Black Sheep (2006/I)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Jonathan King

Writer:

Jonathan King (written by)

Release Date:

29 March 2007 (New Zealand)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Get ready for the Violence of the Lambs!

Plot:

An experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into blood-thirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm. |

Plot Keywords:

Sheep | Farm | Genetic Engineering | New Zealand | Mutation

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Matthew Chamberlain	...	Oliver Oldfield (as Matt Chamberlain)
Nick Fenton	...	Young Henry
Sam Clarke	...	Young Tucker
Eli Kent	...	Young Angus
Nathan Meister	...	Henry Oldfield
Nick Blake	...	Taxi Driver
Oliver Driver	...	Grant
Danielle Mason	...	Experience
Peter Feeney	...	Angus Oldfield
Glenis Levestam	...	Mrs. Mac
Richard Chapman	...	Muldoon
Louis Sutherland	...	Winston
Tammy Davis	...	Tucker
Tandi Wright	...	Doctor Rush
Ian Harcourt	...	Brash

Runtime:

USA:87 min | Argentina:87 min | Canada:87 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R13 | Australia:MA | Singapore:R21 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:M18 (edited version) | Ireland:15A | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Germany:18 | Germany:16 (cut) | USA:Unrated | Argentina:16 | Denmark:15 | Netherlands:16 | Peru:14 | USA:TV-MA | France:-12 | Italy:VM14 | Italy:VM18 (cinema rating)

Filming Locations:

Wairarapa, New Zealand

Company:

New Zealand Film Commission

Trivia:

Released in Spain as a double feature with Severance (2006).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the line 'Now get the fuck off my land' is delivered, it is unsynced.

Quotes:

Experience: You hear that? Sounds like somebody's sheering

Movie Connections:

References An American Werewolf in London (1981)

"Shear" Terror....

At first blush, it reads like an SNL skit that the writers decided not to use at the last minute. Murderous genetically-altered sheep on a rampage? Even Roger Corman never went there, and maybe it was for a reason...

And that reason was because writer/director Jonathan King needed to claim this baby for his own, and he has made the most of the opportunity. "Black Sheep" has that same kooky, OTT vibe of the mad scientist/monster flicks of the Fifties and Sixties with a more post-modern sensibility, much in the same affectionately twisted tone adapted by similar movies like "Tremors", "Feast", "Slither", the often-mentioned "Shaun of the Dead", and the film that this will be most compared to (and rightly so) - "Dead-Alive", the splat-tastic horror/comedy opus created by fellow Kiwi filmmaker gone "big time", Peter Jackson.

The plot is classic creepfest kitsch with a New Zealand transplant. Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) has been terrified of sheep for most of his life, the result of a horrific prank played on him in childhood by his crippled, bitter brother, Angus (Peter Feeney). Fifteen years later, Henry has gone back Down Under to tend to unfinished business - meaning facing his fears and selling off his half of the family sheep farm to his brother.

Meantime, Angus has concentrated on increasing the fortunes and finances of the family business by turning it over to a disgraced geneticist (Tandi Wright) for whom the farm has become one big test tube. Hippie activists Experience (Danielle Mason) and her sometime boyfriend, Grant (Oliver Driver) are out to expose Angus's subsidized experiments for the crimes against nature and ecology that they are. But as well-intended as their efforts are, everyone knows how true the old saying is about the best-laid plans...

Not surprisingly, the success of the entire film lies in the engaging cast, the goofy-yet-solid script, the beautiful cinematography, but most of all in the practical on-set and visual effects provided by Peter Jackson's own WETA Workshop and WETA Digital companies. And all quarters deliver fabulously, resulting in a great, loopy time at the movies that will have you giggling, gasping or gagging, sometimes all three simultaneously.

With the right frame of mind, I think that most horror fans or just casual viewers who like the occasional off-beat entertainment should find something to like here. Everyone else can just revisit the Merchant-Ivory section of the video store and steer clear.