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On this episode of Die Laughing, hosts Bart and Lindsey welcome producer/director, Heather Wilk, to discuss the 2014 mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows, written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The New Zealand film (which inspired the series by the same name) is a delightful look at a house occupied by a gang of inept vampires.
Hosts: Bart Shannon, Lindsey Roberts
Guest: Heather Wilk
Music provided by MKE. Check out more of his music at detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.
Creators and Guests
Host
Host
Lindsey Roberts
Lindsey Roberts is a film, commercial and theatre actress, who has appeared in over 20 films including Hustle and Flow and Craig Brewer's breakthrough film, The Poor and Hungry. Her extensive theatre roles have included Velma in Chicago, Tanya in Mamma Mia, Nancy in Oliver and multiple years as Pan in Peter Pan.
Guest
What is Die Laughing?
You'd be hard pressed to find a more divisive sub-genre of horror than horror-comedy. Those who hate it, really, really hate it. But for those of us who love horror as much as we love comedy, there is something truly special about a film that manages to combine these two genres into a perfect blend.
On the Die Laughing podcast, hosts Bart Shannon, Lindsey Roberts and a weekly special guest, take a tour through some of the best and worst entries in the horror comedy field!
speaker-0 (00:01.676)
Hey, Lindsey Roberts.
speaker-1 (00:03.874)
Hey Bart Shannon!
speaker-0 (00:05.386)
Do you know what is special about today's film that we're talking about? This is our first vampire related film. Can you think of a vampire?
speaker-1 (00:19.662)
We've done zombies, we've done werewolves, we've...
speaker-0 (00:23.702)
Huh. Yeah, First Vampire. How about that?
speaker-1 (00:26.872)
How about that?
speaker-0 (00:28.642)
Yeah, it's time for a little blood sucking.
speaker-1 (00:30.72)
Absolutely it is past time Bart, it's past time.
speaker-0 (00:33.486)
It's past time, but you know what it also is? It's business time.
speaker-1 (00:36.151)
A good pastime?
speaker-2 (00:40.109)
It's business.
speaker-1 (00:40.792)
time.
speaker-0 (00:41.954)
Let's do this. Welcome to another episode of Dye Laughing.
speaker-2 (00:43.544)
Do
speaker-0 (01:01.848)
Lindsay Roberts. You know, I love everything about today. This movie really resonated with me when I first saw it in 2014. The guest that we have today is someone who started as a professional associate of mine and became a close friend and grateful for both of those relationships out of this one person. So I'm really excited about today.
speaker-1 (01:03.202)
Hey Bart Shannon.
speaker-1 (01:29.353)
perfect
speaker-0 (01:29.794)
How about you? What's your history with this movie?
speaker-1 (01:32.312)
So it's funny, I had never seen it. I know, I don't wanna talk about it. I know, I know, I had never seen it. I just really want to admit that until now. The only reason is just because right around the time that this movie came out, and this is not a flex, but I was in the middle of getting my MBA and everything went away. Like the world went away. I just, I was focused on that. had, you know, taking care of Jackson, trying to go to school, trying to figure it all out and like,
I basically was a hermit for like two years during that process and I just never came back around to it which is really stupid. Anyway, so I just wanted to admit that.
speaker-0 (02:10.35)
Okay, fair enough. guess so we can avoid speaking in vagaries and let's tell the fine folks what the movie is and then we can talk a little more about it.
speaker-1 (02:19.726)
This is 2014's What We Do In The Shadows.
speaker-0 (02:24.856)
Yes, ma'am. Written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.
speaker-1 (02:30.444)
Love these people. I love Jermaine Clement and Tycho YTT. I love them so very much and I'm a huge Fly to the Concords fan. I'm a huge, huge JoJo Rabbit fan. So, I mean, I just, I'm very, very happy and this made me very happy watching this movie.
speaker-0 (02:47.726)
You know, we'll talk about it in a second when we jump in, but if I did my due diligence, I would have found out why Taika speaks German so well.
speaker-1 (02:56.364)
Right. No, I think he lived there or something. It seems like I read something about that. Or he had an extended stay there or something, and so he just recalled what he could remember from his time there. He's awesome. I have a small crush on him. I'm not gonna, I'm not.
speaker-0 (03:10.51)
gonna lie. think everybody does he's gorgeous and since then he's one yeah but he's a man in his mid-50s and he's sexier now than he was like in 2014
speaker-1 (03:14.239)
Oscar!
speaker-1 (03:21.974)
A thousand percent. He's a silver fox now.
speaker-0 (03:25.726)
Indeed, indeed. So your first time seeing it, that's great. my third or fourth time seeing it, but my first time in eight or nine years seeing it, but just as entertaining now as it was then. So let's stop the beating around the bushes and let's bring in our guest and so we can get started. How about that? You want to do that?
speaker-1 (03:46.126)
Yes, let's do it.
speaker-0 (03:47.662)
Our guest today is, like I said moments ago, we worked together over a several year period on a documentary together. She was the producer of this documentary called Show Businesses of My Life, but I can't prove it. Wonderful experience. Still very proud of that film and what we did together. It's available on Amazon if you to see it. But she also is the director of a documentary called Crescendo, which it is, at least in 2025, was the number one foreign-made film in Korea.
speaker-1 (04:05.39)
Which sure is.
speaker-1 (04:16.898)
Amazing.
speaker-0 (04:17.922)
How about that? She's also the VP of Original Content at Red Productions down in Fort Worth, Texas. And whether she was prepared for it or not became somewhat of my therapist over several years. But let's stop fucking around. Yes. Bring on Heather Wilk. Heather.
speaker-2 (04:38.422)
everybody.
speaker-1 (04:39.061)
How you doing?
speaker-0 (04:40.312)
Good, how are you?
speaker-2 (04:42.21)
Good. I want to thank you for seeing me to watch Aurora movie, although it was something I could handle. So it really wasn't.
speaker-1 (04:43.79)
for f-
speaker-1 (04:50.7)
That's scary. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. Yes.
speaker-2 (04:54.936)
This is one I could watch by myself and still sleep that night. And I can't say that for a lot.
speaker-0 (05:00.27)
We give every guest three options so that way they have some control of what they're watching. And I kind of do that on purpose sometimes like when I know that they're not like a huge horror horror fan, I give them some safety choices. And I think on this one, I kind of gave you two safety choices, two 80s schlocky films and this one. You know, it's funny, it's like I give people the options for these 80s films too. And most people choose the newer films. And so like the content that we choose,
It's not because we're avoiding 80s films, just people seem to opt for the newer films, which is fine.
speaker-2 (05:35.31)
think there's something about, I remember that one. When you're asking somebody to talk about something in depth, it's scary going in new. I have to form brand new opinions where at least this, could go in saying, I liked that. Let's do it again.
speaker-0 (05:49.016)
So you guys have met, we talked about this off mic a little while ago. You met at the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2023, but this is the first time you guys have spoken since then. Yeah.
speaker-1 (05:57.76)
Yeah! I'm so excited to have you on!
speaker-2 (06:00.396)
know I'm excited too and it's Bart I feel like I can give my real true opinion without feeling ashamed. Lindsay anytime there's someone you don't know very well it feels like boy are we gonna agree are we gonna disagree is she always gonna remember I liked that one part and she thought it was terrible.
speaker-1 (06:16.782)
We'll see. We'll see. So, you know, and that's kind of what's the great thing about this podcast, and and I talk about that a lot. Bart and I have very similar opinions on things, but there are very real times where we disagree with each other. I think that's what makes the podcast interesting.
speaker-0 (06:33.35)
We have disagreed on the last two episodes on whether we liked or disliked the film. So no pressure, Lindsay, but if it's three episodes in a row...
speaker-1 (06:42.348)
then you're fired and Heather's the new co-op.
speaker-2 (06:44.91)
I can't watch anything else. It'll just be Bart explaining the movie to me. I don't want to watch them. It's good. Yeah. Exactly.
speaker-1 (06:48.502)
You're in trouble.
speaker-1 (06:53.688)
Ghostbusters from here on out, Bart.
speaker-0 (06:56.792)
Yeah, it'll be me explaining the movie while Heather scrolls on her phone.
Heather, what we typically do is we'll watch the trailer together and everybody at home can just listen to it and then once we watch it, we'll just jump right in. So here is the trailer for the 2014 horror comedy mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows.
speaker-1 (07:37.422)
Vicky, Vicky!
speaker-2 (07:39.757)
What?
speaker-1 (07:42.574)
We're gonna have a little flat meeting in the kitchen. Okay.
speaker-2 (07:48.619)
When you get the four vampires in a flat, obviously there's going to be lot of tension.
speaker-1 (07:54.375)
will do my gestures!
speaker-1 (08:00.428)
One of the unfortunate things about not having a reflection is you don't know exactly what you look like.
speaker-2 (08:07.102)
I go for a look which I call dead but delicious.
speaker-1 (08:10.318)
you
Ladies. Vladislav used to be extremely powerful. He would kill anybody. Burning everything. Totally great.
speaker-2 (08:25.806)
This is my torture chamber.
speaker-1 (08:28.27)
20, 30 women. He could hypnotize crowds of people?
speaker-1 (08:39.789)
I've been a vampire for two months.
The neighbors can see you flying around. You want to draw attention to this house, hm? Got a whole documentary crew following you around.
speaker-1 (08:55.704)
came to this country for love. Some people freak out a bit about the age difference. They think, what's this 96 year old lady doing with a guy four times her age? They can call me Cradle Snatcher, who cares?
Woo, that's fine! I can smell werewolves. Why don't you girls smell your own crotchies, Don't swear. What are we? Werewolves not swills.
Private secret. Bringing bloody camera.
speaker-0 (09:25.006)
society but you don't go f*** your black person to every
speaker-2 (09:28.11)
I'm not into camera guy, maybe one camera guy.
speaker-0 (09:30.999)
here
speaker-1 (09:39.31)
You
has been killed in a fatal sunlight accident. We're just restoring to reports of a rather large amount of shriek.
speaker-0 (09:49.316)
Smells a bit weird in here too.
speaker-2 (09:50.574)
What do call this?
speaker-1 (09:54.936)
Well, how about that? There you go. You know, I have questions about that trailer. You know, spoiler alert, I love this movie. The trailer's fairly long and it has a lot of the really funny moments in the trailer where you're like, ooh, why wouldn't, ooh, I would have maybe held out on that one or that one or that one. Like you get that it's funny all the way through, right? So it's like, should they have really added that bit and that bit and that bit? And...
But I don't know. I mean, I think it depends on when the trailer was made, right? Because I know they had like a really tough time trying to, you know, it didn't do well in New Zealand. And so they're really trying to sell this film. But if you are the type of person that you don't like to watch trailers, because you don't want everything kind of explained to you, then you should probably watch this movie without watching the trailer. But it's a funny trailer because it's a funny movie.
speaker-2 (10:46.838)
I wonder if this was the original trailer. Is it possible that there was something else and they were told you got amp it up, amp it up?
speaker-1 (10:54.422)
Yeah, absolutely. Let's call them and see. my God, right?
speaker-2 (10:57.248)
I would love to.
speaker-0 (10:59.758)
I think what hit me for the trailer was because at the time I don't think I'd ever seen Taika in anything I don't think. no. So as a Flight of the Concords fan, you know, seeing Jermaine Clement and Reese Darby in that trailer, I'm like, okay, I'm seeing it. I remember the first thing, like that's it. It's a horror comedy mockumentary with two of the people from Flight of the Concords. Done.
speaker-1 (11:21.74)
Yeah, you had me at Germaine Clement. Yep, exactly. And Fly to the Concords. I'm sold at that point. I love that show.
speaker-2 (11:28.236)
I do too.
speaker-0 (11:29.43)
I love that the concept is a house full of inept vampires. You know, we think of vampires as all-knowing, all-powerful, and they're just morons.
speaker-1 (11:37.858)
think it's really honestly a film about inept men that even in the afterlife can't get their shit together. know, even with eternity, they can't get it right. know, communications all over the place. Man, I think that's what I love the most about it. I was like, these men have eternity. They cannot figure it out.
speaker-2 (11:55.342)
And it's, they want the sense of belonging. I don't know if I'm jumping ahead here, but when they can't get into that nightclub because they can't be invited, can you imagine not being able to get into spaces that you're not invited to and they just want to belong so bad. They just want to go to the cool places and instead they can't. It's adorable.
speaker-1 (12:15.616)
It is adorable and they use that trope really well, right? Because that's the thing with vampires, right? You have to be invited into somewhere. Like we just wanted to be invited to the party kind of way. And I think it's brilliant the way they use that.
speaker-2 (12:31.746)
And that opens the door immediately for why they're allowing a camera crew into their home and their house. It's just, come on up to, let us tell you our story.
speaker-0 (12:40.376)
Let's go ahead and jump in. That was a perfect segue about the camera crew. The very first thing you see on the screen is the logo of the New Zealand Documentary Board. And I remember the first time I saw it thinking, does the New Zealand Documentary Board fund films that aren't really documentaries? And then the very next caption tells us that every few years, a secret society in New Zealand gathers for a special event, the Unholy Masquerade.
And in the months leading up to the ball, a documentary crew was granted full access to a small group of the society. So that was like, your first thought is like, do they, that's fake too. it's so, once I saw the New Zealand documentary board and then that opening caption, I was hooked.
speaker-2 (13:23.714)
Yeah, I was too.
speaker-1 (13:24.784)
yeah, as a huge Christopher Guest film, I love all mockumentaries. I do too. And so I was, I'm all in at that point.
speaker-0 (13:33.944)
So yeah, our opening shot is of everyone's least favorite alarm clock style, which is that red LED. It's on 559. It clicks to six o'clock. And then that hideous beeping breaks the silence. We see a hand reach out of a coffin, turns off the alarm. The coffin opens up and out rises Viago, played by Taika Waititi. Viago is 379 years old and is just as adorable now as a vampire as the first time I saw this movie.
speaker-1 (14:02.74)
Yes, he's so cute.
speaker-2 (14:04.78)
He's so excited to have these people there and he looks at them and he looks at the window and goes back and forth. And I think he's just like, man, new people. This is amazing.
speaker-0 (14:16.75)
Slow rise.
speaker-1 (14:17.868)
I was gonna say he like half rises and then he's like, yeah, yeah. And he kind of keeps going. He's like, I can do a trick. Look what I can do.
speaker-0 (14:27.372)
With full eye contact towards the camera.
speaker-1 (14:29.486)
Sure.
speaker-2 (14:31.438)
At this point, has he already tried to open that window to make sure it is nighttime?
speaker-0 (14:35.554)
Yeah, that's the first thing he does when he gets out of the casket. He says, it's always, I'm always very nervous. And he pulls back the curtain. He's like, yeah, it's nighttime.
speaker-2 (14:43.758)
I just think it's such a fun twist to see basically vampires be scaredy cats. Yeah. And that's exactly what it is.
speaker-0 (14:51.074)
We always assume like vampires just have this animal innate understanding of when the sun is down. Right. The only way he's going to find out is by slowly pulling back the curtains.
speaker-1 (15:01.955)
Like what if my clock was wrong? What if it's daylight savings time and I don't know?
speaker-0 (15:06.446)
That was the first thing I thought about when he said, I thought they're dumb. So would they not get infused by daylight savings time? So he wakes up right after that, Viago goes throughout the house, waking up his vampire flatmates. First he wakes up Deacon and asks him how his night was. And Deacon says, I transformed into a dog and had sex. Viago gives an enthusiastic cool and then tells Deacon that there's a flat meeting in the kitchen in 15 minutes.
speaker-2 (15:12.204)
Exactly.
speaker-1 (15:25.87)
You
speaker-0 (15:33.39)
Then Viago opens the door to Vladislav's room and sees that he's in the middle of this orgy, which is a really cool scene. He opens the door and essentially like we're looking down into a well where he's on a bed of red satin sheets with these three women.
speaker-1 (15:48.302)
But they're at the center of the screen. So you see it right when he opens the door. But it's very clearly, yeah, like you're saying, Don and Noel. It's very cool.
speaker-2 (15:50.126)
speaker-0 (15:56.75)
So he closes the door and then immediately Vladislav, who's played by Jemaine Clement, opens the door and he says, hey, we've got a flat meeting in 15 minutes. And he says, make it 20. So then he goes to the basement and we see their other flatmate, Peter. He rolls back this archaic stone coffin lid and there's a sleeping vampire in there that looks just like the vampire Kurt Barlow from Stephen King Salem's lot.
I thought that was such a great touch, like they look normal, but this guy is ancient and looks like the ancient vamp-
speaker-2 (16:31.15)
feel like in 45 seconds you have met and understand every character. They did such an incredible job at that instantly. You know who the sweet one is, you know who the sex addict is or whoever it might be. We don't know why. You know the scary one, you know the traditional. It's awesome. 100 % yes. Oh my god.
speaker-1 (16:49.143)
It's like the Golden Girls.
speaker-1 (16:53.55)
You know the Dorothy, know the Sofia, you know the Betty White, you know, I mean you've got them all.
speaker-0 (16:59.906)
So Viagra sheepishly extends the invitation to Peter to join the flat meeting before giving Peter a live chicken to devour.
speaker-1 (17:07.021)
Which gives a little good little jump scare in there because he's trying to wake Peter up. And he's already very scary looking, right? And you're like, you know, and he's he's even seems a little scared of Peter, obviously.
speaker-0 (17:11.406)
I'm a bit of spooky as sh-
speaker-0 (17:21.563)
When Peter's hissing, he's got his head down. He's fearful of Peter.
speaker-1 (17:24.397)
And he doesn't even really say anything. just like opens his eyes and kind of jolts a little. And you're like, I mean, like it's he's really terrifying looking.
speaker-0 (17:33.208)
The very next scene, again, talk about economically giving us the characters, giving us how inept they are, because we sit on in their flat meeting. I love that Vladislav's first question is, should we wait for Peter to start the meeting? And Viago sighs and says, Peter's 8,000 years old. We're not going to have a Peter at the meeting this morning. 8,000 years old. So we're at the flat meeting, and the main complaint seems to be that Deacon isn't helping with the household chores.
And Vladislav says he hasn't done the dishes in five years.
speaker-1 (18:07.233)
They do a shot over to the kitchen and it's so gross. mean aisles.
speaker-0 (18:12.526)
And he says the bloody dishes, but then they show the dishes and there's actual blood on the dishes.
speaker-2 (18:17.74)
Yes, I love the puns like that throughout. It makes me giggle.
speaker-1 (18:22.402)
I know we haven't introduced her yet, but mean, Jackie should have been working on that. Come on, Jackie. Especially for Deacon.
speaker-0 (18:26.092)
Yeah, exactly. Vladislav says, I'm so embarrassed when I bring people over and Deacon says, what does it matter? You bring them over to kill them. So they do a great job, fake documentary style of sort of like sit down, interview settings. Deacon sits down, Deacon is played by Johnny Brew. He's 183 years old and he tells the story of how he became a vampire. It was Peter who bit him. He says,
And we're still friends to this day. And then it cuts back to a wider shot and Peter sitting next to him.
speaker-1 (18:58.39)
I was sitting here.
speaker-0 (19:01.098)
Next in the interview setting is Vlad is Love, played by Jermaine Clement. He's 862 years old and was once known as Vlad the Poker, because he loved to poke.
speaker-1 (19:14.06)
the impaler.
speaker-2 (19:15.438)
Exactly, yep. I just think that's so clever.
speaker-0 (19:18.53)
Yeah, I do too. Then we hear from Vladislav that Viago was an 18th century dandy who complains a lot. And at the flat meeting, he's complaining about how much blood they leave on the floor and on his furniture when they kill someone. And he says, maybe you put down some newspaper or some towel.
speaker-2 (19:37.581)
It's a little bit struggle, but there's four of them. So you've got the organization to it. And I just, I think it's so clever. Have we seen them fight yet? Have we seen them fly up at this point?
speaker-1 (19:38.338)
bit of the odd couple. Yes. Right.
speaker-0 (19:48.876)
What happens right now? Viago and Deacon get into this vampire hissing fit about the dishes and then they fly up into the air. Yes.
speaker-2 (19:55.958)
I think the flying when they're all of sudden they're having what seems like a normal roommate conversation and then it immediately turns into flying is that moment that takes me out of it in a good way where I remember that these are not just four roommates. This is not going to be the story of roommates. This is the story of vampires. Yeah. Because up until that point, it feels very normal. And so yeah, that was a conversation I had in my twenties with my roommates. I was often the one not cleaning the dishes, but we're not flying around when that happens. Exactly.
speaker-1 (20:25.181)
I mean, the effects in this movie were awesome. The makeup was so good. Peter's makeup is amazing. Jermaine's later. I mean, just throughout the film, I don't want to give too much away, but like when Nick is at the convenience store and he's like, what do you mean you're a vampire? And he shows them and it just quickly goes in and out of that look and the way it transforms, right? mean, half of their budget must have gone to the effects. I thought they were great.
speaker-0 (20:50.766)
Yeah, that scene, I don't want to jump too far ahead, but that scene when he does that became like an Adobe tutorial that went around for years on how to do that zombie effect. It started showing up in so many movies after that because people use that as the template for how to quickly turn someone into some sort of creature all in After Effects. The very next scene, they're complaining about Deacon not doing the dishes and the very next scene is him doing the dishes. And he looks at the camera and says, this is bullshit.
speaker-1 (21:09.058)
That's amazing.
speaker-1 (21:18.126)
you
speaker-0 (21:20.106)
And if it hadn't hooked us enough, now is the opening credits and the theme song is Norma Tanega's You're Dead, the song from 1966, which is I had never, I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable music person. I worked in record stores when I was in college. I still listen to music much younger than myself. Somehow this song completely escaped my music history. And I remember the first time I heard it when I saw this movie, it's such a haunting song.
and it works perfect as the music for these credits.
speaker-1 (21:52.846)
It's perfect.
speaker-2 (21:53.88)
So good. Seeing all the photos of the years past and throughout the generations, is so well done. Again, we're learning so much about them and we're just in the opening credits. It is so much fun. And at the end of the day, they're just buddies.
speaker-1 (22:04.312)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (22:08.546)
Because if you can't describe and tell the audience who these people are, the movie doesn't work.
speaker-0 (22:15.372)
Yeah. And we see them throughout history, but I think my favorite is them in the 1970s with big butterfly collars and even, even Peter's in the flow. And also during the credit sequence, we find out that Vladislav was bitten when he was 16 and he says, and that's why I look 16. says life was way harder back then. Deacon was a Nazi vampire. also find.
speaker-1 (22:38.306)
He's like, did you know that they lost? But the Nazis lost.
speaker-0 (22:40.162)
The
speaker-2 (22:41.39)
It was hard for them after.
speaker-0 (22:44.108)
Yeah, he said it was hard for Nazis. It was hard for vampires, but for the vampire Nazis, it was very, very hard.
speaker-1 (22:51.786)
During this credit, think it's when they show one of the pictures that they show of Viago is with a very Hitler looking stash. Did you notice that?
speaker-0 (23:00.494)
I think my brain rejected it because it was a hat on a hat because we already had one Nazi reference and then having two Nazi references was confusing. So I think my brain was like, nope, that's not what they mean. They mean something else because they're too smart and funny to do a hat on a hat. Yeah. But yeah, it was definitely, it was definitely Hitler mustache. Yeah. I'm sure others had that mustache before Hitler, but other than Michael Jordan and a underwear commercial, I don't think I've seen anyone else attempted since. Viagra, we find out Viagra fell in love with the human girl.
but she immigrated to New Zealand. He had his familiar ship him to New Zealand, but his familiar use the wrong postage, which is fucking hilarious and stupid. So his trip took 18 months. And by the time he arrived, she had already met someone and gotten married. So he explains all this while he's at a table, he's got on rubber gloves and he pulls out this silver locket with her photo inside, which his, of his moments in this, his love for her and
Everyone's love for Stu. Yeah. Gives this movie such a big heart.
speaker-2 (24:00.879)
I can't wait.
speaker-1 (24:05.006)
it does.
speaker-2 (24:06.296)
It is much lovelier than you anticipate it's gonna be.
speaker-0 (24:09.48)
Absolutely. This film would have been very entertaining as just these goofy, which is essentially what the TV series is. They're all just dipshits. There's really no heart in it. And it worked for a few years and then all of sudden it didn't. So yeah, that's what makes this one special.
speaker-2 (24:25.24)
They're getting that silver bit in there while he's basically explaining and proclaiming his love for her. I just think, so it's even in the heart, we're going back to all of the stereotypes about vampires, everything you know, he puts it on, it's pain, love is pain, brilliant.
speaker-1 (24:41.278)
He loves her so much that he's willing to go through that pain to have her as close to his heart as possible. And he's like, that was starting to hurt. know? The best is that he puts his own picture in it on the other side of the locket so they can be together. mean, this movie is definitely about found family, I think. They're just terrible at showing how much they love each other. But you see it later when something happens to Peter. You see it in the way that they protect Stu. They desire to have that.
speaker-0 (24:49.814)
As long as I can wear that.
speaker-1 (25:10.946)
family, they're just bad at sort of communicating with each other.
speaker-2 (25:14.57)
Yeah, the belonging.
speaker-0 (25:16.142)
The very next scene, the gang is going out on the town. So they're trying on different clothes. They say that they get their clothes from victims. That's typically where they get their clothes from. Because they can't see their own reflections, they have to tell each other what they look like or draw pictures of what the other person looks like.
speaker-1 (25:26.542)
That's
speaker-2 (25:37.656)
I have been giggling since I've rewatched this movie.
speaker-1 (25:40.622)
my god, this whole sequence is the best. Different shots of them in different outfits, big huge bow ties, right? Huge fur coats and then they're like chalk drawings of each other and they're showing each other what they look like. I mean, just this whole sequence and the music behind it, it's brilliant.
speaker-0 (26:00.11)
Vlad says he goes for a look he calls dead but delicious.
speaker-1 (26:05.218)
You
speaker-2 (26:06.862)
It's really good.
speaker-0 (26:08.494)
there's another line, it's in the trailer, where Deacon says, when you're a vampire, you become very sexy. And he waves his hands over his body like, look how sexy I am. He is not. He is not sexy. And again, like they're trying their best and failing the very next scene, you expect to see them fly downtown as bats. They take the bus, the very next shot. Hard cut bus.
speaker-1 (26:19.128)
He's, nope.
speaker-2 (26:31.31)
Do you think?
speaker-1 (26:32.14)
to ask to be invited onto the bus?
speaker-0 (26:34.338)
That's a good question. I don't know if transportation is this name.
speaker-2 (26:37.39)
It could be just a come on in guys. Yeah
speaker-1 (26:37.518)
I was curious.
speaker-0 (26:40.491)
Any vampire experts out there does being invited inside apply to transportation?
speaker-2 (26:46.83)
me there. But I'm so glad they did it.
speaker-0 (26:49.046)
An RV, an RV is a home and a vehicle. They have to be invited into an RV. Got a lot of thinking to do on this one. Okay, like we mentioned earlier, they have problems getting into a club because they have to be invited into a club and the bouncers don't want to invite them in. They're just saying, just walk in and they're like, no, you have to invite us in. Like just walk, get a go in. If you want to go in, in. No, you have to invite us in. So nobody will invite them into the clubs.
speaker-1 (27:14.702)
Re- creepy-esque
speaker-2 (27:19.352)
Weirdo dudes and has nothing to do with them being vampires because I could see three men just like that Maybe dressed a little different trying to get into a club and not getting in and I was like, that's amazing
speaker-0 (27:32.622)
In this scene, we find out that there are between 60 and 70 vampires in the greater Wellington region. We meet a few of the vampires, just sort of quick talking to them. We meet some kid vampires who kill perverts.
speaker-1 (27:46.879)
Yeah, it's so funny.
speaker-0 (27:48.664)
But the one club they can get into is the big Kamara because it's vampire owned and operated. So they can get inside of that one. And inside the club, we meet Deacon's familiar Jackie, who was hoping, like most familiars, that Deacon will one day turn her into a vampire. She was great. Do you know what her name is off hand, the actress?
speaker-1 (28:07.564)
Yes, Jackie something. Jackie Van Beek.
speaker-0 (28:10.69)
Jackie van Beek, she was great. Yeah.
speaker-1 (28:13.056)
A lot of the officers and lot of the characters do. That's his real name, Jackie. That's her real name. Officer Minogue. They use their real names. Jackie.
speaker-2 (28:22.092)
the character that I remember the most after all of these years of not watching it in a decade. so I don't know what it is. She stuck with me.
speaker-0 (28:30.936)
You know, the reason she didn't stick with me is because Guillermo on the television series is so funny and good. I think, I think he replaced her in my
speaker-2 (28:41.26)
think for me it was she's really the only female character in there. She comes in, she knows what she wants. She's not getting it, but she knows what she wants. And seeing the duality between her will get there, but her and her family life, it just makes me giggle.
speaker-0 (28:57.58)
Yeah, there's a person who's not very happy with her family life. She is right.
speaker-2 (29:01.742)
Right.
speaker-1 (29:05.153)
And she's great. She's a very successful director and producer and she's created and directed a few episodes of the Australian version of The Office. Oh, damn. She directed a few episodes of the TV series of What We Do in the Shadows. Yeah, yeah. And The Breaker Uppers, which she also co-wrote. So yeah, she's like, she's killing it. And she's a very good actor. Great actress. great in this.
speaker-0 (29:20.612)
heck yeah.
speaker-0 (29:30.062)
Yeah, I thought so too. In fact, they do a cutaway from the club and we see her taking the bloody sheets to have them washed out of cleaners. And she tells the clerk that her husband's a hemophiliac and she gives the most adorable nod to camera. She says, my husband's a hemophiliac. And it looks like, I'm smart. He's gonna buy that. But then we come back to the club and Jackie's still pleading with Deacon to be turned into a vampire.
And he starts looking very bored and looking around and then he waves his hand and says, be gone. And so she leaves and walks away. Ed, see. Back at the flat, we see Viago, his process of killing his victims. He likes to, as he says, make a night of it, play some music, get them some nice wine. You know, it's their last moment alive, so why not make it an experience, as he says.
speaker-1 (30:03.2)
End scene.
speaker-2 (30:04.919)
End scene.
speaker-2 (30:21.09)
That is the other thing that I remembered after a decade is just watching him put that newspaper down, which is a call to just put some newspaper down. I do it, we all do it, we should all just be doing that.
speaker-1 (30:32.59)
And he does it so awkwardly. No. to her.
speaker-2 (30:34.894)
Bye!
and she's trying out what she wants to do. I can't wait to travel. And she, just gives this look of like,
speaker-0 (30:44.174)
I know, I'm so sad, like, oh, we're not gonna travel.
speaker-2 (30:47.898)
I know. I love it. I love him. I love that. It's like he's the reluctant vampire. I don't know how else to say it. Like, that part doesn't seem appealing to him. Maybe I'm reading him wrong.
speaker-0 (30:58.878)
because what starts this whole section is he says, you know, like the downside of being a vampire is you have to drink human blood. So he's saying it's not something that they love to do, or at least he doesn't love to do. Well, yeah, he's putting the newspaper under her feet, but I didn't notice until I watched it today. He also has a stack of towels that he puts on the footstool. Like he's going to just completely cover the place.
speaker-2 (31:23.006)
And gently you're trying to figure out the positioning of the neck and the hair and just he's so sensitive and it goes wrong. It goes wrong.
speaker-1 (31:32.364)
Bart, you wanna deal?
speaker-0 (31:33.922)
He did sticks his fangs into her neck and he hits the main artery and his blood just starts squirting everywhere. He's just trying to open his open mouth over it. It's just pouring into his mouth.
speaker-1 (31:44.942)
sitting there with his mouth wide open on her neck and it just going everywhere.
speaker-2 (31:50.446)
It's great.
speaker-0 (31:52.014)
I love that he's standing in the hallway after it's all over and covered in blood and he He says but on the on the upside. I think she had a really good time
speaker-1 (32:02.062)
And the best part is that he's trying to wipe himself like he's got a paper towel roll and he's trying to be cognizant of his mic.
speaker-0 (32:09.802)
grinding his microphone with it.
speaker-1 (32:12.014)
And all you hear is just that sound of him trying to clean himself up over the mic. But he's totally dead and he's just covered in blood.
speaker-2 (32:17.611)
I would
speaker-0 (32:22.562)
Yeah. see that none of them, no matter how many hundreds of years they've been doing this, really are getting any better at it. Because after that, we go to a scene where Vlad is standing outside of people's windows attempting to hypnotize them.
speaker-2 (32:37.134)
speaker-0 (32:38.296)
Then Viago explains that Vlad used to be a really powerful and says he could turn into all sorts of animals, but now he can never get the faces right, which comes in later. But he says the reason he's lost his confidence is because he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his arch nemesis, the beast, and has never been the same. I love that image. Yes. The image that they show every time they say the beast.
speaker-1 (32:48.664)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (32:57.58)
Pictures?
speaker-2 (33:03.137)
Yeah. What?
speaker-1 (33:04.16)
is even happening. God, I would love nothing more than to know that they didn't draw that, but that they seriously found that in some sort of archival book. I mean, it is the weirdest. I'm like, there's a penis in like literally the middle of this person's chest. I don't even know what is happening.
speaker-0 (33:21.442)
Yeah, the old drawings, there's so many of those throughout the movie, like bats.
speaker-1 (33:24.768)
They're very good. I hope that I hope they're real up. They really found those
speaker-0 (33:29.07)
The very next scene is the dinner party. Yeah, Deaconhead told Jackie that he wanted people to come over, preferably virgins.
speaker-2 (33:31.202)
Jackie doing her job.
speaker-1 (33:37.374)
Not children. Children. But the best thing is the phone call that Jackie makes to the girl. Now I'm having a party I want you to come. She could not wait for this girl to die. Couldn't wait.
speaker-2 (33:38.485)
god.
speaker-0 (33:48.6)
She even says, like, since I know they're gonna be killed, I have to choose people I don't really care for. So she chose that woman from school and her ex-boyfriend, Nick.
speaker-2 (33:56.268)
Yeah, both virgins?
speaker-0 (33:58.306)
Both virgins is at least according to her, they are both virgins. So she brings them over to their house and they all sit around the table as Viago winds the Victrola, doing that cute little smile he always does like, dude, do you like this?
speaker-2 (34:11.564)
The other thing I love about the virgin conversation is we think we're going to get an explanation as to why they demand or prefer virgin blood. And really it's that sandwich bit about if you're eating a sandwich, let's see if I can get this right. If you're eating a sandwich, wouldn't you prefer that no one's fucked it? Yes. And there's that reasoning.
speaker-0 (34:24.962)
my god.
speaker-0 (34:34.008)
But they do a perfect setup first. What does Deacon says? He said, I think we like to virgin blood because it just sounds cool. And so that's like, that's your setup line. And then Vlad hits the home run. You would just enjoy it more if you knew that no one had fucked it. So Viagra returns from the kitchen. He dumps two cans of spaghetti onto their plates. Deacon asks Nick if he likes basquetti.
speaker-2 (34:59.576)
Well, very proud of himself.
speaker-0 (35:01.226)
Very proud of himself. So Nick eats it and then Deacon says, I didn't realize you enjoyed eating worms. Nick then sees them as worms. Deacon says they stole the idea from the Lost Boys, but adds his own twist and then tells Nick that his penis has turned into a snake. Basketti.
speaker-1 (35:17.006)
Yes. What's funny about that, this is really random and just personal to me, but my sister growing up used to call it the spaghetti because she couldn't say spaghetti. And so the first time he said that, like I seriously almost brought me to tears. It's like, oh, that's what my sister used to say. No. Anyway, it was really.
speaker-0 (35:35.278)
Yet again, another reinforcement of what buffoons these guys are. It's like, you're 196 years old and you still say, Basketti.
speaker-2 (35:43.818)
One dude that I don't know if we talked about that made me really laugh is when Deacon is talking to Jackie about what kind of people to bring back to the house. And there's a reference about age and it's like, well, somebody younger than you.
speaker-0 (35:59.342)
Yeah. She says 18 to 30 and he goes, yes, much younger than you. she goes, yeah, 18 to 30. He looks so disgusted by her when he says that.
speaker-2 (36:09.672)
No, poor Jackie. She just wants to become a vampire now. She wants to do it while she's younger. Let's go. What's the wait for?
speaker-0 (36:18.072)
So it's Nick and Josephine that are at the table. And I think Deacon asks them both if they're virgins and Nick's like, no, I'm not a virgin. she goes, well, Josephine says, no, I'm not. She goes, well, I just assumed she was because, I mean, no one would want to have sex with her. And Deacon goes, I would. I would have sex with her.
speaker-1 (36:35.598)
Did that poor girl have more than one line?
speaker-0 (36:40.014)
I don't think so. very next thing, Peter tries to escape. He's running through the house and being chased by all three of them. A very funny bit. They're just all chasing him through the house. At one point, Deacon ends up in his backpack. I thought that was a cool effect. And he throws the backpack across the room. And so he's just an upper torso of a backpack. And then one of the doors they open is Josephine being eaten by a...
Viago, and of course the same thing is happening. Blood, he's at the main artery. But then Nick runs throughout the house, gets out of the house, runs into the yard, and then he's taken down by Peter. And Viago says, no, Peter.
speaker-1 (37:18.636)
Peter got him.
speaker-2 (37:21.869)
Good for Peter.
speaker-0 (37:23.028)
Nick, let's talk about Nick for a second. Again, I'm lazy, so I didn't look it up. He does not feel like an actor to me at all. And he's perfect for this part because all the other vampires are very funny. And to make him an outsider in this group, he's not funny at all. And he's a dullard as a human.
speaker-1 (37:44.802)
Yeah, he's great. looked up his IMDB. First of all, he doesn't even have a picture on IMDB. Not even a picture. Relatively very few credits. I mean, he was in Wellington Paranormal. He was a writer for that. And so, you know, he's worked with this crew before.
speaker-2 (37:51.256)
interesting.
speaker-0 (38:02.338)
That's why Wellington Paranormal feels so familiar if you've ever seen it. It's essentially the scene when the cops show up.
speaker-1 (38:08.694)
Right. That's so.
speaker-2 (38:09.676)
interesting. He feels a little more uncomfortable than all the other guys, which just plays so well into his new body, his new life. Really quite fantastic.
speaker-1 (38:17.922)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (38:20.194)
Had they cast a fourth funny vampire in that role, it wouldn't have worked as well. Mm-mm. Yeah. I like how stiff he was. No pun intended. Yeah.
speaker-1 (38:29.39)
Yeah, but when he really has to bring it out and act, he really does and he does a great job, but it's always straight.
speaker-0 (38:36.418)
but brilliant on their part to cast someone who was a straight man. Right after that, we see the caption on the screen says two months later and Deacon is performing a dance in the living room for Vlad and Viagra.
speaker-2 (38:49.166)
This was so weird.
speaker-1 (38:50.254)
This is and awkwardly long. Viaggo is loving every second and is so excited for Deacon and the look on Vlad's face is hilarious. He's like, what in the fuck are you doing? And he's doing these like dances. At one point he's like on the ground, like with his crotch in the air and he's got his hand like covering his crotch.
speaker-2 (39:15.754)
He's probably taking these dance moves from all the generations he's learned over the last 200 or so years and putting them into one erotic dance for his fans.
speaker-1 (39:24.398)
You
speaker-0 (39:25.264)
while wearing a tank top.
speaker-1 (39:28.012)
and leather black leather pants.
speaker-0 (39:30.638)
His dance is interrupted though by a knock at the window. It's Nick. Peter did not kill him. Nick tells us that he didn't kill him, but Peter offered him his own blood and he said he thought it was just some sort of German thing. And so he drank his blood. But then we see what Nick's transformation was like, all of the symptoms he went through when he died and then became a vampire and
speaker-1 (39:45.687)
You
speaker-2 (39:53.592)
going to the doctor and the hospital.
speaker-1 (39:55.532)
Yeah. The look on that doctor's face, he's like, it's my neck. And the doctor's like, my God, it did look kind of miserable. Yeah.
speaker-0 (40:02.798)
And we could have easily skipped these sections like the one with Nick and then later the one with Stu. It seemed to go on for a decent amount of time, know, us seeing that sort of the torture he went through. For a silly comedy, again, heart and real issues of what you would have to go through, dying and becoming the undead.
speaker-2 (40:20.418)
How do vampires decide who they're gonna save and who they're just gonna drink all the blood?
speaker-0 (40:24.27)
I've always wondered that. I've never gotten an answer.
speaker-2 (40:27.286)
too cuz like why these guys I don't know
speaker-1 (40:29.773)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (40:30.99)
In this movie and in the television series, none of the vampires want to turn their familiars. Their familiars are always just holding on the hopes that they will, but they just won't do it. For all we know, it could be a thing where if you don't kill someone and you keep them alive, that your dominion brings you power by having more people that are branched off of your lineage.
speaker-1 (40:52.78)
Maybe Peter was just like, we need another roommate.
speaker-2 (40:55.692)
Is he the only one that has turned people? yeah, something's coming.
speaker-0 (40:58.254)
Nick later. But up until now, yeah, Peter's the only mention of someone who has turned someone, yeah.
speaker-2 (41:04.194)
Maybe he just has more self-restraint than everybody else and can stop supports too late and doesn't keep hitting those arteries.
speaker-0 (41:11.64)
He's got a tiny little vampire stomach. Yeah. Like I'm trying to kill you, but I get so full.
speaker-1 (41:19.63)
I had that chicken earlier, I'm all set. Yeah.
speaker-0 (41:22.05)
Thanks.
So Nick thinks he can teach the gang a few things and there's a scene where he shows them how to scratch a record on the Victrola. Gets a call back later. They're just all just standing there looking bored as he does it, as he scratches it like, what is the value in this? Right after that, we see there's a short montage of Nick and the others out on the town and we meet Stu. Let's just all breathe for a moment and appreciate Stu.
speaker-1 (41:32.184)
God.
speaker-1 (41:51.118)
Who is the heart?
speaker-2 (41:52.258)
Yep, he's everything. I watched it with two other people again and all three of us agreed, like, that's it. That's the whole reason to make this movie.
speaker-0 (42:00.514)
Yep, and what's Stu's background as an actor?
speaker-1 (42:02.966)
None. This was his first film. He is not an actor. He was a real life friend of the filmmakers. What? He was a real part time business analyst for a company in Wellington. he was hired for the film under the impression that he would be working on the computers and that he would play a small part in the film.
speaker-0 (42:05.026)
He doesn't seem like an actor at all.
speaker-0 (42:25.202)
god
speaker-2 (42:25.674)
I love that so much.
speaker-1 (42:28.014)
Yeah, well, you know, the deal is, that Jermaine and Taika, they had a script, but they didn't want to show it to anybody. They just set things up and were like, OK, this is basically what's going to happen in this scene. was just like structured outlines so that they could keep it as real as possible. They had a script that they didn't want to show it to anybody. Most of the dialogue in this movie is completely improvised. So supposedly, there's about 125 hours of footage that was shot.
in this film. Wow. And the process of editing it down to a 90 minute movie took almost a year is what I read. Yep. And they have considered making all the footage available online so the fans can edit their own version. How amazing would that be? Oh, they have to do that. And you know, there's a new one coming out. There is a follow-up movie titled We're...
speaker-2 (43:02.177)
My god.
speaker-1 (43:19.264)
Wolves. It's also a mockumentary style. a kind of a follow-up of the group of werewolves living in modern-day Wellington is supposedly what it's about.
speaker-0 (43:27.242)
Now, I heard about this before they did the television series. My guess is they got green lead on the television series and they put it on the back burner.
speaker-1 (43:35.276)
Well, it's still listed under their IMDB as upcoming. So I don't know. mean, so we'll see.
speaker-2 (43:42.072)
Do you think some of that footage ended up not directly in to the TV series, but that's where some of the bits that they couldn't use?
speaker-0 (43:49.964)
I think probably so because for the first couple of seasons, maybe three, but I know for the first two, Jermaine and Taika, they directed episodes, you know, they were on the creative team and then they got busy and they started doing other stuff. I think probably Jojo Rabbit happened around that time. And then they kind of pass it on to some other folks. And in my opinion, the show really suffered. I didn't find it funny anymore after they left and it was just a steady spiral for a few seasons. But my guess is yes, that at least those first two years they probably...
Harvest some unused bits
speaker-1 (44:20.364)
Yeah. But I took us on a tangent there. My apologies if we want to talk about Stu. He is worthy of talking about.
speaker-2 (44:27.118)
hiring Stu, not knowing what part he's gonna play, because that's what it is in the film as well. You could not have had somebody do that while acting. There's no way. He's learning it all for the first time as the audience, the quote unquote documentary crew, the uncomfortable silences, all of those things you can't have without somebody who genuinely has no idea what's going on.
speaker-1 (44:48.483)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (44:49.272)
had you hired an actor, an actor-actor, I think your instinct would have been to hire someone handsome. Like, we love him. He's so charismatic. He's so fun. And this goes totally different. He's just this wholesome guy that you love. And I guess let's let the audience know, Stu is Nick's human friend. And there's a saying where Nick says, really sucks that he can't eat Stu. And then he says, which gets a callback later, I mean, look at him. He's the reddest guy I know.
speaker-0 (45:19.4)
It is. He's very, the man is very red. His face is very red. Yeah. It could be because he's not an actor and he's not comfortable in front of a camera.
speaker-1 (45:27.394)
But Bart, please walk us through this montage. It is the best with Stu.
speaker-0 (45:32.172)
Yeah, before then, we see that Deacon has an issue with Nick. He's not happy that Nick is wearing a similar jacket as him.
speaker-1 (45:38.862)
and it's like a Sergeant Pepper jacket.
speaker-0 (45:41.056)
Yeah, or like a band uniform jacket. He's really upset that he's no longer the young vampire on the block at 196. Nick is the new vampire, and so he's not happy about that at all. In fact, Nick tells them he can get them into Boogie Wonderland, a club that they've never gotten into before. And so they go to Boogie Wonderland. So leaving Boogie Wonderland, they're walking home, and they have a showdown between the vampires and the new characters, the werewolves.
Deacon could smell werewolves. So we meet the werewolves and the leader of the pack is Anton, played by Reese Darby from Flight of the Conchors. And also our flag means death. Funny, funny dude.
speaker-1 (46:21.078)
My son's middle name is Reese. R-H-Y-S. Bye.
speaker-2 (46:23.534)
I love the introduction to the werewolves. The fact that these two forms of creatures and neither of them have swagger is just my favorite thing ever. Where you would think that they would have all this charm, all this swagger and instead everyone's just kind of trying to figure their shit out. They're all part of this group. They're all together. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don't and I love him. I think he is a great alpha dog.
speaker-1 (46:26.599)
it's perfect.
speaker-0 (46:49.198)
And he keeps telling everyone that he is the alpha male. He is the alpha male. Even though nothing about him seems like he's an alpha male. And then we get one of the most iconic lines. Let's see if we can all say this together. One of the werewolves uses a slur towards Viago. And so Anton says, guys, we're werewolves.
speaker-1 (46:51.918)
I'm the Alpha Man.
speaker-1 (47:09.87)
SWEAR WALL
speaker-2 (47:12.046)
We are going to get that sign in our home.
speaker-0 (47:15.618)
Hahaha!
Oh, it's said so many times and it is funny every time. So they're going back and forth yelling at each other and one of the werewolves gets upset and so he starts changing and then Anton reminds him to do the breathing exercises to avoid turning into a werewolf. like, breathe, breathe, don't forget, remember the breaths, breathe, breathe. So that's our first introduction to the werewolves. A very welcome addition of a cast of characters to know that we're in this world where it's not just a vampire thing.
because we meet people later, right now, there are vampires and werewolves.
speaker-2 (47:53.23)
They feel way more bro-esque to me. They feel younger. I don't know if what the werewolf legend is, are they alive forever as well? But they all feel like kind of frat boys to me. Like they're gonna be playing soccer and then turn into werewolves.
speaker-1 (48:02.798)
Yeah, good call. For sure.
speaker-0 (48:07.374)
All right, so we're getting to the part that we were just talking about. So Nick tells Stu that he's a vampire. So now Stu knows that his friend is a vampire and all of his new friends are vampires. And right away we discover all of the vampires love Stu.
speaker-1 (48:25.87)
We've agreed not to eat.
speaker-2 (48:27.032)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (48:27.928)
Viago says, of course he looks delicious with his big red cheeks, but we are all in agreement that we're not going to eat stew. This is where Deacon is knitting a scarf for stew. So Deacon knits a scarf for stew. A little montage, stew teaches Viago karate. Stew shows them how to use a computer, the internet, a cell phone, a camera.
speaker-1 (48:41.614)
speaker-1 (48:51.5)
Good old camera and then they can actually see what they look like without having to draw themselves for each other. It's Brilliant and the photo shoot that Vlad gives Right, he's just giving it's giving
speaker-2 (49:02.986)
It's giving. It's so good.
speaker-0 (49:07.63)
There's a very under the breath line where Stu is sitting at the computer showing them how to browse the internet and he goes like, yeah, I just did a search for virgins and Vlad says, what she's doing, she does not look like a virgin.
speaker-1 (49:22.41)
show us that video clip of a sunset or a sunrise sunrise yeah they're like let's see that video of the sunrise and they're like
speaker-0 (49:26.858)
It's time to get sunrised.
speaker-0 (49:32.002)
Yeah, I thought that was wonderful. Not even in a funny way, but in a heartfelt way. It's like, of course they would want to see that.
speaker-1 (49:38.776)
They've never seen it. And they're like, that's really beautiful. Yeah.
speaker-2 (49:42.702)
because he's the outside world that they'll never be a part of. And I think it's fascinating as well because the outside world, doesn't it feel like they've kind of forgotten about the lore of vampires? We're not living in the everyday Dracula where there's this ominous creature living in a building. The world's moved on. We've got the internet, we've got karate, we've got all these things. And so Stu to them is introducing them to this new world that they're kind of forgotten in.
speaker-0 (50:08.078)
Which Nick could have easily done, but Nick is a bit of a douche. so, he's too self-centered to do that. So they required someone sweet and kind like Stu to do that where they would listen. What he showed him is that you could tell they're way more into than Nick scratching on the Victrola. The very next scene, Viago, with the help of Stu, he Skypes with his old servant, Philip, who's now 90. And he said, hey, how did you meet Catherine? Are you with Catherine? And he said, no, you actually used the wrong postage and...
Not married. then immediately Philip was like, I'm 90. time is running out. I want to be a vampire. Immediately. He's like, ends that conversation and hangs up the call. Nobody wants to turn anyone to a vampire except for Peter and Nick. So the very next scene we see Viago, he started hanging out outside of his old flame, Catherine's apartment and her retirement village, which very sweet, very
speaker-2 (50:52.162)
Peter!
speaker-1 (51:02.606)
Mm-hmm who is now it's clearly in her what 80s. Yeah, 90s
speaker-0 (51:07.0)
Yeah, just stands outside looking at her, pining for her. And then we're back to the bars. Very next scene. Very abruptly.
speaker-2 (51:14.826)
It cuts very abruptly. I wondered if there was something that was cut that we aren't seeing there. I don't know.
speaker-0 (51:22.574)
Well, 96 hours, I would assume, yes. Or would you say 100? Yes. Jesus Christ. A lot of in-between transitional shots are Jackie cleaning too. think they were the same reason, cleaning up blood.
speaker-1 (51:26.894)
125 hours.
speaker-1 (51:38.814)
man, there's one of her in the bathroom that I'm like, bless her heart.
speaker-2 (51:44.792)
Just turn her into the van.
speaker-0 (51:46.062)
No kidding. You can tell she's like, I don't think this is worth it. So yeah, they go back to the bars in a very abrupt way and the vampires and Stu are hanging out a bar and Nick keeps telling everyone that he's a vampire. And then it cuts to that scene in the convenience store where he shows the clerk what he can become.
speaker-1 (52:04.878)
It's really amazing. And for 2014, I mean, it's really impressive.
speaker-2 (52:09.826)
This was not an expensive film, right? How? Does anyone know what the budget was?
speaker-0 (52:12.11)
I not.
speaker-1 (52:14.602)
The budget was about 1.6 million box office 7.3 million worldwide which was a massive success.
speaker-0 (52:22.766)
Yeah
speaker-2 (52:23.854)
mean, they shoved a lot of stuff in something that didn't cost a lot. I mean, even just the simplicity of him floating up from the casket and then the flying fight in the beginning and then that sort of stuff. They could have done without it. They didn't need to, but I loved it. I'm so glad they did. It brought that fantastical element to it.
speaker-1 (52:41.385)
Yeah, same.
speaker-0 (52:42.638)
Nick is acting very much like a drunk and telling everybody that he's a vampire. And in fact, there's a scene where he tells a guy at a bar, I'm a vampire. And the guy goes, well, I'm a vampire hunter. And Nick laughs it off and leaves. And he says, I'll skype you. And just walks out. Outside the club, Deacon and Nick get into a bat fight, which I love. They both turn into bats. And Lad goes, bat fight!
speaker-1 (53:04.792)
Fight! And again, the effect where Deacon is up and hits Nick and Nick goes from being a bat, falls to the ground, and as he hits that garage door, turns back onto a human, and this kind of like ball of sort of like black dust, it's really well done. Yeah.
speaker-0 (53:26.03)
And that effect gets used a lot in the series as well. So Deacon throws Nick against the wall slash door, as Lindsay said, and rips his jacket. Deacon is still not happy with this new kid on the block, and so he takes off as a bat again and flies off into the night. The next scene is Viago, Vlad, Nick, and Stu sitting at a diner, and Stu's eating chips.
Well, everyone else is just like nothing in front of them, just sitting there. Nick reaches over. Well, first he says, Stu, how are those worms? And he's like, what? These are chips. Vlad tells him, you can't do chips. It doesn't work with chips.
speaker-1 (54:00.438)
WAH!
speaker-0 (54:02.734)
It's like, it's got to look like worms. Nick grabs a chip, eats it, and Clyde goes, you shouldn't have done that. And the very next scene outside, Nick is puking blood, projectile vomiting blood. That's an excellent effect. That's a real hidden hose, but with blood, it looks great.
speaker-2 (54:04.536)
the S.
speaker-1 (54:21.634)
And it's a lot of it, a long time.
speaker-2 (54:25.902)
that it lasted just a little longer than I really wanted it to and it kept going. It kept going. one bite of french fry.
speaker-0 (54:33.334)
Yeah, and Tycho looks over to the camera like, gross.
speaker-1 (54:37.56)
Yeah, gross.
speaker-2 (54:39.544)
This shows Nick, Nick's trapped between these two worlds still where, you know, he's really excited he's a vampire, but he can't tell anybody about it or he's not supposed to. And then he can't be a human anymore either. Is this when he starts talking about how he can't share with people? I can't remember when he says that, but there's that really emotional moment.
speaker-0 (54:56.606)
It's right now, because I remember he had blood all over his mouth when he said it. He said he's over being a vampire and don't believe the hype. So Deacon shows up at the home of his familiar Jackie that same night. It transforms from a bat back to himself. And we see Jackie's husband and her children in the house, which is a very odd interplay. And she tells her kids, don't look at the man. Yeah. But you could see her husband like, who the fuck is this guy?
speaker-1 (55:19.032)
the
speaker-0 (55:23.354)
And Deacon tells Jackie that Nick is now a vampire and has jumped her place in line. And Jackie, Jackie has this great say where she's ironing their frilly clothes and says, I'd have been bitten years ago if I had a dick.
speaker-1 (55:36.655)
Yes, yes. Yep. I don't even know. She probably just improvised that whole thing, which is brilliant.
speaker-0 (55:44.172)
I'm sure probably like curb where you have an outline. very next thing we see another scene of Viago. He's floating outside of Catherine's window just watching her still pining for, he uses the new Stu installed scanner that they have in their home to blow up the photo of Catherine from his locket. He puts it on the inside of his coffin lid, closes the lid. And then we hear this thump, thump, thump, thump in the lid in rhythm with the thumping.
speaker-1 (56:11.112)
Viago.
speaker-0 (56:12.046)
He's been waiting a long time to blow up that picture. Uh-huh. But the very next scene, tragedy strikes. The next morning, the sun is out. They wake up, the gang hears the screams of Peter coming from the basement, and they all run towards the basement. And he's in the sunlight. He's on fire. Vlad makes a ridiculous attempt to throw water on him from a vase. And then Peter goes down in a ball of flame, and they're all, like, in the hallway weeping. Yeah. Vlad runs towards camera.
and says, turn that thing off. Our friend has just been killed in a fatal sunlight accident.
speaker-1 (56:43.244)
But it is, they're so upset, and I'm upset about Peter.
speaker-2 (56:47.5)
This scene is really sad. I mean, you meet them, you find out, I think all of them have known Peter their entire existence as vampires, or least very close to it. And he's really, he's gotta be the godfather to them, right? We don't see it explicitly, but that's how they've learned everything. And they're like the children. He's the grandfather and they're the children. And it's so sad.
speaker-0 (57:10.286)
Yeah, it was.
speaker-1 (57:11.124)
And his screams down there were awful.
speaker-2 (57:13.87)
no. Hear fear from someone who you think is fearless.
speaker-1 (57:19.97)
Right.
speaker-0 (57:20.81)
In the basement, they find a dead vampire hunter with a bunch of stakes under his coat and he charred remains of Peter. And Nick arrives and sees the vampire hunter and says he knows him and tells the guys that he had told that guy he was a vampire at the bar and thought the guy was joking when he said he was a vampire hunter. Nick's loud mouth has caused the death of Peter. Way to go, Nick.
speaker-2 (57:45.454)
You just wanted to tell people he's a cool new vampire.
speaker-1 (57:45.55)
you asshole.
speaker-0 (57:50.318)
Yeah, he finally had an identity. Yeah.
speaker-2 (57:52.718)
yeah.
speaker-0 (57:54.798)
So Deacon Battles with Nick in a excellent rotating hallway gag where they're fighting in the hallway with the rotating room where they're always on the ceilings or on the walls.
speaker-1 (58:06.442)
Tend on the ceiling and fight like a man. What does he say? Something like that.
speaker-0 (58:11.446)
So they get to the kitchen and Nick is hovering in the corner on the ceiling and Vlad is holding Deacon who's floating trying to grab him. And there's a knock at the door and Viago goes to the door and it's the cops and they're there because they've had a noise complaint. Both the cops I thought were great.
speaker-1 (58:27.64)
the cops.
speaker-2 (58:28.11)
my gosh, this entire scene might be my favorite part of the whole film.
speaker-0 (58:32.354)
You want to talk about just understated performance. So Viago hypnotizes both of them telling them that they won't notice anything out of the ordinary. And, they continue their search throughout the house.
speaker-1 (58:43.83)
Nobody asked him. says, he says, there's like a smell in here. What does that smell? And Viago going up the stairs goes, barbecue. So good. Anyway.
speaker-0 (58:55.79)
So they get to the kitchen where Nick is still floating in the corner and Deacon is still hovering, trying to grab him. Vlad is on the ground holding him down and they go, oh, look, look there. Do you see that? And all they notice is there's no smoke alarm. So they start talking about how that's very dangerous. You you guys need a smoke alarm and they're like, okay, yeah, we'll do something about that. Not noticing everything else that's going on in the room. They go to the basement.
And again, the cops, they see the vampire hunter and they see him as a drunk. What does she say? Something like he, he shouldn't be down here. He needs a blanket.
speaker-2 (59:30.76)
All safety violations, it's all concern for the...
speaker-0 (59:33.548)
Yeah. That's all they see is safety violations. And then they see another missing smoke detector before they leave. And they just say, you know, just, you guys need to work on this stuff.
speaker-1 (59:41.856)
And Deacon's like, let's just kill them, let's just eat them. And Vlad goes, well, let's see if they have any additional safety tips.
speaker-2 (59:48.557)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (59:51.084)
And then we'll eat them.
speaker-2 (59:52.514)
There's also the line in this that made me cackle, is something along the lines of we can't have more cops because if there's more cops, know, next it will be the Christians.
speaker-1 (01:00:03.694)
And he's like, we really don't want that. That would be awesome.
speaker-2 (01:00:07.126)
Real cops find Christians hard pasts. Again, I love seeing them in modern day in something that we've all dealt with. Police encounters, whether it's yeah, our music was up too loud, but it's just so fun. They can't evade the modern era.
speaker-0 (01:00:22.124)
It was also just a time to breathe after like the hectic stuff like Peter getting killed. It was just very low key and understated.
speaker-1 (01:00:29.656)
to the real kind of roots of the comedy of the film, you know?
speaker-0 (01:00:33.806)
And was one of the first scenes where, or one of the only scenes where the vampires aren't really doing anything. They're kind of frozen waiting for them to leave and everything is just these two cops carrying the
speaker-2 (01:00:42.39)
Yeah, it's also the only time of a will they or won't they be found out as being vampires. Like right now, seemingly the world doesn't know they exist as who they are. And now they're in their homes and they're on edge as well.
speaker-1 (01:00:55.202)
Yeah, for sure.
speaker-0 (01:00:56.494)
So the cops leave the house. The very next scene, the house vampires call Nick into a trial in their living room. And Stu's there looking on, just in the corner, in a chair. Their complaints against Nick are that he's led to the death of Peter, but also that Deacon doesn't like that he wears the same jackets as him.
speaker-2 (01:01:16.302)
both fair.
speaker-0 (01:01:17.442)
both fair and they air their grievances and declare that he is banished indefinitely. And there's this debate on the definition of indefinitely, which I find pretty funny.
speaker-1 (01:01:26.86)
His punishment is like this, is it the circle of shame or what do they call it? Precession of shame. And Viagra is like, I strongly suggested that we not have that as a punishment, but I was overruled. I mean, he's very concerned about the procession of shame.
speaker-0 (01:01:30.37)
The procession of sh-
speaker-0 (01:01:45.016)
So we cut to the backyard and the procession of shame is as Stu and Nick leave the backyard and walk out of the gate, they all just keep saying, not even yelling, just saying, shame.
speaker-1 (01:01:56.622)
They didn't circle Nick and point their finger at him and say, shame, shame. And then the best part is that when they're done, they're like, okay, well, we're just going to leave then and they leave at the backyard and you hear Vlad as they're walking up to the house go, it's such a shame.
speaker-0 (01:02:17.058)
But then as as they walk out, you hear Viago go bye, Stu.
speaker-2 (01:02:21.481)
sweet little viagra.
speaker-1 (01:02:22.584)
Such a Such a shame.
speaker-0 (01:02:25.102)
And then here we get another shot of disgruntled Jackie cleaning up the vampire's bloody mess as a transition to the next scene. This is the one you were talking about earlier where she's just sitting in the bloody bathroom on the floor, very unhappy.
speaker-1 (01:02:39.106)
Jackie. it's such a gross bathroom in the first place and there is blood everywhere, but my god, how long is that gonna take Jackie?
speaker-0 (01:02:46.594)
The very next scene is, I guess what the whole documentary was about in the first place, which is following some people before this masquerade. So they get the invitation and it's Vlad and Viago and Deacon in the kitchen as they open the invitation to the unholy masquerade. And Vlad tells the camera that he'd heard rumors that he was going to be the guest of honor. And as they read the invitation, it's revealed that the guest of honor is actually the beast.
speaker-2 (01:03:13.646)
Thanks
speaker-1 (01:03:13.934)
Uh-huh.
speaker-0 (01:03:14.574)
And Vlad immediately falls into a funk.
speaker-2 (01:03:17.346)
full transparency, completely forgot that that was the entire point of this. The documentary crew there was lead up because they don't mention it at all until we get to this point.
speaker-0 (01:03:28.59)
Right. don't think I ever put it together until today. We've just become since then, we've become so comfortable with like parks and rec and the office where the camera is just always there and we don't even give a shit why it's there anymore. It's just there as it lies. Yeah. that's why they're here. Viago wants to go to the ball dressed as Blade as Wesley Snipes. Oh my God.
speaker-2 (01:03:48.686)
What was the costume he went previously as that was controversial? That's what it was as in the nun
speaker-1 (01:03:53.09)
Sister Act? He says, one year I went as Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 1 and 2. They didn't like it that much.
speaker-0 (01:04:03.054)
because vampires don't like nuts.
speaker-2 (01:04:06.38)
Yep, that was great.
speaker-0 (01:04:08.162)
So while Viago and Deacon are discussing what pants they should wear, we see Vlad is sitting with his back to the camera at the computer and they're asking Vlad to turn around and give them his opinion on the pants. And Vlad turns around and we see that now he looks ancient and he says he's not going. And he says, leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet. Viago asks, what are you bidding on? And Vlad says, I'm bidding on a table.
speaker-1 (01:04:31.757)
It's-
speaker-2 (01:04:40.462)
Thank you Stu for introducing them to all of this new stuff.
speaker-1 (01:04:44.088)
For right now I'm bidding on a table.
speaker-0 (01:04:46.766)
The very next scene we're at the ball. We're at the unholy masquerade. Nick is there and he has brought Stu along. We meet the zombie who is over the zombie stereotype of staggering around and groaning. He's the new age zombie.
speaker-2 (01:05:00.206)
We just love that it is in the most normal looking community rec center type place. There is nothing special. is nothing.
speaker-1 (01:05:08.008)
bowling center. my god that's right. Yeah the place they have their ball is at a bowling center.
speaker-0 (01:05:15.618)
Jackie is there. She is now a vampire. Deacon asks her who turned you and she says it was Nick. And then Deacon tells Nick that was pretty rude to turn my familiar. Deacon asks Stu if anyone has looked at him like they want to eat you yet. Stu says no.
speaker-1 (01:05:31.875)
Yeah
speaker-2 (01:05:34.414)
I just love that Stu felt comfortable wandering into this environment. Let's go.
speaker-0 (01:05:38.574)
The emcee of the masquerade goes to the stage and she introduces the guest of honor and doesn't refer to the guest of honor as the beast but refers to her as Pauline and We find out that the beast is in fact Vlad's ex-girlfriend
speaker-1 (01:05:52.654)
Which the whole movie that you're thinking it's this guy that he's been having this crazy fight with and then all of a sudden Pauline comes on the stage and Viago turns to the camera and says, there's the beast.
speaker-0 (01:06:04.302)
Exactly. We meet Pauline's new lover, would be the beast. Yeah. He's just this grotesque character. In fact, think somebody like the algorithm was like, what is he? Is he a vampire? You don't even know what the hell he is. So Pauline and her new boyfriend meet Stu and they ask if he's a demon. Are you a demon? Are you a witch? Your hands are so warm. And then they discover he's a human and decide to eat him. The zombie asks Stu if he is
speaker-1 (01:06:08.206)
who looked out was the beast.
speaker-0 (01:06:31.438)
He goes, may I ask you just a question real quick? And he's like, yeah, sure. Are you pre-deceased? Like as he starts sniffing and smelling him. And then Stu gets up and walks away and the zombie gets up to follow him and starts to raise his arms like a zombie. And then he immediately pulls him down to his waist like, that's a stereotype. Don't do that stereotype.
speaker-1 (01:06:52.622)
You
speaker-0 (01:06:54.626)
The gang now realizes that everybody wants to eat stew. So they're going to try to get stew out of the place and they have him put on a mask. At this point, Pauline announces that they're going to eat stew and they ask what stew does. And then stew starts telling them what he does for a living. He's like, he's an IT, he works on computers and all of that. And then Pauline says, he's a virgin.
speaker-1 (01:07:16.796)
Yes, so good.
speaker-2 (01:07:19.15)
Amazing.
speaker-0 (01:07:20.334)
So they're gonna eat stew, but then Vlad shows up in this white suit with a mask.
speaker-1 (01:07:26.762)
He looks so good.
speaker-0 (01:07:28.792)
So good, his hair is done very much like Gary Oldman from Dracula. well done. he saunters in, he takes off his mask to make a big reveal to Pauline. What does this say? Hello, beast? And she says, hello, asshole.
speaker-1 (01:07:32.174)
Yes.
speaker-2 (01:07:43.374)
So those are their just pet names for one another.
speaker-0 (01:07:46.038)
Yeah, exactly. He says, you're not going to eat stew. And so Pauline's new lover has a battle with Vlad and he's really beating the shit out of Vlad, embarrassing Vlad, throwing him all over the place. He's on top of him and sucking out his life force. And Vlad said something like, vampires aren't supposed to go vampires. suddenly a steak goes through Pauline's lover's heart and stew has saved the day by killing the vampire.
speaker-1 (01:08:15.054)
Good on you, Stu. It is amazing now that you mentioned too that Vlad is kind of comparable to Gary Oldman's Dracula. It is amazing that they take each of these vampires as sort of like an homage or respect to a previous vampire film, right? So we've mentioned Peter, we've mentioned, you know, Vlad, but a deacon is 100 % David from The Lost Boys, right? Nick could totally be Edward from Twilight.
speaker-0 (01:08:44.814)
Keep saying he is.
speaker-1 (01:08:45.992)
Yeah, yeah, Viago is totally interview with the vampires feeling, you know what I mean? Like it's just, they do such a good job, think of like respecting these vampire films along the way and using those in this film. It's really kind of fun.
speaker-0 (01:09:00.142)
could have very easily just made them all one type and it wouldn't have been as layered. There's not a lot of fight to kill Stu at this point. In fact, they're all just so bewildered and Vlad says, we should probably go Stu. They get Stu out of there without any fight. So they're walking home from the ball and the gang and Stu run into the werewolves again who are preparing for a full moon change.
speaker-1 (01:09:04.632)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (01:09:23.982)
They're chaining themselves to trees and Anton is scolding them for not wearing loose fitting clothes that they can transform into. You gotta ruin your pants. Those pants are gonna...
speaker-1 (01:09:35.406)
You just got those. What were you thinking?
speaker-0 (01:09:38.274)
I said, I told you to wear sweatpants.
speaker-1 (01:09:40.533)
Okay, are you ready for craziness? This hill where the vampires have a run in with the werewolves is the same hill filmed in the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo and the hobbits are running from the Black Rider and hiding under the roots of a tree. Wow. Also, the building that they used for the exterior shots of the vampire's house used to be Peter Jackson's office. damn.
speaker-0 (01:09:55.169)
my gosh.
speaker-1 (01:10:07.694)
Cool. Anyway, go ahead. Continue.
speaker-0 (01:10:14.542)
Um, the werewolves start to transform and the giant werewolves, they're, they're kind of all over the map in their costumes. Uh, summer, like Wolf of Snow Hollow from summer, a little, a little chubby. I, there were a couple of people killed in this that I didn't know who it was that got killed. A body gets thrown around. That's not Stu. I don't know who that body is, but then Stu was killed.
speaker-1 (01:10:34.51)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (01:10:35.15)
Yeah, was terrible.
speaker-0 (01:10:36.59)
Yeah, very sad and Deacon says this is what happens when you're a vampire you watch everybody die
speaker-1 (01:10:41.752)
That's.
speaker-2 (01:10:42.284)
whole thing. They've all lost everybody. They continue to lose everybody.
speaker-0 (01:10:46.574)
Deacon says, if I know Stu, this is probably the way he wanted to go disemboweled by werewolves.
speaker-1 (01:10:54.296)
But this also gives us the opportunity for kind of Deacon to kind of come around to Nick, right? Like, it's sort of a necessary little scene. He's like, man, I feel bad for Nick. He's just watched his best friend get mauled by werewolves. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
speaker-2 (01:11:06.583)
just like Peter.
speaker-0 (01:11:09.42)
didn't notice until I watched it today. So when they're fighting with the werewolves, a werewolf has a hold of Nick's foot and Deacon comes down and saves him. So that's their moment where they've kind of buried the hatchet after that. So the cops return and they're investigating the crime scene. They load Stu into an ambulance. There's a scene where the dude cop brings this dog over. that a collie?
speaker-1 (01:11:23.702)
Yeah. Nope.
speaker-1 (01:11:36.846)
Yeah, it's the most defenseless looking dog.
speaker-0 (01:11:39.566)
Sweet little collie and the cop says I mean look at it at the end of the day that dog is gonna have to be put down and their camera rests on this dog's sweet little face
speaker-1 (01:11:49.23)
I know. god. I was like, no.
speaker-0 (01:11:53.198)
One of the cops takes the dog over to Stu's body and says, at what you've done. So the next scene, we're back at the house and the gang is dealing with the aftermath and the loss of Stu. They're moping around the house. They toss the knitted scarf that Deacon had knitted for Stu out into a stream and say goodbye. Viago finds Deacon asleep at the computer with the drapes open and tells him it's almost daylight. goes, do you want to get sizzled to a crisp?
speaker-2 (01:11:59.587)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:12:22.348)
walks him to his closet, he gets his, they're all really dealing with the loss of Stu. They're vampires, they love them some Stu. So we fade out on a photo of all of the vampires and Stu in happier times. Even Peter's in the photo. portrait photo, yeah, it's very sweet.
speaker-1 (01:12:41.392)
That's really sweet.
they're all touching each other and then there's just kind of like stew.
speaker-0 (01:12:49.006)
standing there with a very, very red face.
speaker-1 (01:12:51.231)
huh, right, those red cheeks.
speaker-0 (01:12:53.304)
So we fade to black on that photo. And then the next thing we hear a voice message from Nick saying he has a surprise for everyone. Nick arrives at the home. Deacon opens the door with surprise guests. Stu is alive. Yay. So Stu's got scars all over his face. We have Stu back. And not only has he brought Stu, but he's brought all of the werewolves as well. So they all reluctantly allow them in the house and start slowly fraternizing.
Stu tells the story of how he lived and we get another great reenactment scene like in black and white. Yeah. Of him and of the werewolves redoing the reenactment of him laying all covered in blood and then they show up naked to give him clothes.
speaker-1 (01:13:36.366)
So I have to ask because this is my first viewing of the film, but as soon as the fighting started happening with the werewolves, I one, knew this dude was gonna die. And two, I knew that he was gonna become a werewolf.
speaker-0 (01:13:51.736)
they did an excellent job of saying it was gonna happen. I didn't notice the scene that actually says it until today. So subliminally we do. So when they first meet the werewolves, they're all walking away from the werewolves and Stu stops and looks back at the werewolves. And I think it's Viago goes, come on, Stu, come on, Stu, let's go. He is the only one who stops for no reason whatsoever to watch the werewolves as everyone else is leaving. And when they are transforming, Anton says,
speaker-1 (01:13:59.488)
Interesting.
speaker-0 (01:14:20.972)
Get him away because he's going to be the first one that we kill.
speaker-1 (01:14:23.702)
Interesting.
speaker-2 (01:14:25.646)
The werewolves are good guys. They try and shoo everyone away before everything happens as opposed to like, come, come.
speaker-1 (01:14:32.686)
The best part is that when they show up Deacon is absolutely wearing a sweater with a full moon on it.
speaker-0 (01:14:39.736)
Adorable. Yes. He knitted it. Adorable.
speaker-1 (01:14:41.922)
You knitted it! It's so cute!
speaker-0 (01:14:44.032)
As they bring them into the house, Deacon says, please don't lick anything or pee on anything.
speaker-1 (01:14:48.238)
And the werewolves the whole movie are complaining if they're wearing fur. Are you wearing fur? That's disgusting.
speaker-2 (01:14:53.473)
Exactly.
speaker-0 (01:14:54.35)
So everybody loves stew. The werewolves loves stew. The vampire loves stew.
speaker-1 (01:14:59.81)
Two is the glue.
speaker-2 (01:15:01.176)
So are the werewolves not invited to the masquerade ball?
speaker-0 (01:15:04.878)
I guess they're outsiders, because they say zombies, witches, and vampires.
speaker-1 (01:15:09.289)
Mm-hmm. Aww.
speaker-2 (01:15:10.882)
I feel bad. They should be invited. Distanch. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:15:13.102)
think they stink too much.
speaker-1 (01:15:15.448)
Okay, fair. There's a full moon. If they happen to want to have the party on a full moon, they're all at risk.
speaker-2 (01:15:20.886)
I'm sure they want to have it every time. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:15:23.374)
It wasn't a full moon. So the very next thing we see, Viago has turned his love Catherine into a vampire and she now lives with him. He says, people are going to say, what's a 96 year old lady doing with a guy four times her age? They can call me a cradle snatcher all they want. I don't care.
speaker-1 (01:15:24.334)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (01:15:42.094)
Mm-hmm. Died laughing. So good. And this is the film debut of little Ethel Robinson. Oh. Oh. Nobody. It's her little film debut.
speaker-0 (01:15:48.806)
Aww, who is she?
speaker-0 (01:15:54.626)
That line where he says that about being a cradle snatcher and then she says, I don't care what people say. She almost steps on his line. And so he's like, yes, right. I don't care either. You can tell it's like he was not prepared for it, but he rolled with it.
speaker-1 (01:16:06.51)
So cute. Well, Kensing sets it up so brilliantly. He's like, you know, because obviously, Viago looks so much younger. This is a joke. I'm not trying to like pander to anybody, but the best part is that the way that they set it up, he's like, you know, because the first thing he says was people, you know, use the term cradle robber. And then of course, you realize they're talking about her. It's so funny the way they set it up. It just makes me laugh.
speaker-0 (01:16:28.566)
The next thing we see Vlad and the Beast are back together, at least temporarily, fucking and fighting, apparently, which is their M.O. Then we see that Jackie now has her husband as her familiar, and they're in their home sitting at their kitchen table, and she's making him write down lists of everything she needs, and then she says, you know, I love you, but I am your master.
speaker-1 (01:16:35.118)
Do you think?
speaker-2 (01:16:49.594)
Yes.
speaker-1 (01:16:50.54)
Jackie is
speaker-2 (01:16:52.686)
She absolutely is.
speaker-0 (01:16:55.064)
Then we go to the credits and at the very end after the credit sequence, it's Deacon. He's looking in camera and he says, you will forget the last 90 minutes and forget the contents of this movie. And that's it. That is what we do in the shadows.
speaker-1 (01:17:10.878)
Yay! It's so good. It's-
speaker-2 (01:17:14.36)
So great. good, Lindsay, you loved it. Okay. You guys do agree.
speaker-1 (01:17:18.412)
loved it. so you're back on track. Back on track. mean, this one, Heather, you brought us back together and I really appreciate that.
speaker-2 (01:17:27.374)
No problem. And I was kind of jealous you'd never seen it before. Because there are moments you remember as it's coming or you start to chuckle before something happens, but I don't want to see for the first time.
speaker-0 (01:17:39.49)
Have you seen any of the series, No. Okay, good. Now you can, if you want to.
speaker-2 (01:17:44.697)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:17:45.518)
I don't know if I want to.
speaker-0 (01:17:46.68)
Just my personal take, first two seasons are excellent.
speaker-1 (01:17:49.871)
Okay, that's probably because they're directed by who they need to be directed by.
speaker-1 (01:17:56.79)
Really what this makes me want to do is go back and watch Fly of the Conchords. Yeah. I mean, just the music. mean, like literally will be in my car just listening to Fly of the Conchords. know, I can't. flippin'. Yes. The most beautiful girl in the room. I love it. And then they're like, in the whole wide room. I mean, it's so good.
speaker-0 (01:18:18.37)
K-E-X-P out of Seattle will play Business Time quite often. It's fucking, they're playing Business Time!
speaker-1 (01:18:24.949)
It's so good!
speaker-2 (01:18:26.209)
I'm
speaker-1 (01:18:28.354)
My baby!
speaker-2 (01:18:31.374)
much fun do you think they had filming this? Like, if they didn't have the best time, then I don't know. What's point of making a movie?
speaker-0 (01:18:38.712)
Well, it sounds like if they shot that much footage, they really didn't have a crystal clear plan. so they were figuring it out how they did it. And you know, that's fun.
speaker-1 (01:18:49.622)
Yeah, absolutely, but you run into somebody going like, I'm kind of over this, like, especially with people who like aren't real actors, you know, I mean, like somebody like Stu coming in thinking he's just gonna work in a little bit and have a bit part and all of a sudden you're in a tuxedo impaling a beast. It's absolutely brilliant. I think we've done a pretty good job of going through this one, guys. I'm proud of us. Should we jump into kind of our core three questions here Bart?
speaker-2 (01:19:06.349)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:19:15.5)
Yeah, Heather, we just have three questions and then we kind of wrap it up with and yeah, it's such a fun movie to talk about.
speaker-2 (01:19:21.56)
Thank you for choosing that one.
speaker-1 (01:19:23.198)
You chose it. You chose it.
speaker-2 (01:19:25.678)
because I was scared of the other three I hadn't seen.
speaker-1 (01:19:28.142)
man, well I think I know where we're gonna land with some of these, but we kind of always talk about the comedy horror meter. On a scale from straight up horror to full on comedy, where did this one land for you? Whoever wants to take this one first.
speaker-0 (01:19:45.004)
You can do a percentage if you want to, Heather. If you want to just say it percentage wise.
speaker-2 (01:19:48.788)
I think this is a 99 % comedy. I think there are a few moments. The jumpscare, a little bit of meeting Peter, the first time I saw it, the second time, third time, every time I know he's coming, so it no longer, there's no creepiness left in me. And I went away thinking about the comedy, so that's why I know it's not a horror, because if this were any further to the left on that horror scale, I wouldn't have slept that night.
speaker-1 (01:20:05.72)
What's
speaker-1 (01:20:15.736)
Yeah, you and I are the same. I said 95 and 5 % and the only thing I'm thinking about with the 5 % is just the actual amount of blood. Obviously the Peter jump scare, but then, you know, all the times that you see them getting bit and he's hit the artery and it just, it's funny, right? But it's technically a lot of blood. So I'm like, I mean, I guess that's got to at least count for, I'd say 5%, but nothing actual horror about this one for sure. It's almost full comedy. Bart disagrees. Bart was scared the whole movie.
speaker-0 (01:20:45.87)
I was. Right. Changed my life. I was going to say it and I will stick with it, 95.5. And that 5%, they did such a good job of those old illustrations of bats and vampires. And that stuff is spooky to me. I had a book on vampires when I was a kid. And I remember just looking at those images and they were so spooky, like Vlad D and Paylor, the old woodcuts. So eerie. And that song, You're Dead by Norma Tanega, the...
speaker-1 (01:21:08.12)
Bye.
speaker-0 (01:21:14.04)
theme song. I have listened to that song. listen to it every Halloween. It's a Halloween mix. And that now evokes such a creepy horror type feeling for me. They did such a good job of giving you all of the horror elements that you needed in this comedy.
speaker-1 (01:21:31.916)
Yeah, I mean the horror basically exists to give the comedy structure. Okay, good. Well, we all agree on that. So this is a fun one. We always ask about elevator pitch. So if you were trying to get this movie green lit or just trying to convince a friend to watch it, what's your elevator pitch? So what's the hook that sums up the chaos charm one line? Bart, you wanna take this one first while Heather's thinking?
speaker-0 (01:21:54.734)
Yeah, I'm just gonna, I haven't thought about this at all, so I'm just going to shoot from the hip and say The Office with Vampires.
speaker-1 (01:22:02.444)
Yeah, mine was very similar. basically said it's a vampire mockumentary with flight of the concords energy, dry, uncomfortable and committed to the bit so hard it forgets that it's supposed to be scary. Yeah, pretty much all you would have to ever tell me is it's the flight of the concords guys. It's that humor and I would watch it. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:22:15.401)
Hahaha
speaker-2 (01:22:23.156)
You said in your notes, real world, which I think is hilarious. So I might go there.
speaker-1 (01:22:27.822)
Yeah, for sure. It definitely feels like the real world.
speaker-2 (01:22:30.604)
Yeah, I would say it's the real world, but with vampires at its helm.
speaker-1 (01:22:37.272)
Which brings in the roommate element. Yep, perfect. Yeah. True star. Yeah. Perfect. I love those. We're all very good at what we do. Okay. So recommendation. This is, this is I think where we may, I don't know. Would you recommend what we do in the shadows to everyone or only a certain kind of viewer? What is the right audience for this movie? Would you recommend it?
speaker-0 (01:22:41.077)
story.
speaker-2 (01:23:01.646)
I find this to be a broader audience than probably most horror comedies. I think you can jump into this pretty easily, understand it. You don't have to know anything about horror or really anything about comedy and you're gonna have a good time. But yeah, maybe we'll disagree.
speaker-1 (01:23:17.102)
What say you Bart Shannon?
speaker-0 (01:23:19.646)
I recommend this movie to everybody and anyone and if you watch it, you don't like it. I'm sorry. There's something seriously flawed with you.
speaker-1 (01:23:26.912)
Yeah, I don't know. feel like as much as I love this movie, I think that there's a group of people that I know are in my life that I probably wouldn't recommend it to. And that's a compliment to the movie, if that makes sense. I mean, it's for people who love dry humor, who love character based comedy, when the jokes don't announce themselves. If you need punch lines, you know, underline the whole way, this is not your movie. But if you really love smart, quiet,
chaos that you trust, they're gonna kinda keep up with it, it's absolutely your thing. I mean, if you love this world, this is your movie. You have to watch it. It's a must watch for those people. But then there are just some people that I think absolutely won't get it. And I think you know who those people are in your life and you just go, well, I wouldn't recommend it to those people. And like I say, it's a compliment to the film, actually.
speaker-0 (01:24:20.214)
I think I'm too stubborn. think that's why I want to recommend it to everybody. It's like, hey, watch it. And if you don't like it, it's your fault.
speaker-1 (01:24:26.338)
That's like Return of the Living Dead, right? If we watch this and you don't like it, we can't be friends. You cannot be a part of my life, you know? So maybe this is a good test movie.
speaker-0 (01:24:37.858)
Yeah, I think so too. That's it. That's everything. Lindsay Heather lives in Park City. Heather, how was the final Sundance?
speaker-1 (01:24:40.781)
Yay!
speaker-2 (01:24:47.662)
It was a blast. It was so busy and so fun and I am so sad. We're losing Sundance here in Park City to Boulder, which I'm stoked that Boulder is gonna get it and I hope they do great things with it. But man, it's gonna feel like a loss here for sure. And fun fact, Tyga Watiti was here for a film. I didn't get to see it, but I've heard good things.
speaker-1 (01:25:07.662)
Yeah
speaker-0 (01:25:11.458)
Did you see him from across the room?
speaker-2 (01:25:13.482)
I have never seen him or laid eyes on that man, but boy would I love to.
speaker-1 (01:25:18.146)
would be the most beautiful man in the room, in the whole wide room.
speaker-2 (01:25:21.13)
Yeah, in a whole wide room.
speaker-0 (01:25:23.65)
With a 10-month-old, were you able to see any movies?
speaker-2 (01:25:25.718)
I saw two movies. I saw Anti-Heroine, which was Courtney Love's documentary. Yeah, yeah. It was kind of amazing. The other one I saw was called The Incomers, which was awesome. I highly recommend it. So yeah, with The Kid, that was the only two I saw, but I've heard good things about some others. There was a really creepy one, but I didn't watch it, because you know how I feel about horror movies.
speaker-1 (01:25:31.662)
Woo.
speaker-1 (01:25:50.382)
Like I didn't go to that one. I didn't go to that one.
speaker-0 (01:25:52.11)
you
speaker-2 (01:25:54.328)
We're fans here. The midnights are really where it's at. We'll see. I'm sad.
speaker-0 (01:25:59.271)
I mean, that's like a yearly social thing.
speaker-2 (01:26:02.19)
That's how I met my husband. Bart, did you know that? I grew up in Oklahoma but lived in LA for about 12 years and came to the festival in 2019. So I was calling around and asking friends if they knew anyone that I could stay with. And sure enough, my guy offered up his guest room and that's now my husband. Yeah. So that's how I ended up here in Utah. And I was here, a good friend of mine had a film called Clemency that ended up winning.
speaker-0 (01:26:04.534)
No!
speaker-0 (01:26:21.39)
Get fuck out of here.
speaker-2 (01:26:30.798)
one of the big awards here at Sundance in 2019. And that was the reason I was here.
speaker-1 (01:26:34.766)
It's amazing.
speaker-0 (01:26:35.704)
Heather, thank you for doing this.
speaker-2 (01:26:37.592)
Thank you. Did you have fun? Yes. Thank you for trusting me to watch a not so scary horror comedy. Yeah. when he asked me, was like, Bart, I will do this for you. But we have got to go more comedy than horror.
speaker-1 (01:26:52.408)
Thank you for doing it with us. absolutely loved having you on. It's so good to spend time with you.
speaker-2 (01:26:57.368)
Yeah. All right. Thanks for keeping me in the loop on all the things I'm too scared to watch. Great to see you.
speaker-0 (01:27:01.166)
Great seeing you. All right, Heather.
speaker-1 (01:27:05.134)
Bye.
speaker-0 (01:27:07.714)
Lindsay that was Heather Wilk.
speaker-0 (01:27:15.81)
Love her husband dearly. Yep. Great family. As they say, good people.
speaker-1 (01:27:20.088)
Good people. And we got to watch one of the most hilarious films.
speaker-0 (01:27:25.358)
I think this film is always gonna have a special place in my heart. I love mockumentaries, always have, and to do it in a horror comedy world made by very talented, funny people, yeah. Always gonna have a special place. We are rolling into March, my friend. Hey, Lindsay. Yeah? You wanna keep doing this in March? Let's do it then. As long as we're having fun. But any moment you go, hey Bart, this sucks, I don't wanna do this anymore, then.
speaker-1 (01:27:42.414)
can't
I do!
speaker-0 (01:27:55.203)
Got an app.
speaker-1 (01:27:55.916)
I don't think it's gonna happen. I'm just having the time of my life. Just like Patrick Swayze. All right, P.
I'll see you soon Bart.
speaker-0 (01:28:08.878)
you
All music for this podcast is provided by MKE. To hear more of his music, visit his band's website at detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.
speaker-1 (01:28:21.198)
you