What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the What We Do in the Shadows franchise. The film also stars Clement and Waititi, along with Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie van Beek. The film's plot concerns several vampires who live together in a flat in Wellington. What We Do in the Shadows premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. It was released theatrically on 18 August 2014 by Madman Entertainment and received critical acclaim. The film earned $6.9 million on a $1.6 million budget. Plot A documentary crew follows four vampire housemates—Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr—who share a flat in the Wellington suburb of Te Aro. All of the vampires possess supernatural powers, including levitation and the ability to transform into animals. Viago is a 379-year-old dandy who originally traveled to New Zealand in the 1910s in search of Katherine, the love of his life; Vladislav is an 862-year-old known as "Vladislav the Poker", who is haunted by memories of his nemesis "the Beast"; and Deacon is a 183-year-old former peddler and the "young rebel" of the group who was turned into a vampire by Petyr—a reclusive, 8,000-year-old vampire who behaves like a feral animal and resembles Count Orlok.