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dir. by Jonathan King
On a small farm in New Zealand, brothers Angus (Eli Kent) and Henry (Nick
Fenton) Oldfield and their friend Tucker (Sam Clarke) are rounding up sheep.
Angus the older brother is wearing a leg brace and walks with a limp so his
help is fairly much limited. It would seem that his lack of participation
gives him plenty of time for mischief. So while Henry and Tucker are off
working Angus kills Henry's pet sheep Dudley and terrifies him by dressing
up in the dead sheep's carcass. This torture is interrupted by the
housekeeper, Mrs Mac (Glenis Levestam), telling them that their father has
died in an accident.
We then move forward to 15 years later as Henry has come home to pay Angus a
visit. Not since the accident 15 years ago has Henry been able to be
anywhere around a sheep. He now, has a fear that the sheep will attack and
kill him. This all sounds humorous to Angus and tells Henry he's just scared
to actually work…Since his and their fathers departure he's (Angus) been
running the farm. Only now, he's come up with a new kind of sheep that'll
put him on the map. They bicker as estranged brothers do and Henry leaves
with Tucker. While all this brother love is going on local hippies Grant
(Oliver Driver) and a young woman called Experience (Danielle Mason), sneak
into the farm to take photos of a research laboratory. Grant impulsively
steals a container of waste and runs off. Grant trips and breaks the
container. A small but feisty sheep foetus emerges and bites him, then
crawls off and bites an adult sheep, thus causing a mass quantity of
were-sheep, if you will.
As Henry and Tucker continue to drive on they are blocked off by a sheep
with a bite on the nose. Tucker gets out inspecting the sheep and placing it
back where it goes. While he's doing this and Henry is starting to have a
panic attack Experience reaches inside the truck, grabs the gun and demands
they help her look for Grant. They have no choice but to do so. Once they
spot what's going on the high tail it back to the truck, Experience
following. After what she's just done to them she asks for a ride. Henry
being the nice cat that he is agrees. All hopping back into the truck Tucker
is trapped in the cab with one of the infected sheep. Tucker fighting of the
sheep in the cab and Henry and Experience left to fend the horde that now
chases the truck. Has there become a were-sheep outbreak? Will Henry,
Experience and Tucker escape their carnage? And mostly, who is behind all of
this? These are questions you must find out on your lonesome by watching the
movie!.
Herein lies several homage's to some of the old school greats. The Sheep
within this film reminded me a lot of the were wolves in THE HOWLING, so
much that there is almost an identical scene where a human turns into one of
the were-sheep. The effects on the sheep were freaking phenomenal. The crew
behind this did a bang up job (literally). BLACK SHEEP is definitely one for
the gore lovers. From morphing humans to animatronic foetus sheep the pits
of bloody bowls they WILL be pleased! But the most noticeable homages
definitely are EVIL DEAD and SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Having really enjoyed SHAUN
OF THE DEAD , this is what I wish it would have been like. From its zany
EVIL DEAD like situations to the balls out HOWLING-esque creatures BLACK
SHEEP was easily one of the best films I've seen this year. The only thing I
can see that should keep this film from getting a good theater run would be
its brief sequence nod to bestiality between Angus and a super sheep. Given
that New Zealands' offering of a horror film in BLACK SHEEP will definitely
catch American views off guard. It's that messed up folks…trust me…SEE THIS
when it comes out..
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