Petyr was an 8,000 years old vampire. He appeared in the film.
Biography[]
Unlike most vampires, Petyr had a monstrous inhuman appearance, possibly due to his age, and behaved much more savagely. During the 19th century, the then-human Deacon was attacked by Petyr, who dragged him into a dungeon and bit his neck. Petyr forced Deacon to drink his blood, turning him into a vampire and a new ‘friend’.
Petyr eventually moved into a Te Aro flat with Deacon, Viago and Vladislav. At the time of filming the documentary, Petyr had become a recluse who spent most of his time sleeping in a stone sarcophagus in the basement. He never spoke and did not socialise with the flatmates or do any housework. Viago looked after him and would often feed him live chickens.
Petyr ambushes Nick.
One night, Deacon’s familiar Jackie brought her human ex-boyfriend Nick to the flat for the vampires to eat. Nick attempted to flee the flat but was ambushed by Petyr, who also turned him into a vampire by offering him his blood to drink. Nick moved into the flat shortly afterwards and Petyr agreed to not turn Nick’s friend, Stu, into a vampire.
While on a night out, Nick casually revealed his vampire status to a vampire hunter, causing the hunter to break into the basement through the window. The hunter was crushed by Petyr’s sarcophagus door while Petyr caught fire due to the exposed sunlight. The other vampires failed to extinguish the flames and Petyr seemingly burned to death. Police officers O’Leary and Minogue arrived to investigate that night, but under Viago’s hypnotism they failed to notice Petyr’s body. Nick was subsequently banished from the flat.
In the What We Do In The Shadows TV show it was shown that vampires can survive being burned to death and can be revived with blood. It is also shown that when a vampire fully dies all vampires they have created become human. As this did not happen with Petyr's flatmates, it is probable that he survived and - like the Baron - was mistakenly assumed dead.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Each of the main vampires of the film are similar to a vampire from a famous vampire movie. Petyr bears a strong resemblance to Count Orlok of Nosferatu.
- The character of Petyr was conceived as devoid of personality, but unscripted scenes of actor Ben Fransham in makeup were expensive so extra footage of the actor in makeup was shot, such as the scene of him listening to music.[1]
- A similar-looking vampire appears in footage during the opening credits of Wellington Paranormal.