It’s not much of a limb to crawl out onto to assume that you all watched the premiere of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS on Wednesday night (or if you’re like me, recorded it and watched it Thursday night). With that being the case you really don’t need to read any reviews to know what an undiluted treasure it is. You may consider this more of a commentary on the debut episode than a critique of it, then, especially since there isn’t anything to criticize.
My main concern when I first learned that there was going to be a series based on the wonderful 2014 film was whether or not Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement could recapture the magic in the bottle. I need not have worried. The series is every bit as wonderful and every bit as brilliant as was the film that inspired it. I also had some concerns as to whether I would be able to bond with a new set of characters, given that I’d loved the ones from the movie so much. Again, I shouldn’t have worried. This new cast is instantly loveable. (My favorite character is Nandor, since he’s the one most obviously inspired by Vlad Dracula, unless you count the Baron—and what a delightful surprise to see the amazing Doug Jones come out of that coffin! Best moment of the night was when the Baron noticed the camera crew for the first time. Genius.)
How long can they keep this going? How long will the joke remain funny? Vampires live forever. This series could live just as long, as far as I’m concerned.