Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageBlack Sheep (2006)
Director: Jonathan King
Movie review
From Time Out London
A treat for horror-comedy fans, Kiwi filmmaker Jonathan King’s ‘mutant killer sheep’ movie is as lively as a spring lamb, as bloody as a bucketful of offal, and as tongue-in-cheek comic as its original poster tagline promised: ‘There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand… and they’re pissed off!’ With affectionate nods to Peter Jackson’s early splatter comedies, ‘Bad Taste’ and ‘Braindead’, it cuts right to the funny bone. Blending gags and gore can be tricky, but King maintains a perfect balance between sheep-shagging silliness and character-based comedy.
Sheep-phobic Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) returns to the family farm to claim a buy-out payment from his older brother, Angus (Peter Feeney), a dyed-in-the-wool sheep-fancier who takes a hands-on approach to the engineering of a new super-breed. But before Henry can flee, a pair of animal rights activists, Experience (Danielle Mason) and Grant (Oliver Driver), unleash mayhem. Their accidental release of a mutated sheep foetus transforms the entire herd from cuddly to cannibalistic. With the help of farmhand Tucker (Tammie Davis) and repentant eco-warrior Experience, Henry fights a rearguard action. But he hasn’t reckoned with the mutant strain jumping the species barrier, changing bitten humans into flesh-craving weresheep.
Knowing without being geeky, bloody without being nasty, ‘Black Sheep’ is one of the few films one would dare mention in the same sentence as the touchstone of all horror comedy, ‘An American Werewolf in London’. The performances may be uneven, but the flawed characters are believable, the sheep surprisingly scary and the animal antics often laugh-out-loud funny.
Author: Nigel Floyd
Time Out London Issue 1938: October 10-16 2007
User reviews of this film
-
- bianca said...
-
Posted on Jun 27 2008 08:33
i loved the film as i live on a farm nd have lots of sheepwhen the i 1s when out 2 feed my lambs i sadi 2 my mum they wil eat me lol
best scary funny film ever
xxx - Report as inappropriate
-
- Jack and Sam Know All said...
-
Posted on Feb 12 2008 03:40
Meh. I love New zeland. Anyway I would have loved to see this set in Wales, made alot more darker and sadistic even more so than it tried to be. A script I could see Simon Pegg jumping for joy about.
Experience could have been this absolutly mental case like radical and exteme environMENTALIST ha would be fun to write. also she eats meat at the end what a not a vegetarian! - Report as inappropriate
-
- david said...
- Posted on Jan 05 2008 18:21 This was a funny, gory, and entertaining movie -- plenty of laughs! The premise delivers just what I expected. The were-sheeps were both frightening AND hilarious!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Daniel Sinclair said...
- Posted on Nov 19 2007 16:35 I don't think thi was a good film, the beginnings was boring and puts you of it to begin with as nbothing happens,they ending was rubbish, methane and fire wasn't really funny, and the end effect was also a downer, the only think i will agree with was the goar it was used to great effect and somethings in the film were funny, other jokes just ruined it andspoilt the film for me.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Matt said...
-
Posted on Nov 07 2007 16:55
No brainer, gory for the sake of it and so so poorly acted!
If u fancy seeing something as u hav nothing else to watch, it will keep you talking for a while, (just not for the right reasons!) - Report as inappropriate
-
- Gordon said...
-
Posted on Nov 06 2007 23:10
My dad downloaded it and asked me to watch it.
i just couldnt sit through it all, this movie is the worst thing since severance, do not waste your money on this thing cause the film makers really dont deserve it. - Report as inappropriate
-
- Sam said...
-
Posted on Nov 03 2007 13:47
This film is HILARIOUS
Owch @ the dick biting tho :/
x - Report as inappropriate
-
- loathefilm said...
- Posted on Nov 02 2007 19:06 i like many others who criticise have not seen this film yet but i am going tonight,and i am going to enjoy it good or bad!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- ed roberts said...
-
Posted on Oct 28 2007 20:07
i was praying that this film wouldn't make it to our shores... I saw it when it was released in it's native NEW ZEALAND back in March this year....
Awful film... pretty good effects... not funny, low down, lazy and looking to be the next Peter Jackson...
I echo the other reviewers.. waste of time and money... the worst film from NEW ZEALAND ever to have been granted a UK release... and this includes SMASH PALACE.... hahaha. - Report as inappropriate
-
- Mike said...
- Posted on Oct 28 2007 14:03 amazing film, lots of laughs and quite scary
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Chris said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2007 19:05 This movie was the stupidest move i have possibly seen ! What a waste of time and money! It only made me laugh because of how stupid it was!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Sanderson:Haagen Daas. said...
- Posted on Oct 19 2007 18:10 2 words to describe this film is marsupial king. I specially enjoyed Lesleys speech on how to kill a kangaroo. I left the theatre feeling uplifted and large like a melon. Unfortunately, one armed wallabe mauled my only relative at the tender age of 5... this film really hit home, where my mother is buried. Painful blow but I can deal.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Emo said...
- Posted on Oct 19 2007 12:16 Pathetic.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- James said...
- Posted on Oct 16 2007 18:57 This film is drivel. The last film I saw that was this bad was Garfield... and I'm left asking myself the same question as when I watched that - why did I listen to the morons that told me this was any good?
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Yorkshire Rose said...
- Posted on Oct 16 2007 11:45 It seems to me that the reviews are toooo serious. This film is supposed to be a Horror Comedy. I saw it this weekend and your reviews only make me realise you have no sense. Try getting a sense of humour. Shaun of the dead meets Wallis and Grommit and the Were-rabbit...
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Jonathan King
Producer: Philippa Campbell
Cast: Nathan Meister, Tammy Davis, Danielle Mason, Oliver Driver, Glenis Levestam full cast
Duration: 87 mins
UK Release: Oct 12 2007
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
The ultimate 'Harry Potter' crib sheet
Our resident potter professor, Wally Hammond, offers the ultimate introduction to 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
Bruno is here!
Sacha Baron Cohen hits the streets as Austria's premiere gay fashionista in 'Bruno'. Read our review of the film plus see the pics from our cover shoot
Lars von Trier's 'Antichrist': joke or masterpiece?
Dave Calhoun invites seven experts to watch Lars von Trier's latest and share their reactions
Classic Film Club: 'Smiles of a Summer Night'
Each week Tom Huddleston watches a classic film he's never seen before. The rules are simple: each film must be considered a masterpiece and each must be completely new to him.
Has Michael Mann lost it?
Adam Lee Davies mourns the passing of a major Hollywood talent as Michael Mann's 'Public Enemies' sees the great director running on empty
Why 'Ice Age 3' is really for adults
Tom Huddleston takes a look at a selection of films which bring adult problems to a pre-teen audience
Is this Summer 2009's best film?
The French filmmaker Claire Denis speaks to Dave Calhoun about her new film, '35 Shots of Rum', a tender portrait of a father-daughter relationship in Paris
Outdoor film screenings in London 2009
Derek Adams offers a guide to the best places to see films outside in London this summer
50 essential sci-fi films
With 'Star Trek' making serious waves, we thought it would be a perfect time to select 50 must-see sci-fi films
What do you think?
Post your review now