In 2014 the world was treated to the feature film comedy What We Do in The Shadows, a mock documentary of a film crew following a trio of vampires around Wellington New Zealand leading up to a major vampire celebration. It’s co-writer, Director, and one of the stars, Taika Waititi has gone on to create memorable movies such as Thor: Ragnarök and JoJo Rabbit. Here in the United States the first spin off of the successful vampire comedy was the Hulu television series What We Do in The Shadows which utilized the same mockumentary conceit but this time following three old-world vampires living in Staten Island. However New Zealand actually witnessed the first television series inspired by the mockumentary Wellington Paranormal.

Employing the same mockumentary style Wellington Paranormalfollows three officers of the Wellington Police Force as they investigate and deal with supernatural threats and occurrences in the city. The series combines the broad humor found in the original feature film with a satirical reproduction of the seriousness of programs such as COPS. The show’s principal characters are Officer Minogue partnered with Officer O’Leary played by Mike Minogue and Kate O’Leary respectively a pair of hapless but good-hearted officers hopelessly over their head in dealing with ghosts, vampires, and in the first episode of the season, demonic possession. The rough handheld camerawork mimicking the documentary style allows the series to utilized decent special effects while covering the for the television level of budget with quick pans and shaking visuals. While some of the humor is clearly based in local culture and geography and doesn’t translate to an American audience over all the series is funny and well worth the time.

Wellington Paranormal starting with the 1 season originally aired in New Zealand in 2018 plays on the CW Network with episodes becoming available on HBOMax the following day.