Depiction Of Vampires In The Film What We Do In The Shadows
When thinking of vampires the first thought that comes to mind is dark immortal corpses feasting on humans during the night, and sleeping throughout the day. What We Do in the Shadows (WWDS) is about a group of vampires who are living together in a flat in New Zealand. What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy horror film, because it is filled with dark humor. Dark humor is “A form of humor involving a twist or joke making the joke seen as offensive, harsh, horrid. Yet the joke is still funny”. For example the characters in the film Viago, Deacon, Vladislav, and Petyr only like feasting on virgins to eat. Next, it will be stereotyped which is defined as “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.”
As used in the film Viago is an awkward 379-year-old vampire, while Deacon is young and rebellious. Finally, that was used in the comedy horror film is supernatural and the definition of supernatural is “attributed to some force beyond the scientific understanding of the laws of nature.” An example from the mockumentary is when Petyr turned Nick into a vampire by biting his neck, and it started gushing out blood another example are the vampires being able to fly, and turn into bats. Furthermore, throughout the film dark humor is primarily being used in the film to catch the attention of the audience, for example, the four vampires only want to eat on virgins. They were online for the first time searching for their next victims they can feast upon, what was drawn to my attention was a conversation that is sited in the movie. “Deacon, “I think we drink virgin blood because it sounds cool.”, “Vladislav, “I think of it like this. If you were going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one f***ed it.” Another example of dark humor from the mockumentary is when Viago was trying to make his guest comfortable before he ate her.
Continuing unto stereotypes, there are several different types of characteristics being used throughout the film for the views to get a better understanding of each and every character and how they are. Here are the Five characteristics of each actor: Viago he is an awkward 379-year-old vampire that enjoys the company of others, Deacon is the rebellious young vampire that is self-centered and loves to party, Vladislav is the pervert of the group he is extremely rude and who is still stuck in the old way(medieval times), Petyr the oldest out of the group aging at around 9,000 years old he mainly stays to himself, yet he is the funniest. And the newest to the group is a young and reckless with not a care in the world vampire whose name is Nick, he can be very annoying but in a way, he was helpful to his new set of friends.
Moreover, in the film supernatural is the base of this film considering it is about vampires. In order to become a vampire, they had to first get bitten on the side of their necks. An example of a human turning immortal is when Nick and Jackie's old classmate was invited over the flat for “dinner” by Jackie for her master Deacon and his roommates to eat virgins. But when It came down to the vampires feasting Nick briefly was able to get away until Petyr attacked him, he survives but he is turned into a vampire two months later. Nick symptoms were getting hot and cold fevers, growing, eyes bleeding, random flying. Another example of supernatural that is used in the film is the fact that there are werewolves they don’t bother anybody, but the fact that they are werewolves who are the vampire's rivals. Other forms of supernatural can be found in the movie at the unholy masquerade party hosted by the local vampires, witches, and zombies. These are things you will not find in our everyday living.
In conclusion, as stated at the beginning of the film is filled with so many different things such as dark humor, stereotypes, and supernatural. As the four vampires live their drama-filled lives. Their bond is closer than ever, and even as immortal creatures they still face everyday life as if they were humans. For example, they fight over doing the dishes, going to the club to get laid or even fed, and putting on outfits considering they are not able to see their reflection.
