5 Room Kitchen Coffin - Blu-ray

Film: When four very different men live together in a shared apartment, then the chaos is already pre-programmed. But when the roommates are four vampires from different eras, normality is actually out of the question. All the more astonishing is the footage of a film crew that was granted access to the vampire flat-sharing of Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and Petyr (Ben Fransham). In the absolutely authentic documentary 5 Room Kitchen Coffin, the filmmakers expose that even vampires have to deal with the normal everyday problems of flat-sharing life: who does the washing up, who looks after the food and which outfit suits the next party night - a very special problem when you don't have a mirror image. But despite much friction, the four bloodsuckers' coexistence works - until Petyr turns young Nick (Cori Gonzales-Macuer) into a vampire. At first, the experienced vampires hope to learn something about the modern world through the twenty-something, while in return they teach him the ancient basic rules for eternal life. But that just doesn't quite want to work out. When Nick then also brings his friend Stu (Stu Rutherford), the flat-sharing life finally gets out of joint...

The format of the so-called mockumentary, so a fake documentary, is really no longer new. At the latest since the international success of the comedy series The Office and its numerous variants like the German version Stromberg, many series, but occasionally also films make use of this stylistic device. And as with the not entirely dissimilar found footage genre, overuse ensures that the effect achieved at the beginning has worn off somewhat in the meantime. Nevertheless, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's vampire mockumentary 5 Room Kitchen Coffin has managed quite brilliantly to defy any signs of wear and tear on the subject and set the stage for a wonderfully original and extremely funny comedy.

The comedic effect is achieved not only by playing with the common stylistic devices of the mockumentary, but primarily by the fact that countless vampire clichés are transferred here with the quite normal life in a modern big city. Sure, not every gag hits the mark. But even in its weaker moments, the production exudes an incredible amount of wit and charm. One not only notices in the play of the actors that those involved here obviously had a lot of fun writing and implementing the weird story.

When the vampires clash with a werewolf gang, desperately try to get invited to clubs or prepare a truly delicious dinner for two potential victims, when Viago skypes for the first time or Vladislav shows the audience his torture chamber, then really no eye remains dry. 5 Room Kitchen Coffin is a real hit as a horror-comedy, which also ensures a good mood with the target audience precisely because of many genre allusions. Those hoping for hearty horror fare, on the other hand, will be bitterly disappointed. And also who can not do anything with humor of the somewhat weirder kind, the genius of this film will hardly be able to recognize.

Who can get involved, on the other hand, the very special humor of the creators, who have lived out their very own style in the fan circles long ago advanced to the cult comedy series Flight of the Conchords, will experience here in any case one of the funniest films of the year and will immediately want to move into this flat share. And that's why the bottom line is a very definite: absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Picture and sound are present on the Blu-ray in convincing mockumentary quality. The image is very clean, the overall sharpness is decent and the color scheme looks very atmospheric. The fact that slight blurring can be seen in the presentation of smaller details is hardly a negative factor and is absolutely fitting for the style of the film. The audio, available in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and stereo, makes the amusing dialogue sound powerful from the speakers, but otherwise has few notable surround moments to offer. Overall, the English language version seems a bit more harmoniously mixed than the German soundtrack, where the dialogue sounds a bit more central from the speakers. Overall, there is for the technical implementation measured by the genre a deserved: good!

Extras: The Blu-ray has just under two hours of bonus material to offer. Starting things off is a whole slew of bonus videos. The most interesting is probably the original 2005 short film (approx. 27:24 min.) on which the film is based. Many scenes from the feature-length version can also be seen here in similar form, though the whole look and effects seem much cheaper. But the whole thing is amusing and charming. Moving on, there's a nice behind-the-scenes look (approx. 18:17 mins), which takes a look at the filming without the usual promo nature. Stu then gets an office homestory (approx. 3:34 min.), Jackie is introduced in a bit more detail (approx. 5:14 min.), we get Deacon's full length erotic dance (approx. 3:32 min.), hear Viago sing (approx. 2:41 min.), experience Vlad as a painter (approx. 1:43 min.) and poet (approx. 1:11 min.), can enjoy a dance of vampires and werewolves (approx. 1:04 min.) and listen to a call to the night dentist (approx. 4:07 min.). Finally, the vampires visit a film festival in Transylvania (approx. 4:11 min.) and then also roam through Berlin (approx. 3:33 min.).

Twelve cut scenes then follow, some of them very funny (approx. 32 min.), as well as interviews with Deacon (ca. 2:51 min.), Viago (ca. 3:10 min.), Vladislav (ca. 2:51 min.), the policemen (ca. 2:27 min.), the werewolves (ca. 3:42 min.) and a zombie (ca. 4:15 min.). Finally, there is promo material consisting of 6 clips, 1 trailer, a promotional film about New Zealand, and two image galleries. Very good!

Conclusion: If you manage to get involved with the quirky humour of the vampire mockumentary 5 Room Kitchen Coffin, you'll be treated to a firework display of original ideas, a charming play on vampire clichés and plenty of delightful gags. On Blu-ray, this comedy presents itself in very good picture and sound quality and also has plenty of extras on board that are worth watching. For this there is a more than deserved: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp