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ax

 

 

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Season two premiere of vampire
satire kills with comedy

» ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ excels with its goofy take on the undead

Jonathan Pabico
Contributor

 

T22 Waititi and Jemaine Clement
surprised us with their fresh approach
to the vampire genre. Their satirical comedy
movie, What We Do in the Shadows, has

a television adaptation that continues

the story with new vampires Laszlo (Matt
Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), and
Nandor (Kayvan Novak). They live their
weird private lives at their gothic residence.
The premiere has worthwhile laughs and
memorable performances from its cast that
make the story highly accessible for anyone
to enjoy, even if you have not seen the
original movie.

Berry, Demetriou, and Novak portray
their immortal leads as a dysfunctional
family with an offbeat chemistry that
has improved since season one. Their
gothic costumes balance with the murky
atmosphere from the sets, evoking a
dreadful tone which perfectly clashes with
the buffoonery and immaturity of the
characters. This elevates the satire while
also subverting expectations of its viewers.

The show is filmed like a
documentary—including quirky interviews
and awkward camera shots observing

the strange lifestyle of the vampires. The
quick pans edited with sudden zoom-ins
and zoom-outs create an unconventional
visual style. Furthermore, the episode
accentuates banter from dialogue scenes
by barely featuring any music during these

 

Promotional image for 'What We Do in the Shadows'

moments—much like The Office and
Modern Family.

The episode excels with its
unapologetic satire about vampires. Even
their horrific culture and unusual history
benefits character development and creates

e ‘Love Wedding Repeat’ movie review
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comedy through their goofy normalization
of the topic. Macabre imagery is played for
running gags, while the story’s self-aware
antics poke fun at popular vampire tropes.
From this hilarity rises the main theme of
how important it is to remain connected
to our roots, regardless of how strange and
different it is to others.

One shortcoming of the episode is
that the editing structures the opening as
a montage of unpacking what characters
were up to between seasons. The brief
exposition from the start benefits from the
deadpan humour, but the beginning intro
abruptly cuts between set pieces. Another
problem is Colin (Mark Proksch), who is
an energy vampire that feeds on people’s
joys rather than blood. This supporting
character could have been omitted entirely
because, like in season one, he remains an
unnecessary source of comic relief.

Overall, the premiere of season two
of What We Do in the Shadows offers
satisfying laughs. The show easily settles
you into its world of childish vampires
through its unfailing humour. If you enjoy
a good comedy horror, then this episode
may just be the right fit for your evenings.

Some things must not be repeated.

» ‘Love Wedding Repeat’ movie review

Tania Arora
Staff Writer

kwrw xr

f | wasn’t reviewing this film, I would
have turned it off 20 minutes in. For
me it was watch, stop, playback, repeat.
The process of writing any story involves
brainstorming different outcomes for its
characters. The writer of this film, Dean
Craig, decided to include all the outcomes.

The movie revolves around a bunch
of characters who are confused in their
lives, and they all come together to
share their confusing stories to confuse
the audience. The storyline is created
through the different probabilities of a
seating arrangement. It took mea while
to understand which outcome actually
happened.

The movie starts on a very romantic
note. Jack (Sam Claflin) spends a weekend
with Dina (Olivia Munn) and starts liking
her. Right after he confesses his feelings
and is about to kiss her...someone disturbs
their moment. The whole scene gave me
the impression that it might be a romantic
movie and the couple might end up happily
ever after—of course after a lot of drama.
The actors from different nationalities

 

come together for a wedding which might
come crashing down anytime. This is
because Marc (Jack Farthing), an ex-lover
of bride Hayley (Eleanor Tomlinson),
decides to reveal the details of their
physical relationship in front of everyone.

The title Love Wedding Repeat does
not completely fit with the storyline.
Eliminate the term “love” for sure. I would
give this film the title “Watch Stop Repeat,”
because that is exactly what I did. Every
time I tried to understand the ending of
a story, a different convoluted scenario
immediately unfolded.

Jack, Hayley’s brother, is the
lead character and is given the sole
responsibility of keeping things in order
by making sure Marc is in place. While he
does that, his ex-girlfriend, an unrequited
love, a drink with laced with sedatives, and
many more crazy elements are thrown at
him to juggle all at once. Oh, and all of
them have a weird obsession with sex. Each
one of them is hitting on at least one of the
characters.

Finally, Dean Craig decided to end
the story on a happy note. The ex-lover,
Marc, did not blurt out anything. Amanda
finally moved on and agreed to marry her
boyfriend. Jack confessed his feelings to
Dina and they kissed, which was pending

since the beginning of the movie. This
movie only gets one star because the
setting, Italy, was beautiful.

 
 

Promotional image for 'Love Wedding Repeat'

I somehow survived the entire movie,
but I would like to save you all—do not
repeat my mistake.