REVIEW: Black Sheep0

This week I’m going to review “Black Sheep”, a horror-comedy from New Zealand involving zombiefied sheep. Let’s get right into it!

I had followed the making of this film for quite some time, mostly because of the fact that the whole premise seemed like a fun and quite original concept. I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of the final film – but I did know it was going to be filled with a LOT of gore. In a way it feels similar to some of Peter Jackson’s earlier films (Braindead, Bad Taste among others), i.e. not really one to watch while having dinner. (I ate pizza while seeing this film.)

The film starts off as a pretty neat and ordinary family comedy, that portrays a family hearding sheep across a field. The sons of the family, Angus and Henry, seem to have some kind of rivalry going on – mostly becuase Angus plays some really gruesome jokes on Henry. After they learn of their fathers unfortunate death, Henry moves away and Angus takes over the farm. Flash forward many years, and the adult version of Henry is on his way to the old family farm to finish off a contract with his brother. Due to a traumatic experience connected to his father’s death he’s now got a terrible fear of sheep. Shortly after that, a couple of animal rights activists manage to steal some biohazard material from the farm – the product of years of genetic research to create the ultimate sheep. Unfortunantly, they manage to spill the biohazard material, which in an Alien-like manner quickly spreads to the entire sheep flock. As I don’t want to spoil the plot from there, I’m just going to say that it’s a pretty fun story with some really greatly written characters. The “evil” brother Angus turns out to be nasty in more than one way – let’s leave it at that. You can’t really talk down this type of film for being illogical, but some of the shots in the film just seems to be there for pure gore-value. Which is pretty cool.

I hadn’t seen any of the actors in the film before, but most of them did a pretty good job, even if the characters are quite generic, and it does feature some pretty cheesy dialouge.

No matter how great or bad the story or the actors were though, how much this film succeeded would be based on the quality of the special effects. And they don’t let down in any concievable way. The filmmakers had the good taste to go to “Weta Workshop” (responsible for costumes, props and practical effects on, among others, the “Lord of the Rings” films) for all their gory and bloody needs. Some scenes, mostly towards the last third of the film, are very, and I mean VERY gory. How this got by the otherwise so restricting MPAA in America is something I really can’t understand. (It doesn’t involve any sex though, which obviously makes it perfectly viewable by all ages ). Some real work has been put into both the costumes and the detail of some of the more graphic scenes. While this is a comedy, it does feature some pretty extreme violence, albeit with a comedic twist.

The sound effects really add to the pretty disgusting look of some shots, and it really helps sell the premise. The music isn’t very memorable, but it didn’t really need to be so either, as you’re constantly distracted on what’s going on visually.

It really is a hard film to judge when it all comes down to it. A part of me loves it for the B-movie that it is, while another part really thinks some thing – preferably in the acting department, could have been fixed. It’s clearly a (somewhat) low-budget film that has spent almost all of it’s budget on special effects and animatronic sheep. It definently wasn’t even remotely close to anything I’ve seen before, which makes me come to the conclusion that if you’re a fan of horror-action-comedies (like Shaun of the Dead – a highly superior film though), you should probably see this, although you won’t die from missing it. Keep sensitive people and small children away from it though – it really is one of the most violent films I’ve seen.

Verdict: 6 out of 10