Black Phillip and the Vampires

“Black Peter, Black Peter, a crown grows out his head! Black Peter, Black Peter, to nanny queen is wed. Jump to the fence post, running in the stall. Black Peter, Black Peter, king of all! Black Peter, Black Peter, king of sky and land, Black Peter, Black Peter, king of sea and sand. We are ye servants, we are ye men. Black Peter eats the lions from the lions’ den!”

You might recognize this poem from the movie THE WITCH. I just replaced the name “Phillip” with that of “Peter.” I don’t think Black Phillip would mind, seeing as how Black Peter, the character from the latest episode, “Witches,” from WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, is a blatant homage to him. I knew what the writers were going for as soon as I saw the goat at the beginning of the episode. I was laughing before the goat ever bleated for the first time.

The brilliance of this show, or part of it, is the way it incorporates all the classic Horror tropes—in this particular instance, witches, although there is one creepy scene with a body-contorting demon of some kind when Nadja, Guillermo, and Colin Robinson are trapped in the room with countless doors and they open the wrong one—and manage to wring comic gold from them without resorting to mocking them. Like Black Peter is to Black Phillip, it’s all an honorific homage rather than a mean-spirited lampooning.

By TheCheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS, specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced, and directed (and occasionally acted in) over two dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and True Crime genres. He obtained a doctorate in Occult Studies from Miskatonic University and is an active paranormal investigator. Is frequently told he resembles Anton Lavey. And Ming the Merciless. Denn die totden reiten schnell!

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