Black Sheep - Pecore assassine

Black Sheep is the sort of film that will appeal to fans of Pete Jackson's and Sam Raimi's early horror comedies - especially Braindead and Bad Taste (Jackson) and the Evil Dead series (Raimi). Like these low budget 'schlockers' Jonathan King's film is well made and does not take itself seriously. Unlike these films, however, Black Sheep is not very self-consciously low budget. Since the film consistently parodies low-brow, low-budget horror films, the film-makers were able to very nicely exploit the gimmickry of these films without losing any artistry or credibility along the way.

Black Sheep is the story of two brothers from a New Zealand sheep farming family. Henry Oldfield (Meister) is terrified of sheep and has alienated himself from his family estate in order to seek therapy. Angus (Feeney) is a sociopath, sadist and rising provincial politician who loves sheep. Angus, of course, wants to make better sheep. And predictably, has genetic scientists set up in a barn on the estate who are performing grisly and disturbing experiments which somehow result in rabid, homicidal zombie sheep and were-sheep. A couple of macrobiotic eco-warriors are thrown into the mix (a brilliant touch) to round out the cast.

Of course, the plot is the weakest element in this film. But this is completely consistent with the film's mission as a genre and self-parody. The strongest elements are the excellent (though still hilarious) effects and art design by WEDA, directing and editing, the fine cast, fun characters and good script. King directs the film economically (a rarity in this genre) and the final cut wastes not a frame. The film is also very nicely shot - each scene - especially the sheep stampedes - is engaging and nicely paced. Every horror genre cliché is presented at one time or another, and most are exploited mercilessly.

Great film for fans of the genre. Not recommended for others.

After reading an extremely negative review of this, which COMPLETELY missed the point, I thought I'd write a far more 'accurate' review. In my opinion, this is one of the best of this type of horror movie i've seen. It's right up there with Peter Jackson's early work and Evil Dead. All the negative things the other reviewer was saying, the poor dialogue, and acting, the unrealistic effects, were deliberate, after all, the effects were done by highly skilled and trained effects people at WETA Workshops - who of course did Lord of The Rings. It is a horror comedy packed with clichés and subtle allusions, and full of New Zealand humour, which i concede probably doesn't translate well internationally. NZ is primarily a farming nation, we're a huge exporter of lamb, Farming is a huge part of our culture, and this blends that with our history of offbeat, slightly dark, and idiosyncratic cinema. It is a clever, quintessentially kiwi, homage to such previously mentioned horror comedies (or comedic horrors). That's what i like about it, it is a lot cleverer than it looks. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the film. If you like Peter Jackson's early stuff, you'll like this. Just don't expect it to be s***-your-pants scary.

This movie tickled my funny bone. Its got that great Kiwi humor, this the huge amounts of swearing, Maori jokes, and Kiwiana icons. Look out for the part with the Watties sauce, and the crazy Asian guy running across the screen.

The actors are pretty good, and Weta workshop must have been in their element with the splatter style film. You get a fright, then laugh because you realise its a psycho sheep. Sheep? C'mon. Some people may never be able to return to the farm again, but me? I have a whole new respect for the woolly guys. Put this move at the top of your must see list!

When will mankind ever learn? Deranged, over-ambitious scientists have tried to genetically alter pretty much every species of the animal kingdom so far, and it always results in gigantically mutated critters and outrageous massacres. All the better for us bloodthirsty horror freaks, of course, as there's nothing as fun as a good nature-revolting-against-men creature feature! And we never had sheep before! On one hand this is no real surprise, because sheep are probably the least menacing type of animals on the planet and it's a lot easier to scare people with mutated rats or over-sized crocodiles. But on the other hand, sheep played a very important role in one of the most major breakthroughs in the history of science when "Dolly" was the first living being ever to be cloned successfully. The Dolly-experiment gone wrong would have resulted in a crazy sheep-themed horror film already, but we had to wait till now, with Jonathan King's "Black Sheep". All the necessary ingredients to put together a traditional and delightfully clichéd creature-feature are well presented: an isolated location, over-the-top crazy scientists, a genetic experiment that is too imbecile for words, the reluctant anti-hero and – of course – dimwitted animal activists to let things go totally out of control. The New Zealandian film-industry is definitely growing lately (mainly thanks to Peter Jackson) and naturally this is the ideal country to produce a film about sheep, as there are gazillions of them! The two brothers Angus & Henry grew up of the family's farm but drifted apart ever since their beloved father died in a terrible accident. Henry is terrified of sheep ever since and never set foot on the farm again, but now he finally returns to sell Agnus his part of the property. Henry arrives just in time to discover that his brother has been messing with Mother Nature's creation and that he's about to artificially create a new and revolutionary species of sheep. But when an over-enthusiast activist runs off with on of the mutated lambs, all the nearby flocks are soon infected with a virus that turns the calm & woolly animals into a aggressive and carnivore monsters. "Black Sheep" stands for extremely entertaining and undemanding splatter, with loads of black humor that is actually funny and make-up effects that are thankfully accomplished the old-fashioned way! When director Jonathan King introduced this film at the Belgian Horror Festival, he said he didn't want too much CGI to ruin his film and I definitely concur with him. Especially the scene where a bunch of uncontrolled zombie-sheep attacks a gathering of international businessmen is an absolutely terrific homage to vintage cheesy horror, with disembowelment and ripped open throats. "Black Sheep" is a good film, but of course it still could have been a lot better. Some chapters in the script could have used better plotting and dialogs, and particularly the ending was a bit of a letdown. They could have done so much more with the ending, if you ask me! Nevertheless, despite some obvious flaws, "Black Sheep" is a must-see film for every horror fan who doesn't take him/herself too seriously.

Coming from Australia I understand that sheep is a major part of life in New Zealand, and know that sheep out number people by a long shot.

With that background knowledge, I thought I caught most of the dry humor movie presented in this movie.

The cinematography is great with many dark in door shots contrasted with the grassy fields of New Zealand. This juxtaposition created great atmospheric contrast and made the darker scenes all the more grim. The movie is visceral not shying away from limbs being torn off, and necks being torn to shreds.The SFX are pretty good for most of the part, but some of the monsters are obviously a man in a suit, and that broke the illusion quite a bit.

The writing is interesting, there are some formula plotting and clichés in this movie,but considering it seems to satirize horror movies they are employed quite well. The characters are very quirky but can be empathized. The humor is very dark using the purity of sheep and turning them into demonic beings from hell itself. However the humor (I thought) was very dry and only people from the oceanic region may understand it.

A good movie that deserves a look if one is bored, and is in a mood for watching over the top gore caused in a very comical manner.

6.6/10