Black Sheep (2006)

Written and Directed by Jonathan King

The latest New Zeland export to specialize in blood and gore that wasn't made by Peter Jackson, but was gore-d up by his company, Weta, is a definite throwback to Jackson's earliest filmmaking days, reminding us of the tone and splatter of Bad Taste and Braindead.

The story is rather simple, two brothers, embittered toward each other for their difference in personalities, and more importantly how they handled their father's death as kids, meet a final time to settle the ownership of their family farm. The older brother, Angus, and the younger Henry, meet and agree that Angus will have full ownership of the farm, and Thomas will be on his way in life. While there, Thomas decides to take one last look around the farm he grew up on, only to learn his brother has comissioned a laboratory on the farm, and is performing horrendus genetic experiments on the sheep. From here, the black comedy just flows, as Henry has a previously irrational fear of sheep, that quickly becomes justified when the sheep starting attacking Thomas and the farm caretaker, Tucker. They are quickly joined by a hippie animal rights activist, Experience, who is on the farm with her co-conspirator, Grant, who has been bitten by one of the deranged sheep.

From here, it's an all out effects comedy, totally in the vein of Bad Taste, with Weta's animatronic and physical gore effects taking center stage. The real joy in this film is the director's ability to take a concept so utterly ridiculous, and make it into an entertaining, and darkly comic story. The comedy comes forth mostly in shots of sheep just standing there, staring, because we all know how harmless sheep are, but the viewers of this film quickly learn of their evil intentions.

Basically, the rest of the film plays out like a typical survivalist zombie movie, only the zombies here are the sheep, whose bit can turn a person into a 6 foot tall humanoid sheep. Sound ridiculous? It is, and the effects are so well done that you can't stop laughing while you're recoiling in horror at the same time. The thing refreshing about this picture is the fact that there hasn't really been one made in the past few years that can compare, sure, stuff like Feast and Isolation have similar plotlines and tones, but at the same time neither of those movies have the fun that Black Sheep has with its subject matter. I suppose if you lived in New Zealand, this would ring even more true since so much of the economy is based on farm culture, and sheep outnumber the human population by a very large amount, based upon facts that I've read. A great tale in the realm of creature/body horror, and one I'm sure won't get the credit it deserves until a few years down the road.

8.7/10