ScreenWize

What do you get if you cross Peter Jackson’s early splatter films (like Bad Taste and Braindead), with New Zealand’s most cuddly agricultural resource? A new genre – the Sheeplotation film. Welcome to Black Sheep which is, dare I say it, shear fun. It’s a horror-comedy that steals and borrows from werewolf movies, zombie flicks and good parody (Shaun of the Dead would be an appropriate film to mention at this point), with a bit of mad scientist sci-fi thrown in for good measure. The result is a superbly structured and friendly gore-fest loaded with sheep gags.

The story centers on Angus and Henry, brothers who grew up on a New Zealand sheep farm. Angus (Peter Feeney) is still there, running the farm – but now with a little help from white-coated Dr. Rush (Tandi Wright) and her genetic engineering laboratory. Henry (Nathan Meister) left when he was a teenager, suffering from an immobilising fear of sheep, and has returned only to finalise the sale of his share of the farm to Angus. But Henry has picked a bad day to come back. Two scruffy environmental activists, Grant (Oliver Driver) and Experience (Danielle Mason) decide to steal evidence from the lab of the evil goings on, but in the ensuing flight and fight, drop a canister containing what looks like a genetically-modified sheep foetus. Whatever it is in the canister, it spreads fast, and before you can say Little Bo-peep, it seems like 40 million cute woolly grass chewers have become ravenous human-munching monsters.

It’s a wonderful premise for a New Zealand film, and director Jonathan King freely admits the influence of films like Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead and Jackson’s early work. But, cleverly, he keeps his tongue lodged securely in cheek, and never lets the gore and horror take over, preferring to let the humour drive the film in the manner of the killer rabbit from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The special creature effects – mainly hilarious forms of mutant sheep - come from the Weta workshops, the same crew who worked wonders on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tim Prebble does some outstanding work with the sound design - always important for horror – and ensures that same slightly over the top, satirical feel as the acting and direction. There are moments when the skirmishes with semi-ovine creatures get a little too impressionistic, and the characters are none too deep throughout, but these are minor faults in an otherwise great addition to midnight cult viewing.

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon