by Robert Pressley
Daily Lobo
In the title of Jonathan King's film "Black Sheep," the word "black" alludes to a mob of sheep taking the path less grazed - brutally terrorizing a New Zealand farm.
Calling "Black Sheep" bizarre is putting it mildly.
"Black Sheep" is an over-the-top comedy inspired by pure horror absurdity. This film forgoes is gratuitous nudity, one of the few horror genre trademarks.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Mad scientist Angus (Peter Feeney) runs the family ranch
after his father's accidental sheep-shearing death. Angus' brother, the hero of this twisted tale, Henry (Nathan Meister), suffers from a severe sheep phobia and comes to the ranch to sell his inherited share of the land to his brother. This marks the beginning of a horror-filled day for Henry. Along with the ranch's many horrors, an unlikely romance with a local environmental extremist named Experience (Danielle Mason) changes Henry's life forever.
This horror flick is an overdramatic comedy with a lot of spurting blood and mild performances. "Black Sheep" plays more like a BBC original than a movie. Making it shorter for television might improve this film.
The special effects of sheep charging, shearing, leaping, biting, ripping and even driving look sharp. But the film lacks an interesting story line and features no character development. Even "Wedding Crashers"-like slapstick films get you into the comedy by developing and engaging its ridiculous heroes in the filmic action. In this film, if strange sheep are not on the screen, the audience can be sure that nothing exciting is going to happen. Love interest Experience's innocence and beauty make for a noble character effort, along with maintenance man Grant (Oliver Driver), but the protagonist brothers Henry and Angus portray characters so bleak and mild that they seem to be purposely unattended to.
The giant mutant sheep are humans who survive attacks. The sheep should be treated like characters but are instead treated like props.
No amount of mutant animal husbandry, gore or victims a-thrashing could save this movie.
"Black Sheep"
Grade: D
