Friends Forever: Clement & Waititi’s Pleasantly Charming Vampiric Mock-Doc

That immortal cinematic archetype, the vampire, has once again been commandeered into the periphery of independent cinema, at least indicated by recent examples of decidedly offbeat fare from the likes of Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, and now from New Zealand, co-directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, who have made the next logical step with a vampire comedy as faux documentary with What We Do in the Shadows. After premiering at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the title has gone on to tour fests, including SXSW and Toronto (where it won the audience award in the Midnight Madness section), and received generally enthusiastic reception. But after securing a distribution deal, the filmmakers provocatively went to Kickstarter to establish a wider release platform beyond New York and Los Angeles, which means the independent title will now see its limited release extend to seventy plus cities.