Every Version of What We Do in the Shadows

The flatmate movie that ate the vampire genre

Everything starts with a short. In 2005, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement shot a ten-minute mockumentary called What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires as a proof of concept, following a house of vampire flatmates in New Zealand bickering about chores and blood. Nine years later they expanded it into a full feature, and the 2014 film became one of those rare comedies that actually rewrites the rules of its genre rather than just goofing on them.

The premise is almost absurdly simple: very old vampires living in a flat in Wellington, still arguing about whose turn it is to do the dishes. But the execution, built on genuine affection for vampire mythology and mockumentary craft honed through years of Flight of the Conchords, made it something lasting. The film found its audience slowly on the festival circuit and then exploded on home video.

What followed was a franchise built by invitation rather than corporate mandate. Clement and Jackie van Beek co-created a New Zealand police spinoff, Wellington Paranormal, which ran four series on TVNZ, following two officers from the original film into the wider supernatural chaos of Wellington. Waititi and Clement then co-created an American version for FX, transplanting the format to Staten Island with an entirely new cast, and that show ran six seasons before concluding in 2024.

There is no source novel. There is no comic. The whole thing grew from two comedians with a camera and a love of Anne Rice.