“Black Sheep” joins a growing list of disappointments for horror fans in 2007. At the top of the list is Rob Zombie’s dismal and unapologetically self righteous remake of “Halloween” followed closely by the much over hyped “Behind the Mask” (Read Review Here) and the shit trickles downhill from there. Many of us have already suffered through garbage like “1408”, “Dead Silence” (Read Review Here) and “Captivity” (Read Review Here) and there’s still three months of crap left to sift through. Sadly only two horror films released this year have lived up to their hype or even offered an iota of entertainment. Robert Rodriguez’s half of the lopsided “Grindhouse”, “Planet Terror”; a brilliant ode to Italian splatter flicks and Eli Roth’s surprisingly competent “Hostel Part Two” are the lone enjoyable films released in an otherwise depressing year. With the rest of 2007 offering little more than another addition to the bloated “Saw” franchise or comic book and video game adaptations, horror fans will have a cold winter to get through before 2008 offers the hope of anything watchable.
To be fair to the kiwis that imported “Black Sheep” for us Americans, it isn’t a terrible movie, it’s just completely unoriginal, poorly acted film centered around an uninspired and painfully unfunny script. Filmed in the lush hills of New Zealand, “Black Sheep” tells the tale of two estranged brothers reuniting at their family farm that is going up for sale. Their issues with one another revolve around Henry (Nathan Meister) the younger of the two Oldfield brothers having a crippling fear of sheep after a teenage prank pulled by his elder prick of a brother Angus (Peter Feeney). Henry returns to the farm of his youth for the first time since the incident to pick up the check Angus has cut for his share of the estate’s sale. But Angus’ questionable involvement with a team of scientists that have been genetically enhancing the family’s sheep puts not only the farm’s sale but the entire town in jeopardy. In an effort to expose the Oldfield’s animal testing practices a foolish tree hugging hippie attempts to abscond with a mutated baby sheep. The fetal ewe infects the hemp adorned moron and a viral breakout ensues.
Fans of Peter Jackson’s “Bad Taste” and “Dead Alive” will see major parallels between his genre defining pieces and “Black Sheep.” While it’s mostly due to the creatures being created by the Weta Workshop that have worked on the majority of Jackson’s films. In addition the similarities between the prosthetic designs, the overall tone is similar to Jackson’s New Zealand shot films that expertly ride the line between humor and horror. The only problem is “Black Sheep’s” first time director Jonathan King is no Peter Jackson and “Sheep” ends up an uneven mess that treads water until it ultimately drowns. Neither the horror nor the humor hit their mark and in the end the audience is left with an uneven film that can’t decide on its own thematic identity.
While the gore filled ending featuring a mutant sheep attack will cloud the judgment of many viewers it can’t make up for the rest of the films plodding storyline and over all uneventful script. In the end “Black Sheep” will just be remembered as another title on a list of forgettable horror movies released in the drought of ’07 that wasn’t quite as bad as “Blood & Chocolate” or “Skinwalkers” but still nothing to write home about.
4 out of 10 B-A-A-A-D Jokes
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