So far, Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement’s What We Do in the Shadows has been far more successful launching a shared monster universe than the mediocre remake of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise (supposedly the first film of Universal’s “Dark Universe”). A sequel is still in development, but Waititi & Clement have already spun-off two series. The first (predating the like-titled FX series) finally airs in the American market when Wellington Paranormal premieres tomorrow on the CW.
Wellington Officers Minogue and O’Leary appeared in the original film and they have not gotten any more intuitive or observant since then. They are almost genetically incapable of processing anything outside their narrow frame of reference. Yet, they keep responding to cases involving supernatural elements, so Sgt. Maaka recruits them for his special Paranormal squad. Maaka believes, but he only inspires modestly greater confidence than the plodding uniform officers.
In the original first NZ season, Minogue and O’Leary work cases involving demonic possession, alien abduction (and cow abduction), ghostly hauntings, werewolves, vampires, and zombies. Clement only co-wrote two episodes, the first “Demon Girl” and the last, “Zombie Cops,” but they are all quite funny, blending the outrageously goofy with the drily droll.
Arguably, the funniest material is found in “Things that Do the Bump in the Night,” wherein Minogue and O’Leary uncover a ghostly party of 1970s swingers, who died in waterbed and cheese fondue accidents. Like the original film, Wellington Paranormal is shot mockumentary-style, but the effects look pretty good on-screen. The movements of the possessed girl in the first episode are even kind of creepy.
Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary are amazingly deadpan as their namesakes. She is slightly more assertive and he is probably several notches dumber, but they both find ways to mine laughs from their characters’ utter cluelessness. Their bantering rhythms are very funny, but they would make you scream and pull your hair in frustration if you actually had to work with them.
