Wellington Paranormal (2018–2022) User Reviews

Wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I did!

[Rob1331 · 8/10 · 4 October 2022]

I have to say that I really wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I did at this show. Wellington Paranormal is about a group of investigators in the capital of New Zealand as they track supernatural events. It's a simple show that knows how silly it is and leans in to some of their dumb jokes that makes it even fun funnier. You can tell the cast is having an absolute blast making it. The seasons only consist of 6 episodes per season and only run 20-25 min but it's perfect. It's a show that definitely pokes fun at itself and will have you laughing out loud several times per episode. This is definitely a hidden gem and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Is a UFO still a UFO after its been identified?

[padawanmovies · 7/10 · 1 March 2022]

That's the type of humor this show offers! Which lead to Maaka telling Minogue to F off lol! I appreciate HBOMAX for showing this in the states. It's in the same realm as most of Clemente and Whatiti's humor. Minogue is a dopey character but all the characters play hilarious characters. If u have Hbomax WATCH IT!

Ridiculous and Fun!

[Supermanfan-13 · 8/10 · 4 October 2022]

Wellington Paranormal is so ridiculous and fun that I couldn't stop watching it. It's created by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder, Jojo Rabbit, etc) and Jermaine Clement so if you like their kind of humor then give this show a try. While it's not quite as good as What We Do in the Shadows, it's a spin-off of that show. It's a about a police force in New Zealand that start to see paranormal events in their city and start a Paranormal division led by Sergeant Maaka and Officers Minogue and O'Leary. It is a documentary style show in the form of Cops.

Hilarious

[scottlfc87 · 10/10 · 19 July 2018]

If you loved What we do in the shadows and then this is the show for you. Laugh out loud comedy from start to finish.

Fun!

[kpohea · 9/10 · 9 July 2022]

This alone is a great show. But for those who enjoy the spooky and funny, this is a real hit. From a viewer to the creators, this show is an absolute blast.

Not since Police Squad

[andrewpeel · 9/10 · 12 May 2021]

Not since Police Squad which was criminally cancelled far to early have we had genuinely funny spoof police comedy like this. It's like a cross between Police Squad and spoof X Files delivered completely dead pan. Clearly those giving it low marks don't like sarcasm or dry humour - if that's not your thing then avoid but don't give it a 1 just because you don't like that kind of humour.

Pure kiwi fun

[siobhandcole-30117 · 10/10 · 25 July 2018]

Think Police 10/7 mixed with Buffy. It's hilariously funny and very much caters to the kiwi sense of humour. The continual deadpan and kiwi "inside jokes" make this one of the best New Zealand original shows in a VERY long time. Short and sweet and doesn't take itself too seriously, definitely worth a watch. Safer communities together.

Ghost central in Wellington!

[S3pt3m63r · 30 October 2021]

I love this show, I love WWDITS and this is a great spin off. The characters try to be solid police officer types but end up sending themselves up along with the rest of their colleagues and company. Poor Wellington real PD who I'm sure do a really great job, as these guys only seem to bungle their way round the most paranormal city in the world and get away with it. I like the cameos from the film and would have liked to have seen Stu, but never mind the series is great as it is with Nick and Anton making appearances.

Quirkily funny and entertaining

[grantss · 7/10 · 9 August 2018]

Quirkily funny and entertaining. 7/10

(Review updated after Season 4).

Officers Minogue and O'Leary are two uniformed members of the Wellington, New Zealand, police. Their work is largely uneventful until they encounter a girl who seems straight out of The Exorcist. Their team-leader, Sergeant Maaka, sets up a secret team to tackle paranormal phenomena. The team is the three of them.

Quirkily funny. Created by Taika Waititi (director of What We Do In the Shadows, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Boy and Thor: Ragnarock) and Jermaine Clement (of Flight Of The Conchords fame), this captures much of their signature understated, tongue-in-cheek humour.

Not brilliant though. What We Do In The Shadows was superb and I was expecting this to be effectively a TV series of that. However, Wellington Paranormal is less laugh-a-minute, less clever in many respects and feels a bit formulaic after a while. So, disappointing in a way, though I set the bar quite high.

After four seasons the quality is diminishing too. Season 4 is definitely weaker than previous seasons and much of the humour has been replaced with silliness. This generally involves Officer Parker who was always more irritating than amusing.

Season ratings: S1-3 7/10, S4 6/10.

So stupid I can't stop laughing.

[dklecan · 10/10 · 2 July 2022]

What a great show to watch after July 4 activities. ....also go to Acorn and catch another lovable New Zealand entry, season 8 of Brokenwood Mysteries. It will be hard to beat watching Frodo and his extended family deal with an Egytian mummy.

New Zealand has the market (and beats the British) for quirky and endearing characters.

Good

[coles_notes · 7/10 · 18 July 2022]

Created and written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi as the first spin-off of their film What We Do In The Shadows, this series follows officers Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O'Leary (Karen O'Leary) as they work for the new Wellington Paranormal division under their Sargeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu) to take down ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, and zombies. Similar to the film that precedes it, Wellington Paranormal is shot in documentary style with a fake camera crew capturing all the footage and lots of talking heads before and after scenes explaining situations. It also has a lot of the same charms as Flight of the Conchords coming from Jemaine Clements unique humour. I laughed a good number of times, its stays fairly fresh over its four seasons. You don't have to watch the original film to get this, and the other spin-off series What We Do In The Shadows is fantastic, I think is my personal favourite from the group so far. Still Wellington Paranormal is quite funny, would recommend.

Stupidly Funny 😆

[ianjustfloors · 9/10 · 8 April 2021]

I'm not a Kiwi so the accent took some time to get use too but nevertheless really funny and watch out for the newspaper headlines at the beginning of every episode, they change each episode & are brilliant 😂

Recommended

[athanasiosze · 7/10 · 28 June 2023]

FIRST SEASON : 7,6/10.

SECOND SEASON : 7,2/10

THIRD SEASON : 7,6/10

FOURTH SEASON : 7,5/10.

I am really glad for finding this tv show. I should thank IMDB site, i find it here. It's a shame it's not popular, definitely one of the best comedy tv shows of the last ten years. Of course it's not for everyone taste, some people won't like it. Humor is subtle. Personally i laugh so hard just watching these actors' straight faces confronting improbable situations. Minogue, O'Leary, Pohatu and Sainsbury are excellent. Script is very good too. This is a creative tv show. Maybe it doesn't always hits the mark, not every episode is totally interesting and second season is slightly inferior to the others. However, if you love comedy- horror movies and shows, you will probably love it too. Of course don't look for much horror here, this is a comedy, like WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. Clement and Waititi are also involved here.

You cannot not love New Zealand after watching this !

Not remotely as funny as "What We Do in the Shadows"

[0w0 · 4/10 · 7 March 2020]

I was told that this is as funny as "What We Do in the Shadows" by someone, and I'm pretty disapionted. I watched the first couple of episodes and they weren't funny at all... Not even as much as a giggle. I was expecting better from Taika tbh, because I loved all his other stuff

Death Valley without the Gore but good humor

[pontram · 4 August 2018]

In 2011 there was a shortlived mockumentary called "Death Vally", probably made by MTV, and probably cancelled because it was too grown up, too political incorrect, too violent. I liked it very much because of the firtst two qualities. "Wellington" clearly has a similiar concept, but is not violent. On the contrary, the two main characters don't have guns but have to share one taser, though they are Police Officers in New Zealand's capital, which gives the show its name. During the first 4 episodes, there are no shots fired, no guns are waved, and nobody is beaten to death or mauled. I appreciate that. As a mixture of many paranormal shows and comedy there are thematically mostly connections to the "X-files" (as announced in the signation music), and paranormal investigation shows, combined with a bit of Stan and Ollie, or Mr.Bean, if you want. The humor is very dry, everybody takes himself or herself very serious., and jokes are always floating by in dialoguwe, so you can easily pick up one from the stream. The main actors (they have partially the same names as their characters) are very talented and sympathetical, Production values, script, direction and cut are all very professional, despite one may think that there can not very much budget in it. You never miss anything, and sets are meticulously prepared. For the humor, it is mentioned here that it's especially or even only working for New Zealand, but I can assure you, that's not the case. I had enough laughs and smiles to enjoy these episodes, and I am from the opposite side of the planet, and clearly not a native speaker. But I had to use english subtitles because of the fast dialoges, and sometimes i had to rewatch a scene. However, for this very nice and carefully composed new series, I give 8 stas.

Absolutely Funny and Entertaining

[kyden-57639 · 9/10 · 19 February 2022]

This show is so Good, just love it. Watch it. Wish the episodes were abit longer though. And more episodes per season. But the 2 main character's are so funny . Sarge Maaka is a blast to.

Literally LOL funny.

[msahippy · 10/10 · 27 July 2022]

I honestly don't know how the actors are able to play their parts with a straight face. Wondering how many takes they did in a day? I d have been fired for laughing and ruining the takes. Lol.

Funny and charming

[robertemerald · 9/10 · 10 June 2019]

Perfectly cast, great sense of timing, and childlike conceptions of responsibility ensure this show is genuinely funny. The effects are a mixed bag, but always somehow appropriate, and definitely a laugh. Though each episode has a theme, the writers are not averse to throwing in any number of other complicating scenarios. There's some surprising originality as well, despite the obvious thematic choices. Loved the theme music. The humour is not unlike Flight of the Conchords. This was definitely the highlight of my day!

sooo funny

[selffamily · 10/10 · 25 July 2021]

I fell across this series purely by accident - reading that Americans need sub-titles to watch it - and have delighted it the humour, typical NZ writing, so very funny and unexpected. I can't wait to watch the movie that started it all. It's laugh-out-loud funny and gets me every time. Pure joy,

Dry, Droll & FAF

[jasgeo · 6/10 · 1 August 2018]

This domestic comedy Wellington Paranormal, unlike some of the more traveled kiwi comedies makes no attempt to mainstream the humour for foreigners who simply can't get it - humourously or on their TV screens as it has been made for domestic consumption through local network TV. That kind of makes me wonder about where all the foreign critiques which don't get the show - why would they they are too busy being exceptional or whatever they do, are watching Wellington Paranormal? This is FAF but there's no explaining coppers who don't get off on waving guns in poor people's faces to viewers from somewhere that seems to be about all their police do. The addition of Maaka Pohatu as the dedicated, all too humane tangata whenua Sergeant Maaka balances the humour realistically in a manner that makes trying to explain this show to non-Aotearoans a fruitless endeavour.

classic kiwi

[kiwikid-52311 · 9/10 · 25 July 2018]

Love it!!,a great watch, classic kiwi humor a must watch.

Similar to Ghosted, which deservedly got cancelled.

[cB391 · 6/10 · 26 July 2018]

Stumbled onto this show while looking for something to watch last night. Having just sat through the quite dull "Ghosted" first season, I was skeptical about this one. I had little information on the show before going in. It had the same plot description. The budget for this show seems to have been better spent. There is a focus on monsters so far. Hopefully it doesn't change into an office-based show because of the viewers or the budget. They need to keep coming up with fresh ideas to fill air time. The quality of the show is okay. There is nothing too special about the characters, and the humor is mild for the most part. If you enjoy similar "drab" (personal opinion) shows, you will find this good. There isn't much in terms of slapstick humor, but it is still mildly amusing.

I will most likely wait for the entire season to come out before watching it in one sitting. Hopefully the first few episodes won't draw me in just to disappoint me.

Absolutely hilarious!

[lucylou3700 · 10/10 · 23 October 2021]

Some of these reviews are laughable, especially whoever called this show some sort of extra material from What We Do in the Shadows. IT'S THE SAME WRITERS/CREATORS YOU MORON!! This show is drily funny. The lack of reaction from the officers is what MAKES the show funny. It's just too intelligent for some of you, I guess.

Too funny to watch, great entertainment TV Series

[DrDumb · 6/10 · 30 November 2023]

There are 4 seasons and there are only 4 seasons. The series finished at S04. Funny stories and funny dialogues. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. The police sergeant Maaka you see is Maori, Maori people are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand (Aotearoa). A lot of the crew members are Maori or part Maori. The police uniforms and the police cars you see are identical to the real-life New Zealand Police, except that the police cars are a bit old and the fleet are updated regularly. The most common words you will hear in the show is Kia Ora, which is Maori, and it means Hello in English. Sit with your family, grab some snacks and enjoy the show.

Nothimg new!

[opticuscro · 3/10 · 17 August 2020]

In fact I don't understand what they actually want to show with this series. I honestly don't know who is interested in this cold attitude of the characters towards not everyday paranormal situations. The TV show is not unwatchable, it can be watched but I would definitely not regret it if they stopped filming, reason why is that story and approach is not unique, it has already been seen before, so there is nothing new.