What We Do in the Shadows · reception & legacy
2014 · Jemaine Clement
How What We Do in the Shadows has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A Sundance 2014 word-of-mouth hit that got a famously tiny US release (fans literally Kickstarted a wider one), it snowballed from indie curio into the cornerstone of a whole franchise — spawning Wellington Paranormal and the long-running FX series.
What's debated
The eternal fan debate: is the original film better than the FX show, or did Guillermo and the Staten Island crew outgrow their source?
Its footprint
"We're werewolves, not swearwolves" escaped the film entirely and lives on as a meme, alongside endlessly quoted bits like the vampires bickering over who does the dishes — it's the modern template for deadpan mockumentary horror-comedy.
Where it stands
A certified cult classic and Letterboxd comfort-watch staple, routinely cited as the best comedy of the 2010s by people who will not be argued with.