What We Do in the Shadows TV remake: Genius or disaster?

So often Americans get it really wrong when they remake stuff from overseas. Did they butcher this beloved Kiwi movie?

If I told you one of the most beloved Kiwi cult movies was being remade for American TV you’d be horrified, right?

With a sketchy-at-best track record of adapting and pulverising the nuances out of great foreign titles, the prospect of a What We Do in the Shadows remake could’ve gone either way.

For every season one of Homeland, there is a Kath and Kim. The dramas tend to fare better, but humour doesn’t always translate.

Happily, What We Do in the Shadows works. It truly, pardon the pun, doesn’t suck. The first episode of the series is funny, strange and low-key and lays an encouraging foundation of what’s to come.

It has a great rhythm with exactly the kind of quippy wordplay and dialogue you’d come to expect from Jemaine Clement.

Even vampires have to go grocery shopping.

For those who haven’t seen the original movie, the series transplants the action from sleepy Wellington to Staten Island in New York in a house with far too many candles to be considered fire safe.

A mockumentary crew follows the undead adventures of a group of vampire housemates who have the same quibbles as human housemates, though theirs tend to involve matters of bloodbath hygiene rather than who left the eggs out of the fridge.

The genius of a concept like What We Do in the Shadows is exactly this: the balance of a melodramatic genre like vampire stories with the utter mundanity of sharehouse living.

The vamps include Nando (Kayvan Novak), a centuries-old former Ottoman soldier fond of gold-gilded capes, Laszlo (Matt Berry in a brilliant casting move), a former English nobleman, and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), a female vampire who turned Laszlo in an experience he described as “hypnotic” and which she confirms as “I used hypnosis on him”.

Then there’s Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), a straight-laced daywalker and energy vampire who drains people’s energies through endless, inane prattling.

Nando is served by Guillermo (Harvey Guillen), his human familiar, self-described “best friend who’s also a slave” with a desperate yearning to join the nocturnal legions.

Nadja, master of hypnosis.

Key to What We Do in the Shadows’ success is that original co-creators Clement and Taika Waititi are on-board as executive producers.

The involvement of the Kiwi filmmakers is crucial to why it works because they’re able to transition their offbeat, dry New Zealand humour for an American audience without losing the quirky charm that made their 2014 movie such a smash hit.

Clement seems to be more hands-on, credited as the writer of the pilot and the director for three subsequent episodes.

Kiwi comedian and director Jackie van Beek (The Breaker Upperers), who had an on-screen role in the 2014 version, and writer Duncan Sarkies (Flight of the Conchords) are credited on the fifth episode.

So the New Zealand connection is strong.

Waititi directed the first episode but is otherwise pretty preoccupied with his plans of Hollywood domination after the critical and box office triumph of Thor: Ragnarok. He’s also busy on his next movie, Jojo Rabbit, where he plays a version of Hitler.

We vant to suck your blood! Picture: John P Johnson/FX via AP

Of course, this isn’t even the first What We Do in the Shadows-related TV show. The lesser-known Wellington Paranormal spin-off, made for New Zealand TV and which ran on SBS last year, followed the investigations of the two cops who turned up to the vampires’ party in the movie.

That captured the film’s oddball sensibilities and dry-as-a-mummified-corpse humour better than the What We Do in the Shadows TV remake.

But it’s still pretty exciting, after chatter of the TV remake had been around for so long, it’s finally here. And who knows, maybe a Staten Island Paranormal is on the cards?

There’s no rule that says we can’t be greedy — as long as Clement remains involved.

What We Do in the Shadows starts on Fox Showcase on Foxtel and Foxtel Now on Tuesday, April 2 at 8.30pm

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