It is a refreshing thing to stumble upon a parody movie that does not cater to sheer idiotic humor; the list of terrible parodies such as Epic Movie, Scary Movies and Disaster Movie (really anything featuring Carmen Electra) lack in creativity and originality and are pretty much, in essence, just terrible.

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To whom shall we turn to for original, good parodies the likes of which we haven’t seen since Space Balls and Airplane!?

The answer: New Zealand with What We Do in the Shadows, a parody/mockumentary of vampires in New Zealand struggling with a mundane, modern world life.

New Zealand native made famous by his popular comedic band “Flight of the Concords,” Jemaine Clement directs and stars as one of the vampires in this hilarious parody.

Clement plays Vladislav, who along with his three other roommates, Viago, Deacon and Petyr, hire a documentary team to follow them around and capture their unique existence. The film riffs off the cliché attributes of being a vampire (lack of reflection in the mirror, the ability to hypnotize people, etc.) and combined with the feel of watching a documentary, the film’s set up is gold for delivering subtle, original and, above all, laugh-out-loud comedy! The special effects also add to the hilarity when portraying the vampires’ ability to fly and teleport.

Clement clearly displays his original, witty comedy, which leaves audiences crying with laughter. Ultimately, this film has an all-around funny design that sets up each joke perfectly (such as in portraying a vampire’s necessity for human blood, or when describing what happens when vampire mates come across a werewolf gang in the middle of downtown life). Hopefully this film will give people hope that the art of parodying has not yet died.