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Black Sheep

Just when you thought a sheep couldn't drive.
Starring: Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Tammy Davis, Peter Feeney
Rating: 8.5/10
Directed By: Jonathan King
Runtime: 83 minutes

Just new to DVD, Jonathan King's stellar debut out of New Zealand fits snugly into the Down Under, off-the-beaten-track horror genre began by Peter Jackson in Brain Dead and Bad Taste and continuing through 2003's Undead. The use of comedy and absurd situations to lessen or heighten the tension seems to be a trademark and King brings the laughs, and gore, in spades in this heartwarming tale of genetic alteration gone horribly wrong.

When sheep-fearing Henry (Nathan Meister) returns home at the behest of his psychiatrist to make peace with his past, he discovers his brother Angus (Peter Feeney) genetically altering animals. To make matters worse, two environmentally conscious teens, Grant (Oliver Driver) and Experience (Danielle Mason), steal one of Angus' top secret research objects in an effort to stymie the genetic engineering, unwittingly turning every sheep in the area into carnivorous zombies. It is now up to Henry, Experience and farmhand Tucker (Tammy Davis) to stem the woolly tide.

You can tell King and the cast had a great time making this film and it translates very well to the screen. WETA Workshop deserves another feather in their cap for continuing to support low-budget films (The Host being another) and the sheep look great. The characters are appealing enough that you hope they survive their plight. This is due, in part, to the two leads, Nathan Meister and Danielle Mason who are just goofy enough to be believable and they really seem like they embraced their roles to the fullest. Davis as the handyman is comic relief, yet not in a Stepin Fetchit or Three Stooges sort of way. His charisma with Meister is apparent and I believe Danielle Mason could work convincingly with anyone. I expect to see her in more films, both genre and mainstream and I think she's a breath of fresh air in the way she personifies collegiate girl-next-door accessibility. It would not surprise me to hear she'd done television or stage acting (IMDb is scant) but this was a stellar debut

King pays homage to previous films throughout Black Sheep and part of the fun (and there's lots to be had in this film) was picking them all out. King has included bits of Lord of the Rings (natch), Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien 3, The Descent, American Werewolf in London and Raiders of the Lost Ark among others but it was hard to pick out those bits among the gore and carnage that King decided to bring to the table. This is the only animal-attack film in recent memory that features a sheep biting a dick and tugging on it on screen. Granted, Feast brought genital scrutiny to a new plateau but the tugging got to me on a "Good Lord this is Fucked Up" level. The whole film seems to effect me the same way Shaun of the Dead, Dead and Breakfast or the aforementioned Feast did upon the first viewing in the sense I couldn't believe I was actually watching a movie about killer sheep. Wait, not just killer sheep, but if bitten a human will mutate into a half-human/half sheep hybrid! King brings so much insanity to this film that cumulates in an unbelievable ending that must be seen to be believed. This is an entertaining ride that I hope people support.

The DVD has a 30 minute making of which gives you enough on the movie while still being engaging; a blooper reel where the dick-tugging gets another view; some deleted scenes and the standard audio commentary. Recommended for those who love gore and have senses of humor - if any other film (admittedly more mainstream) listed above is your fancy, watch the sheep movie.