Black Sheep

Plot synopsis:
On a farm in New Zealand three young boys, brothers Angus (Eli Kent) and Henry (Nick Fenton) Oldfield and Tucker (Sam Clarke) are rounding up sheep. Angus, who wears a leg brace and walks with a limp, 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.Many years later an adult Henry (Nathan Meister) takes a taxi to the farm. His traumatic experience has left him with a terrible fear of sheep.Meanwhile two animal rights activists, 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.Angus (Peter Feeney), now a gentleman farmer, rehearses for the presentation of his new sheep breed, The Oldfield. He meets Henry, and gives him a cheque for two million dollars to buy him out of his farm. Henry is about to leave but Mrs. Mac insists he take a run up to the top of the farm with Tucker (Tammy Davis), to help him get closure over his father's death.Henry and Tucker drive up the hill but their way is blocked by a sheep with a bite on its nose. They get out to deal with the sheep. Experience sneaks up and grabs the rifle from the truck, demanding to know where Grant is. Meanwhile in the woods vegetarian Grant has developed a sudden appetite for meat and rips the throat out of a fluffy grey bunny.A farm worker is cooking up a feed in his shed and reading "A History of New Zealand", but is interrupted by a noise outside. When he goes out to investigate he is killed (offscreen).Tucker easily disarms Experience. He and Henry give her a ride in the truck. They see smoke coming from the farm worker's shed. Going to investigate they are confronted by a killer sheep. They lock the door but the sheep tries to break in. Henry's sheep phobia kicks in big-time. Experience tells them the sheep have been affected by Angus' genetic engineering program. The sheep headbutts through the wooden door and Tucker kills it with a couple of head-shots from his rifle.Henry, Tucker and Experience try to escape in the truck, but a sheep jumps into the cab and attacks Tucker, biting through his gumboot. He jumps into the back of the truck, leaving the sheep at the wheel. The trio jump off the back as the truck goes over the cliff and ends up shattered on a beach below. It is revealed that this is where Henry's father fell to his death. They decide to make a run for the car back at the farmhouse, but have a long way to travel.At the research lab the killer sheep attack and kill the lab assistants. Grant, obviously suffering from the sheep-foetus bite, is wandering the hills, and encounters Angus who is driving up to the research lab. A confrontation over Angus' animal research ends with Grant biting Angus on the hand and running off.As Henry, Experience and Tucker walk down the hill Tucker takes off his gumboot and discovers that his sheep-bitten foot has turned into a sheep's hoof. A large pack of sheep attacks them and they take shelter in the research lab. Inside the lab they find an opened-up sheep, still alive, suspended from the ceiling. They are confronted by the head scientist Dr. Rush (Tandi Wright), her assistant, and Angus. Tucker holds Angus at gunpoint but Dr Rush blindsides him by injecting him with a paralysing drug.Henry and Experience run out of the building and try to escape the herd of killer sheep by entering a fenced-off area around an offal pit. Angus follows them and expresses his scorn at Henry's fear of sheep. The sheep do not attack Angus. A sheep startles Henry and he falls into the offal pit, dragging Experience with him. Fortunately she has an aromatherapy candle with her for light, and they make their way through a system of caves that leads back to the woolshed.Back at the lab Angus talks soothingly to his prize sheep. Grant's bite on his hand looks rather infected. Angus' assistants have been torn apart and are being eaten by the killer sheep. Inside the lab Dr. Rush sees Tucker's sheep-foot and enthuses about the spontaneous cellular transferral. Angus tells her to stay in the lab while he presents his new sheep to the public. Dr. Rush resentfully implies that Angus' interest in the sheep has been rather personal.Down in the caves a killer sheep is heard chasing Henry and Experience down the tunnel. Henry uses Experience's own chakra meditation techniques to calm her down. They manage to climb out of the cave, with a sheep biting at Henry's foot. They set fire to the sheep with the candle. It burns rather well.Down at the farmhouse Angus is trying to keep it together but is emitting spontaneous Baas.Henry and Experience emerge from the cave near the woolshed. They hear someone shearing inside. It turns out to be Grant who has transformed into a seven foot tall Weresheep and is trying to shear himself. The weresheep is remarkably strong, flinging Henry across the room with one blow. Henry tries to cut its throat with a shearing comb but fails. They flee using the woolshed gates to slow the weresheep down. Experience scolds weresheep-Grant for eating meat ("Was it even organic?") and he looks guilty for a moment but resumes his attack.In the lab Dr. Rush plans to use the amniotic fluid from an artificial sheep-womb as a vaccine to transform Tucker's sheep-foot back into human form. Before she has a chance to inject him he starts to undergo a violent
transformation into a were-sheep. The vaccine restores him almost instantly to human form. Dr. Rush takes off to give Angus a shot of the vaccine, leaving Tucker tied to a bench. Outside the lab Dr. Rush is attacked by sheep, flees through the trees but is caught and killed by one.Angus is presenting his new sheep breed to an audience of international investors, but he is losing his composure as the sheep genes take over. When he uncrates "The Oldfield" sheep, it calls out to all the other sheep on the farm. A rumbling is heard as masses of sheep head straight for the gathering. The sheep start ripping out the throats, lips, and guts of the crowd. They leave Angus alone though and he realises that his bitten hand has turned into a hoof.Mrs Mac turns up in her Morris 1300 and rescues Henry and Experience. They go into the house to try to phone for help but Weresheep-Grant find them and attacks. They distract him with Mrs Mac's haggis while Henry fetches
a shotgun, but the weresheep overpowers him. Hippie girl paralyses the weresheep with a needle in an acupuncture point.Night falls and the sheep surround the house.Henry finds Angus upstairs, who appears to have been having sex with his favorite sheep. Henry says "that's a pretty f**ked up idea of animal husbandry". Angus reveals that the sheep were genetically engineered using the Oldfield family DNA.The sheep break into the house. Henry takes his father's Golden Shears Award statuette and exits. Outside everyone bitten by the sheep is turning into a weresheep.Angus walks unharmed through the sheep to the barn to escape on his plane. Henry realises he has been bitten by Grant. Henry says goodbye to Experience with a kiss. He dresses up in a sheepskin and crawls through the mob, but an amorous sheep blows his cover. However the sheep do not attack him, because he has been infected.Mrs Mac and Experience escape in the car with Experience blowing away a few weresheep with headshots from the shotgun.Angus, intending to escape in his biplane, starts the plane's engine but then begins the weresheep transformation before he can board. Henry finds him in his transformed state. Angus attacks him. Henry stabs him with the Golden Shears. It appears Angus is dying, but then he transforms into a full weresheep and resumes his attack. Meanwhile the biplane has started moving around the field. Henry discovers that weresheep can be controlled by a sheepdog, and holds Angus in position so that the biplane's propeller can slice and dice him. This does not quite kill Angus, but then Tucker shows up with the sheep amniotic fluid vaccine in a drenching gun and cures both Henry and Angus.They use sheepdogs to round up the killer sheep and weresheep, but they do not have enough amniotic drench to deal with them all. Angus, now in maimed human form, offers himself up to the assembled sheep, who tear him apart. The sheep are farting copiously and Henry realises the inflammable methane can be used to blow up the entire mob of sheep, and throws a lighter at them. Big sheepy explosion.Epilogue: Henry and Tucker drench the final weresheep. It turns out to be Grant, who is mortified that he's eaten a rabbit. Mrs Mac turns up with a snack of mountain oysters (sheep's testicles). Experience eats one thinking it to be seafood and much hilarity ensues. Up on the hillside a sheepdog, surveying the scene, suddenly lets out a "baaa". Credits.

Tags: cult, comedy, murder, violence

Review:
Written and directed by Jonathan King (who is also writing the Raintree produced movie The Tattooist), Black Sheep takes the well-established genre of zombie movies, and with its fusion of local flavour, presents its own worthy take in giving us the attack of the killer sheep.Meh!It's a crazy idea, but heck, I admit it was sheer wicked and twisted fun watching the usually docile (and may I say dumb?) animals turn the tables on us humans, and start going on a berserk rampage to munch on our flesh.
The film fast forwards to the adult brothers, where the latter is planning to unveil his new "perfect" Oldfield sheep, and selling off the farm - why need the space when you can genetically engineer them?Before you say, oh this is yet another movie which warns about the dangers and questions the ethics behind tinkering with genetics, you would probably think again when it made the environmental activists folks look like social outcasts, and totally bumbling, indirectly contributing to the zombie sheep phenomenon.
And I'd bet you'll never look at another sheep, especially the baby ones, in the same light again, ha!The plot's fairly straightforward to follow, with its villains (the scientists and of course, the raging sheep) and its heroes clearly spelt out - Henry, his farm hand Tucker (Tammy Davis), housekeeper Mrs Mac (Glenis Levestam), and an activist with an interest in Asian fengshui and zen sayings, called, check this out - Experience (Danielle Mason), who together actually form quite a lovable team whom you'll root for to get out of this mess.With the animatronics and special effects done by Weta Workshop, you can expect some top notch gore, though I thought that despite it being a zombie flick, it lacked copious amounts of blood splatter.
Transformational scenes were also fun yet eerie to watch, and if you think you've seen the best of these scenes from various werewolf movies, wait till you get a load from this one!Black Sheep makes no apology to its violence, sexual innuendoes or toilet humour.
The characters and issues related so well that even the Aussies couldn't claim it as their own- well, except maybe the sheep shagging jokes.It certainly doesn't take long to adjust to hearing Kiwi accents on the big screen and start relishing in the subtle humour, grotesque effects and brilliant performances by some underrated New Zealand talent.King's first feature film has taken the zombie flick back to grass roots level.
"Black Sheep" has that same kooky, OTT vibe of the mad scientist/monster flicks of the Fifties and Sixties with a more post-modern sensibility, much in the same affectionately twisted tone adapted by similar movies like "Tremors", "Feast", "Slither", the often-mentioned "Shaun of the Dead", and the film that this will be most compared to (and rightly so) - "Dead-Alive", the splat-tastic horror/comedy opus created by fellow Kiwi filmmaker gone "big time", Peter Jackson.
And all quarters deliver fabulously, resulting in a great, loopy time at the movies that will have you giggling, gasping or gagging, sometimes all three simultaneously.With the right frame of mind, I think that most horror fans or just casual viewers who like the occasional off-beat entertainment should find something to like here.
Packed full of clichés and homage's to other films, look out for the 'American Werewolf in London' take off, it is at times quite funny but ultimately the story is nothing new and only just manages to hold your interest between sheep attacks.
It is not really for intellectual heavyweights, but if you want to be entertained for an hour and a half, then this is definitely one to watch.It certainly stereotypes New Zealanders in a way I bet will annoy them no end, but it probably points to the maturity of their nation that they can get away with sheep-sex jokes without it causing too much angst.There were some great one-liners, and the special effects were quite sophisticated too.
Black Sheep is the sort of film that will appeal to fans of Pete Jackson's and Sam Raimi's early horror comedies - especially Braindead and Bad Taste (Jackson) and the Evil Dead series (Raimi).
Since the film consistently parodies low-brow, low-budget horror films, the film-makers were able to very nicely exploit the gimmickry of these films without losing any artistry or credibility along the way.Black Sheep is the story of two brothers from a New Zealand sheep farming family.
And when it came to the merciless slaughtering of humans, this vicious beast would be the one who couldn't be stopped so easily - No - Not like to others.And besides all of that - I don't care one bit if the creature is literally gnashing its teeth and foaming at the mouth like a lunatic - Dull, innocuous barnyard animals (such as sheep) make for the lamest, most unconvincing movie-monsters imaginable.Set in the beautiful New Zealand countryside - Black Sheep's story deals directly with what happens when genetically altered sheep develop a rabid thirst for human blood and go on a murderous rampage, attacking one and all with a vicious frenzy.Yes. Black Sheep was horrific and gruesome.
I love this movie, something so out of the blue & something you never thought you see, Killer Sheep's.When I first saw the trailer, I thought it was kind of silly and a fan made trailer, from you tube but at thd same, it look like it could be a lot of fun to watch, I knew I was going to like it anyway, but when I saw it I bloody loved it.Meanwhile two animal rights activists, Grant and Experience sneak into the farm to take photos of a the laboratory.
that how it all stated.Anyone who get bitten by the sheep, will turn into some kinda of Sheep zombie.Jonathan King did great job on this, everything was great in this movie, it had some great jokes, it had some really good funny ( and gory at the same time) scenes.this movie is awesome, 10/10.
Obviously connections between Jonathan King's horror-comedy BLACK SHEEP, a ridiculous little film about genetically-engineered sheep that bleat to a murderous rampage, and the early works of Peter Jackson can easily be made.
Nathan Meister's fear of sheep is a little too forced and the obligatory romance between his character, Henry, and that of Danielle Mason's lacks any sort of chemistry, genetically-engineered or not.What was missing from the film is the element of pure sarcasm; an event where the actors can almost get away with winking to the audience in shared knowledge.
I have had hoped that New Zealand film was reaching some kind of maturity, but this was like stepping back 15 years only with a little more budget (I said a little) from the film commission to spend on guts.With a mixture of clichéd and very weak jokes, unconvincing characters, and dialog that was tiresome at best, we are left with a horror comedy, with little horror (blood by itself is not very scary) and less comedy.The score however is quite good, though a little Danny Elfman, and hopefully can be re used for a dark drama.A classic example of a film receiving government funding because its viewed as culturally "New Zealand", its basically a New Zealand version of a much over used formula, not done particularly well..
Black Sheep, written and directed by Jonathan King is a wonderfully kooky horror comedy filmed out of New Zealand.
This is now already the fourth part of my little review series: Movies that are way better than you expect."Black sheep" is a very funny and extremely entertaining horror parody that comes from New Zealand.
I must admit that I haven't laughed watching a movie a long time ago and this movie must be one of the most hilarious ones I have ever seen.Take the most innocent animal on earth which is a sheep and make a monster out of it that transforms egoist, capitalist and ignorant managers, scientists or farmers into were-sheep that begin to act and talk in a weird manner.
You will be entertained every single moment and live a movie that sticks to the roots of great horror flicks and its parodies but that still offers many original ideas in a unique context coming from an exotic country.As I have never seen a better horror parody, I give a quite high rating for it even if there is a lot of easy toilet humour, some excessive gore passages and a many stereotypical characters in it.
Here I can picture a scenario where a couple of dudes said "Hey lets make a movie about killer sheep" and after having cracked up laughing for a couple of minutes someone said "No, really." and came up with a script about 15 minutes later....And here we have it, Black Sheep: The movie, a one gag film that falls flat pretty early on and then just relies on the FX of Weta Workshop to carry it the rest of the way.
Black Sheep knows that there is little-to-no point in creating rehashes of films such as Alien or The Thing here and now in the early years of the 21st Century; instead, it does something very creative and very appealing with the premise of bloodthirsty beasties roaming around a locale picking off its inhabitants, that is to say, takes it down a route of very funny and very effective comedy about killer sheep on a New Zealand located farm.
He practises in front of rows of empty chairs where the forthcoming visitors are to sit, and while the composition of many-an empty chair carries with it a sense of foreboding, it is here we put two and two together regarding the premise before realising with a devilish laugh that sheep-fodder is up and on it's way.Angus' dabbling in "agricultural sciences" will eventually come to see all manner of nastiness break out, writer/director King pushing the boat out and experimenting with all sorts of black comedy and hellish laughs; symptomatically inserting all manner of humour, creativity, energy and pulse into a premise long since worn into the ground by films that are merely homage posing as something much more than a technical exercise.
Here, the activists unwittingly release a lamb embryo loose amidst the grounds; King allowing the audience to teasingly hear the results of what happens when one of these fully grown things gets close to a human without actually showing us what happens.It isn't long before Angus and his team of cold, mechanical and somewhat uncanny looking team of barn-dwelling scientists each end up endangering the lives of everybody on the grounds; Experience and our lead Henry coming to form the core pairing as he attempts to deal with his morbid fear; she attempts to deal with the situation of volatile animals trying to harm her and both of them having to deal with each other as best-of-initial-enemies.
This woolly New Zealand splatter comedy hasn't got quite the same wit and originality as Jackson's Braindead, but in itself, it's a fun ride, no matter whether you love sheep or detest them.The director finds the right balance between spoofing the genre and taking it seriously, which results in scenes being both mordantly funny and comically repulsive at the same time.The plot's mere window-dressing to present one hilarious sheep incident after another.
Lots of beautiful New Zealand scenery is featured here, and I didn't recognize any of the cast, but was still pleased with their performances.This movie was released not long after "Snakes on a Plane", and it seems both films are campy ones, with deliberately hokey special effects, and are not meant to be taken seriously.
Even my first viewing of "Black Sheep" was better than that one viewing of the venomous snake movie, and like I said, my second viewing of this film showed an improvement after the first.
Just last night,I finally managed to watch this movie on Cinemax,since I've never gotten a chance to see it before.I was very pleased with the outcome of the movie.It had plenty of humor,great gore effects,and zombie sheep.This movie kinda reminds me of 'Shaun of the Dead' because of the fact that there's more humor and gore than horror.I'm fine with that.If I knew anyone in the cast,I would mention their names,but I don't.But that doesn't change the fact that everyone in this movie did an excellent job when it comes to defending yourself from zombie sheep.So prepare yourself for this ultra gory and funny movie that just can't be missed..
Now these sheep's are hungry for blood and Henry along with an animal activist (Danielle Mason) & Henry's buddy (Tammy Davis) has no choice to stop them.Written and Directed by Jonathan King made an genuinely twisted black comedy/horror/ fantasy with plenty of laughs and some wildly imaginative ideas.
"Black Sheep" is certainly a lot of fun to watch that recalls some of Peter Jackson's earlier movies.
You get this "were-sheep" (if that even exists) picture which is actually lots of fun.I laughed all the 85 minutes this movie goes on, and really had a good time.
Obviously, this movie is not to be taken too seriously, and it manages to remind you that all the time; it is packed with a lot of crude jokes about ambientalism, farming, vegetarianism, New Age and, of course, sheep!
Hey everyone, i've seen some parts of the film and i must say it looks brilliant, although i didn't see it at all yet, i somehow amuses me in a way, KILLER SHEEP for a concept in a movie now that is rich and a class idea, but the best bit is the sheep transformation in the movie, it was like the 80's type tf's no cgi and all done in costume, but i recently saw this scene on youtube and i had faved it.But what could happen is another one Black Sheep 2, with the virus spreading to another country in the world and people try to survive until the aid comes to stop it, featuring more weresheep, some fights with humans, and also add in a person who is infected but controls himself in the transformation process through out the movie.But top notch film, and great job for it.
At the same time, two environmental activists sneak onto the farm, to discover what Angus is up to with the sheep, only for one of them to be bitten by a mutated lamb.....This horror/comedy is from New Zealand, and is similar to the early work of another Kiwi, Peter Jackson.
Black Sheep was like a bad 1980's Gore movie.
The odd funny killer sheep wrestling moments early on subside to a 'horror by numbers' movie full of late 1970's special effects.
There is just something very odd and uniquely distinctive to the movie, and that is what makes it work out so nicely.Sort of think "Shaun of the Dead" meets a New Zealand sheep farm, then basically you have the outlay for "Black Sheep".
Plus the characters in the movie are nicely fleshed out as well.This horror-comedy is a definite must watch for fans of the genre.You will never look at a sheep in the same way again after having seen this movie....
I had high hopes for this Kiwi comedy/horror: the website was fun, early feedback was promising, and the fact that Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop was providing the film's effects meant that I could expect something that would at least be visually impressive.Unfortunately, visually impressive is all that the film was.Director Jonathan King's tale of genetic tampering gone wrong takes a promisingly silly premisesavage sheepbut fails to make the most of it; the film's central gagthat a creature as docile as a sheep can become a man-eating monsterquickly becomes tiresome, and any other attempts at humour generally fall flat, leaving the film only memorable for its rather juicy gore (the woolly terrors gut, dismember and chow down on many a poor victim).Once the basic story has been set-up, King's movie wanders aimlessly (like a lost lamb), introducing more silliness in the form of man/sheep mutants (the result of a human being bitten by one of the ferocious farm animals).
Set in my home country of New Zealand I must say some of the sheep shagging jokes weren't offensive and just added to the overall experience.This is a must see for anyone who enjoys the horror, zombie and comedy types of films..
Black Sheep has been around a while, straight out of the beautiful lands of New Zealand!With a cast who seemed to enjoy playing things for laughs, and the skills of the WETA effects house who were responsible for Lord Of The Rings and more, we are highly entertained with plenty of stupid comedy, lots of gore and FX, and armies of sheep that seem to be having a ball.While not perfect, Black Sheep is the kind of film you could watch once every five years for a chuckle.It isn't gripping, it isn't Oscar worthy, but its pure fun and entertainment which is what movies are all about!Reminiscent of Peter Jackson's amazing early work, Black Sheep is worth a watch at least once and guaranteed to put a smile on your face..
Black Sheep (2006) ** (out of 4) New Zealand delivers another gore-filled blend of horrors and laughs with this attempt to re-capture the heart and soul of Peter Jackson's DEAD ALIVE.
Now another New Zealander director is copying that formula, Johnathan King with his debut feature Black Sheep and even uses Weta Workshop (the special effects company that Jackson used for Lord of the Rings).City boy Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) returns to his family farm to sell his share to his brother Angus (Peter Feeney).
New Zealand has always been a treat to watch in movies and 'Black Sheep' does not let the country down.
The general plot itself is highly humorous, some good laughs come from the fact that film contains scenes of sheep taking down people and feasting on them and it always contains a fun line about the situation which is nice in and of itself.