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After a genetic
experiment goes wrong, an infection
starts spreading among the thousands of sheep
inhabiting New Zealand. It doesn't take long before
they start munching away on the farmers and it's now
up to the dynamic duo of Henry - an ex-farmer who's
all ready afraid of sheep from before, and Experience,
an environmentalist who's strongly against the
experiments, to stop the killer sheep.
After reading so many rave reviews of Black Sheep, it
was finally my turn to see this new horror comedy.
Perhaps I was expecting too much but I felt that it
was somewhat over hyped. Don't get me wrong, Black Sheep
is an amusing little creature feature with an original
concept (even though I've wanted to make a film with
the same topic for years but with a more serious
approach), but my issue with the movie was that it
was trying way too hard to be funny to the point where
they started resorting to fart jokes. Yes, that's
plural people! We actually get not one, but two fart
jokes in this movie. Man, someone was getting desperate.
It seems like this is a common phenomenon in recent
horror comedies. Perhaps they all feel that they have
to top movies like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Severance",
but those movies are all ready cult classics so why
even try to top them? It's the same kind of humour,
only not nearly as clever or funny. The gags are all
pretty cheap and the one-liners are down right cheesy
at times. I don't think that I have to explain the
plot for you but in case you didn't get it from the
title; Black Sheep is about a bunch of killer sheep
attacking people in New Zealand.
Before I go on to the good stuff I also have to point
out that I wasn't overly entertained by the fact that
everyone who got bitten by a sheep turned into a
were-sheep. That's taking the concept too far if you
ask me. Again, I don't think that they entirely
manage to grasp the idea that subtle black humour
is the way to go. It all felt a bit too immature for
me. But enough with the bashing, as I said before,
Black Sheep is not a bad movie, it's just not as great
as I had expected it to be.
We have a very cool premise here and there are indeed
some very funny moments to be found in here. The
actors are top-notch and really get the vibe of the
movie straight away. Technical-wise, it's a mixed
bag, but Jonathan King does the best he can to direct
the movie so that it'll be exactly how he wanted it
to be when he wrote the script. Perhaps we're just
not on the same altitude me and him. We also have
some stunning cinematography and I loved how they
captured the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand.
Even the character Experience pointed out how
beautiful it was two times in the movie - even though
she as well was from New Zealand... hmmm... do I smell
self-flattery and a hidden tourism agenda?
Overall, Black Sheep is a decent horror comedy but it
was too much of a monster movie and not enough of a
creature feature for my taste. It definitely won't
stay with me for long and I'm disappointed to say
this as I had expected more from it. If you're in
the mood for a silly horror comedy, check it out.
Just don't go in expecting the movie of a lifetime
as most reviews make it out to be better than it
actually is. It's good, I'll give it that, but it's
really nothing out of the ordinary if you ask me.
Slashed throats, severed body parts, intestines and
guts flying everywhere, torn up bodies, etc. There
is no lack of gore in this movie, that's for sure.
Works for its intents and purposes even if it might
be a tad too silly for my personal taste.
Black Sheep is a good movie, but not a great one. It's
mildly amusing and the sheep actually do look
intimidating, but had it been me behind the camera,
I would probably have toned down the silly a bit.
15 year olds will love this and I'm sure that I would
have loved it a couple of years ago as well, but fart
jokes just don't cut it for me anymore.
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