Hella Lugosi

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (B+) - Talk about deadpan.

One generation's mockumentary is perfected around rock stars ("This Is Spinal Tap," 1984), and this one's is, naturally, drawn to the vampires/zombies crowd. "Shadows," with a New Zealand accent, finds a film crew tracking the run-of-the-mill domestic existence of four roommates who are centuries-old vampires.

The cast is led by Jemaine Clement, one of the main rascals from HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." He's Vlad (as in the Impaler), the hunky, brooding type, known for his past sexual proclivities and his rivalry with "the Beast."  He lives with Viago (Taiki Waititi, who wrote and directed with Clement), who yearns for the true love that got away, due to a mixup in the delivery of his coffin 80 years ago. Deacon (Jonny Brugh) is a rude grump, who is stringing along his human servant, refusing to sink a fang and grant her immortality. He also doesn't bother trying to hide his lust for virgin blood. (They all desire virgins. As Vlad offers this analogy: "If you're going to eat a sandwich, you would enjoy it more if you knew that no one had fucked it.") In the basement is the truly ancient Petyr (Ben Fransham), a dessicated mute who barely strays from his sarcophagus.

The gang bickers endlessly -- over the mounting blood-stained goblets in the sink, or the initiating of a new buddy into the coven. They occasionally bump into an equally squabbling pack of werewolves (led by Conchord co-star Rhys Darby as Anton, the alpha male). The bro putdowns between the rival gangs are perfectly lame.

Gags are found in the mundanities of eternal existence (not unlike Jim Jarmusch's more ruminating "Only Lovers Left Alive") and trying to keep a decent house when the guests often end up gushing blood. A hipster pal, newly bitten and initiated, demonstrates how to scratch records on the Victrola and turns them on to the Internet. As they marvel over the wonders of Googling around the web, Viago has a search request: "I lost a really nice silk scarf in about 1912 ... " When Vlad is ensconced in his "dark bidding," it turns out he's just hoping to score a table on eBay. The best joke is a long-delayed one, when in the second half we learn the true identity of the Beast.

It's all a bit plodding. There are few laugh-out-loud moments. The second half definitely delivers more payoffs. The mockumentary genre really has been ossified by those smirking TV shows, where the characters wink at the camera. They are descendents of the British original of "The Office," and none has managed to match it. "Shadows" struggles to find ways to inject new energy into the format. Maybe a shot of Geritol would cure the case of iron-poor blood.