Film Review: Black Sheep (2006)

SYNOPSIS:

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

REVIEW:

I love this movie. Seriously…I love this f**king movie. I already own it, and have watched it hundreds of times before being asked to review it. I give this disclaimer – I LOVE THIS MOVIE. A LOT.

Ok, now that’s out of the way –

I read a statistic somewhere that claims sheep outnumber people in New Zealand by a large percentage. Something like 3 million people to 60 million sheep. I don’t know if that’s true, but sheep farming is a big business that country. Therein lies the basis for our tale.

Henry and Angus Oldfield (Nathan Meister and Peter Feeney) grew up on a sheep farm in New Zealand. A good life, on the whole. Except Angus is a bit cruel, and slaughters Henry’s favorite lamb as part of a cruel prank, scaring his brother by jumping out of the dark wearing the bloody fleece. At that exact moment, the farm housekeeper Mrs. Mac (Glenis Levestam) informs them their father has died in a tragic accident on the grounds.

Henry leaves the farm for good, forever haunted by an extreme fear of sheep ( which is a real phobia, BTW, called Ovinaphobia). Angus stays on the farm, making great strides in breeding and livestock cultivation. 15 years later, Angus offers Henry a really huge check to buy out his share.

So Henry returns to the farm, with his therapist on speed dial, trying not to wet his pants. There’s a great bit in the beginning where his taxi is surrounded by a herd of sheep and he has a total panic attack, much to the driver’s amusement.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, two hippie-dippy animal rights protesters called Grant (Oliver Driver) and Experience (Danielle Mason) have snuck onto the property to expose the mistreatment of the Oldfield sheep, but end up with a little more than they bargained for.

See, Angus is preparing to introduce a new breed of sheep to the world. He has been mucking about with cloning, cross breeding, genetic experimentation, and other unsavory practices in his quest to create the perfect sheep. And as one would imagine, there are a few unpleasant side effects to the scientific process.

Evil sheep. Evil, man-eating sheep. yup, they went there. And it’s totally awesome! oh, and like zombies, if you get bit by a sheep…you become a vicious blood thirsty human/sheep hybrid monster. Don’t you just love it?

This could have been been crap in a hat, no question. But with the special effects created by the now-legendary WETA Workshop, this ridiculous horror story really works. It’s REALLY gorey. The kids in the lab at WETA really pull out all the stops in this one. Some of the nastiest effects I’ve seen in a while. I won’t give anything away, but believe me when I say that what is seen cannot be unseen.

Some of the dialogue will leave you in stitches. Experience delivers this beautiful euphemism-laced diatribe, full of environmentalist buzzwords and revolutionary catch phrases that lasts about two minutes and she delivers it with a straight face and in one breath. Just beautiful.

Some real stand-out performances here, specifically from Peter Feeney and Glenis Levestam, and of course, Danielle Mason and Grant Oliver as our eager hippie activists. There is also the laid back ranchhand Tucker, played by Tammy Davis (yes, a man named Tammy. that isn’t a typo).

This cast is exprienced in horror and comedy, and there are so many great side characters that populate the story. I really get the feeling that everyone had a lot of fun making this film, and it really shows.

The effects, the acting, the gore, the writing….everything comes together to create a hilarious campy horror film good time. It really is just the perfect storm of stupid. if you want a really ludicrous horror movie to show your friends, this is the one.This is not a film that takes itself too seriously. As the story progresses, it gets sillier and more ridiculous. Just when you think it couldn’t possibly be any weirder, they up the ante again.

oh yea…in case you were wondering if anything “unscientific” might be going on with these sheep, the answer is yes. By the time you get to the delightfully gore filled finale, all the questions you didn’t want to ask will be answered, too. Damn, what a way to go. *shudder*

On a scale of one to ten, ten being awesome, I give this film 8 little lambs.