Television series

What We Do in the Shadows

Four centuries-old vampires and their long-suffering human familiar share a crumbling Staten Island house, bicker about chores, energy vampires, and social hierarchy, and let a documentary crew film all of it. It's deadpan mockumentary comedy wearing gothic horror's clothes — gross, silly, oddly tender, and one of the best ensemble sitcoms running. For horror fans who secretly want a hangout show.

TVMaze rating7.3

If you liked this

Ghosts2019

Same trick from the other side of the veil: supernatural creatures forced into petty, domestic sitcom logic. Brilliant ensemble timing and properly dry British wit throughout.

But Gentler and cosier than Shadows, with less horror and none of the gleeful gore or NYC bite.

Ghosts poster

Wellington Paranormal2018no page yet

Made by the same creative team, it follows two hopelessly earnest Kiwi cops investigating supernatural nonsense with total deadpan seriousness. Quick, silly, genuinely funny episodes.

But Low-budget aesthetic and a case-of-the-week cop format that trades ensemble depth for episodic gags.

Documentary Now!2015

An anthology series that parodies documentary formats with the same total commitment Shadows brings to found footage. Wildly funny, immaculately performed, deeply nerdy about the craft.

But No recurring characters or arcs, and some episodes land harder if you know the specific documentary being spoofed.

Documentary Now! poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Grey Gardens1976

Swap the vampires for two real people and Shadows' central joke — ancient grandeur curdling into squalid domestic routine, filmed by an intrusive crew — turns out to already exist, and it's stranger and sadder than fiction.

A real documentary about two eccentric, once-glamorous relatives living together in a decaying mansion, performing faded grandeur and obsessive rituals for a camera crew.

But Played entirely straight, with melancholy and real isolation instead of jokes — this will not make you laugh.

Grey Gardens poster
More like this (8)

Community2009

An ensemble of misfits whose bickering escalates into genre-bending chaos, with real warmth underneath the absurdity. Endlessly quotable and structurally inventive.

But Multi-camera studio sitcom rhythms feel very different, and there's no horror or mockumentary framing at all.

Community poster

The Office2005

The mockumentary confessional format that shaped modern American comedy, built on cringe, awkward silences, and characters who reveal themselves in the cutaways. Foundational stuff.

But Entirely grounded and human — no vampires, no gore, just slow-burn workplace realism.

The Office poster

Santa Clarita Diet2017

A suburban family sitcom where mom is also, inconveniently, a zombie. Splatter-happy horror-comedy with the same appetite for gleeful gross-out gags.

But Cancelled after three seasons with plot threads left dangling, and the tone can wobble between silly and sincere.

Santa Clarita Diet poster

iZombie2015

A zombie detective solves crimes by eating brains and briefly becoming her victims, with sharp banter and a slowly unfolding mythology that rewards patience.

But Procedural case-of-the-week structure moves slower and lacks Shadows' ensemble chaos and density of jokes.

iZombie poster

Schitt's Creek2015

Eccentric, deluded, once-grand characters forced into close quarters, slowly softening into something like affection. Superb comic performances and real heart.

But No supernatural element or genre parody — this is fish-out-of-water sitcom, not horror-comedy.

Schitt's Creek poster

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

The show that proved vampire mythology and genuine wit could coexist, with a found-family ensemble and dialogue that still sparkles decades later.

But More teen drama and action than deadpan mockumentary, with effects and pacing that show their age.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer poster

Nosferatu1922

This is the source code Shadows is riffing on — the ancient predator, the coffin, the crawling dread — and watching it played completely straight makes the parody land twice as hard.

The silent original that invented the crawling, shadow-cast menace every vampire comedy since has been quietly making fun of. Still genuinely eerie.

But No color, no jokes, intertitles instead of dialogue, and a slow, deliberate pace that demands patience.

Nosferatu poster

True Blood2008

It's the same creatures, the same household intrigue and status games, dressed in an entirely different costume — proof that this mythology can be played for camp, horror, or sex just as easily as comedy.

Same vampire roommates-and-social-politics premise, reimagined as lurid Southern gothic soap opera — blood, sex, and melodrama instead of deadpan gags.

But Much more explicit and plot-heavy, with tonal swings from campy fun to genuinely dark, uncomfortable material.

True Blood poster

People

Cast

Writing

Production

Recommended by