Movies at Halloween: In the build-up to Halloween, I will be looking back at a selection of movies worth checking out at this time of year. As I have already written about the best modern horror movies, I will focus on different films this time around that will get you in the Halloween spirit.

If you’ve seen any of the Twilight movies, you can picture the following scene. A group of vampires and werewolves square off against each other ready for battle. Yet the battle does not occur. Instead, when one of the werewolves curses in anger, their leader reminds them that they are ‘werewolves not swearwolves’. That is the type of humour you can expect from this New Zealand mockumentary directed by (as well as starring) Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement. Clement is better known for his involvement with Flight of the Conchords and the dry wit of that show is present here in spades.

What We Do in the Shadows follows a group of vampire room-mates in Wellington while their lives are being filmed by a documentary crew. As is the case with the best comedies, there is no plot to speak of but a series of loosely connected events. The main vampires are dandy Viago (Waititi), sadistic Vadislav the Poker (Clement), ‘bad boy’ Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and ancient Petyr (Ben Fransham) who lives in a coffin in the basement. Rhys Darby also uses his typical deadpan delivery to great effect as the aforementioned werewolf leader. While the concept sounds dated, it is the off-beat comedy that makes this a modern classic.

Taika Waititi has since gone on to much bigger things having directed Thor: Ragnorak and played Korg in that movie. If you loved Thor’s last solo adventure, then you will love What We Do in the Shadows. Both movies contain Waititi’s signature sense of humour but this also works as a horror in its own right. Arteries are accidentally severed, innocent victims are routinely murdered and bad things happen when vampires eat chips. Even after all this, it is hard not to root for the lovable losers at the heart of the film.

All in all, there is so much to love about What We Do in the Shadows. The jokes are razor sharp and the mockumentary format works as well here as it did for This is Spinal Tap. It also contains an upbeat and hilarious final act as the group attends the ‘Unholy Masquerade’ to disastrous effect. The film also has all the ghoulish elements you could wish for at Halloween but is one of the best comedies in recent years. In fact, it is funnier than most bigger budgeted, better known ‘comedies’ out there. Hopefully, they will get around to making the long promised sequel ‘We’re Wolves’ sooner rather than later.

Why you should watch this: The endlessly quotable lines, the hilarious characters and the distinctive New Zealand sense of humour all work together to make an endlessly quotable comedy classic.

Best moment: The ‘swearwolves’ exchange wins hands down.

Also check out: All of Waititi’s other films are brilliant (especially Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and the US What We Do in the Shadows TV show continues the good work. Both Clement and Waititi are heavily involved with the series and it stars Matt Berry so what more could you want?

Image Credit: MOTELx 2015: What We Do In The Shadows, Artur Coelho – Intergalactic Robot, Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.5), some rights reserved.

Disclaimer Notice: Any thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely my own. Any images (copyrighted or otherwise) have been used according to Creative Commons and if needed, have been referenced to the best of my knowledge.

© 2020 Kelly’s Film Guide