Jemaine Clement is mostly famous for appearing in in the popular and funny series 'Flight of the Conchords'. Taika Waititi is famous for directing a film called 'Eagle vs Shark' where he worked with Clement and a short film called 'Two Cars, One night'. These two friendly guys from New Zealand gave us a lovely treat. A mockumentary of modern vampire life in Wellington.
We the viewers are informed that a camera crew was hired to film a group of vampires who have promised to not 'eat' the camera crew. We first see a darkened room with a beeping alarm clock, a hand comes out of a coffin to slam down the clock, we are introduced to Viago, a German 18th century fop played by a very smiling and grinning Taika Waititi who also handles the German accent quite well. He proceeds to wake his housemates Vladislav, an 862 year old ladykiller who is busy having an orgy or some other sexual activity that Viago unintentionally interrupted. Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) is also called 'Vlad the Poker', which is a piss take on Vlad Tepes. Clement is perfect as the Slavic sounding sexual vampire who likes to keep it suave. There's Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) a former salesman, who likes to sleep hanging upside down in a closet dreaming of turning into a dog and having sex. He also has a human familiar or slave named Jackie, a woman who performs tasks for him such as getting victims, cleaning up after a feeding and mowing the lawn. The last housemate is Petyr (Ben Fransham) who is 8000 years old and looks like Nosferatu with a bald head, long claws for fingers and long sharp teeth. He sleeps in a stone tomb in the basement, does not speak, and hisses menacingly when woken up.
Viago has assembled his housemates in the kitchen for a flat meeting, what follows is a series of arguments and dialogue between what looks like regular roommates but they are vampires. They squabble about cleaning the house and doing the washing up that has not been done in five centuries. The heroes are undead gentlemen from central Europe who have escaped problems and heartache in the old country to live in New Zealand.
The vampire roommates constantly argue and live together most likely for ever. It becomes very funny when the bloodsuckers prepare to go out, but being vampires they are unable to see their reflection, they try different styles such as 'dead but delicious' and draw sketches of each other. Compared to modern vampires they wear old and tattered clothing from their centuries. While outside in the streets of Wellington they seek to enter into nightclubs but must be invited in. They then demonstrate how to pick up women and bring them back to their house. The scene where Viago speaks to a young woman on the couch is hilarious as well as gross, he delicately places newspapers on the floor while the girl does not even find it weird and proceeds to bite her. Blood gushes out everywhere and the living room is filthy, Viago is distressed that he's going to have to clean the whole mess. Jackie brings some 'guests' for dinner and the vampires bite a guy named Nick, who ends up being transformed and a new addition to the flat. That's where their problems start, Nick is extremely annoying and likes to brag about his new life and friends a lot and a bit too much for his own good. He brings along his friend Stu who's an I.T. guy, who hangs out with them with the promise of not being bitten.
It's funny and a bit weird that in terms of technology, the vampires are very behind. They look stuck in their ancient world. This works quite well rather than having them be 'modern' and 'connected' like in Twilight and Vampire Diaries. Their human friend Stu helps them by showing them the wonders of the computer and the internet. While they go out, the vampires like to go and exchange insults with a group of werewolves. Their leader and alpha-dog Anton, played wonderfully by Rhys Darby from Flight of the Conchords, like a manager, coaches his pack and admonishes them for swearing ("Werewolves not Swearwolves")
The film is hilarious with very witty clever dialogue and nods to 'The Lost Boys' and Coppola's Dracula. The idea of creating a vampire 'The Real World' or 'Big Brother' was genius and it is so cool that it comes from New Zealand instead of America. In the end it's not just a vampire movie but more of a story about friendship, acceptance and embracing each other's differences. This film is definitely set to becoming a cult classic.
Vampire Roommates: Vladislav, Viago, Petyr, Nick, Stu (Human) and Deacon
Who's going to clean this mess?
The wonderful and hilarious Jemaine Clement
