I've been wanting to see this film for a long while and man, it did not disappoint. You can tell What We Do in the Shadows is a low-budget indie film, but they use that budget to its absolute limit, playing with the mockumentary format to skirt around what the plot needs very cleverly and really using it to increase tension or accentuate the jokes as needed.

The whole idea of following a bunch of "modern" vampires around downtown Wellington, New Zealand, is just a lot of fun and the cast do a great job of selling this oddball reality. Everyone involved clearly just went for it, which means performances are all brilliant and the comedy is top-notch. Everything from the little details, like when you see the vampires begging for bouncers to invite them into clubs, to larger plot points like their familiars or the vampire hunter, each piece builds on the last to craft a surprisingly nuanced supernatural mythology. That's taken to the next level at the pivotal Ball, where we see various other factions of the undead and the entire farce comes crashing down around our main characters.

It's just a very tightly made, cleverly written, and consistently funny movie. Taika Waititi, Jonny Brugh, and Jemaine Clement's vampires are great, the ridiculous character of Stu, their human software developer friend, is brilliant, and of course Rhys Darby's cameo as the local alpha werewolf leads to some moments of pure genius. With such a stellar cast, I expected it to be solid, but I was still more than pleasantly surprised; a real gem of an offbeat comedy!