Taking it's cue from early Peter Jackson movies such as Bad Taste and Braindead, Black Sheep takes a similar turn in it's low-budget "splatter-fest" horror premise. Genetically modified sheep terrorise a small New Zealand farm, and only a rag-tag crew (made up of a gun-toting farmboy, a city lad and an eco-warrior) can save the town and uncover the terrible secret behind the blood-thirsty sheep intent on causing havoc as they bite victims which in turn transform into monstrous and even more bloodthirsty human/sheep hybrids.
What should be a ridiculous and entertaining premise is completely marred as the film fails to deliver on pretty much all accounts. The comedy here is pretty bad and predictable. The acting is even worse off and the pace so confused that it becomes just plain boring to watch. Granted this is a movie which relishes in it's crapness but i've seen far better features which make a point to be "crap" but still entertaining and inventive. Whilst Black Sheep probably tried to be different i felt that the end result showed none of this. The plot is silly yet (ludicrously) original in it's idea of killer zombie-sheep but again there's not enough of it in there to warrant a watch. Granted the gore effects are good and the animatronic/prosthetic effects of the sheep/were-sheep are well done (courtesy by the talented Weta Workshop) but in the context of the film i think it just came across as wasted, some good sequences could have been made with the models but everything is shot in the dark so you really can't see much of it when we would have liked to.
Everything here is set up to be entertaining in it's absurdness but it just didn't work out in the end- the film is a mess and what it was trying to convey (not much) didn't turn out well. I guess, in time, the film might hold enough charm to become a "cult classic" much like Jackson's Braindead and Bad Taste, but right now i can't seem to see anything in here that i haven't already seen before, done better.
If you want a low-budget and entertaining comedy horror from New Zealand then i'd recommend you stay away from Black Sheep and just watch any of Jackson's films prior Hollywood, as even the idea of killer sheep seems trifle here when there's not really that much on offer. It promises hilarity and fun but sadly fails. If you want a truly great New Zealand comedy horror that sets out and delivers on all accounts then watch any early Peter Jackson film or Shaun of the Dead, and avoid Black Sheep at all costs.
Verdict: A pointless "horror comedy" that's neither remotely funny or scary. 3/10
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