a review of 吸血鬼生活

HOOPTOBER XII NIGHT EIGHTEEN: Another rewatch of an old fave, the first I've gone back to it since the television version premiered. The comic universe created by the original film does feel much smaller than the one built up across six seasons/61 episodes, and similarly the characterizations of Waititi/Clement/Brugh's vamps don't feel quite as developed (or as fully differentiated) as the TV characters. With that out of the way, it's always a little bit of a white-knuckle experience to rewatch a comedy from the recent past, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well this has held up over the past decade. Clement and Waititi's script (heavily laced with well-done improv) is smartly written, focusing on the low-key absurdism of the high-concept premise instead of going for cheaper, meaner humor. It also reminded me of how refreshingly earnest Waititi's directorial voice was at this point in his career, and how he seems to have lost a bit of that since his transition from smallish indie comedy to big franchise genre fare. One hopes that perhaps once something shakes out with all of the various unrealized projects (Star Wars! Flash Gordon! Akira! The Incal!) he's been attached to over the last 6 or 7 years, that he'll get back to doing original funny stuff on this level.