- Cast Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Benjamin Winspear
- Genre Drama, Horror
- Available on Netflix, MUBI, Shudder, MUBI Amazon Channel, Shudder Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Netflix basic with Ads, Shudder Apple TV Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
'71
A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2014
- Director Yann Demange
- Cast Jack O'Connell, Sean Harris, Paul Anderson, Sam Reid, Sam Hazeldine, Barry Keoghan
- Genre Thriller, Action, Drama, War
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, Epix Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy, Plex Channel
Hector and the Search for Happiness
Sometimes to find yourself you need to get a little lost.
- ✭
- Germany, Canada, United Kingdom • 2014
- Director Peter Chelsom
- Cast Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, Jean Reno
- Genre Adventure, Drama, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Plex, Plex Channel
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Forced to flee into the New Zealand bush, city kid Ricky must learn to survive with his uncle as a national manhunt ensues.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- New Zealand • 2016
- Director Taika Waititi
- Cast Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Rhys Darby, Oscar Kightley
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Drama
- Available on fuboTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires
Eternity sucks
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- New Zealand • 2005
- Director Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
- Cast Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stuart Rutherford, Jonny Brugh
- Genre Comedy, Horror
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Three Identical Strangers
They didn't know they were brothers. But someone did.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2018
- Director Tim Wardle
- Cast David Kellman, Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland, Lawrence Wright
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand, Kanopy
If you are familiar with Taika Waitit's work, you will not be surprised by just how hilarious this film is. This movie is perfect. The characters are funny, and about as likable as a bunch of centuries old murderous vampires can be. Some of my favorite parts of the movie include the group not being able to get into any clubs because, as vampires, they have to be invited in. There's also a particularly funny line when one of the vampires explains why vampires prefer virgin blood, "If you were going to eat a sandwich, you'd just enjoy it more if you knew no one had f-----ed it"
An endlessly quotable, pitch-perfect mockumentary about vampire roommates living in modern New Zealand. I've seen it more times than I am comfortable saying and it is inventive, hilarious, and delightful every time.