The film also stars Clement and Waititi, along with Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie van Beek.

Viago is a 17th-century dandy who originally traveled to New Zealand in the 1940s in search of Katherine, the love of his life; Vladislav is a 12th-century former tyrant known as "Vladislav the Poker", who is haunted by memories of his nemesis "the Beast"; and Deacon is a 19th-century former peddler and the "young rebel" of the group who was turned into a vampire by Petyr—a reclusive, ancient vampire who behaves like a feral animal and resembles Count Orlok.

A married mother, Jackie hopes to attain immortality, but is frustrated that Deacon will not turn her into a vampire as promised.

Two months later, the vampires accept Nick into their group and bond with his human friend Stu, a computer analyst who introduces them to modern technology.

Viago uses the Internet to find Katherine, who is now a 96-year-old widow living in a rest home in Wellington, and also briefly reconnects with his old servant Philip.

"The Beast" is revealed to be Vladislav's ex-girlfriend Pauline, and when Stu and the camera crew are discovered to be living humans, the party guests threaten to kill and feed on them.

Stu impales Julian on a flagpole, and the vampires and camera crew escape the ball with him, only to encounter a rival pack of werewolves who transform under the full moon.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Nick returns to the flat with Stu, who reveals he has survived the attack and was transformed into a werewolf.

Scenes during the credits reveal that Vladislav has gotten back together with Pauline, repeating his cycle of self-inflicted torture over his relationship with her; and Jackie's husband is now serving as her familiar.

The scene where Deacon dances, as Viago and Vlad watch, features a musical piece titled Momil Rano by Iqbal Jogi and Group from the Thar Desert on Indo-Pakistan border.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Smarter, fresher, and funnier than a modern vampire movie has any right to be, What We Do in the Shadows is bloody good fun.

"[21] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[26] Variety was more critical, writing that "Some genre fans who prefer the silly to the satiric may bite, but the anemic pic isn't remotely weird or witty enough for cult immortality.

[citation needed] A sequel to the film, focused on the werewolves depicted in What We Do in the Shadows, was in development, but stopped due to some unresolved production issues.

In June 2014, Waititi, in conjunction with Discover New Zealand, produced a promotional short film titled Vampire's Guide to Vellington, in which he reprises his role as Viago von Blitzenberg.

[33][34] Waititi and Clement revealed plans in September 2016 for Wellington Paranormal, a procedural comedy series based on officers O'Leary and Minogue, minor characters in the film.

A pilot was ordered by FX, which featured Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén and Mark Proksch.

Executive producers of the show include Clement, Waititi, Scott Rudin, Paul Simms, Garrett Basch, and Eli Bush.