Black Sheep: Will Delight Splatterstick Fans
A Movie About Genetically Deformed Man Eating Sheep
Sep 8, 2008
Tagged “Violence of the Lambs” this mixture of grisly horror and slapstick comedy debuted in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival in 2007 and won two awards at the Gérardmer Film Festival. Without a doubt this film from Kiwi director and screenwriter Jonathon King will find an appreciative audience in splattersick fans.
Childhood:
Opening to picturesque new Zealand countryside we catch a glimpse into the childhood of two brothers, born into a farming family. Angus (Peter Feeney) the oldest brother’s idea of fun is killing his little brother’s pet lamb, climbing into the bloodied skin and pretending to be a man eating sheep. Henry (Nathan Meister) is the sensitive little brother who is so terrified by the morbid prank he develops a sheep phobia and moves as far away as possible from the farm as soon as he’s old enough to get a job.
Adulthood:
As an adult Henry is still plagued by an irrational fear (which isn’t so irrational in this movie) that he will get eaten by man eating sheep and agrees to let Angus buy him out of the farm. Henry’s therapist advises him that a quick trip home to finalise his affairs, reconcile with his brother and make peace with the past will do him good. Planning to pick up the cheque and keep the visit short the taxi is left running … a bit like Henry soon finds himself when his brother’s secret experiments in genetic engineering transforms harmless sheep into blood thirsty mutations.
Henry soon falls into the company of his childhood friend Tucker (Tammy Davis) and an animal activist hippy chick called Experience (Danielle Mason) and it doesn’t take long for this film to degenerate into a frenzied zombie, ‘frankensheep’ flick replete with blood, guts and gore. Fast paced and action packed, there is a lot of impressive creature FX and crass humour as this ridiculous storyline develops a budding romance between Henry and Experience.
The Choice is Yours:
There’s no escaping the fact this is a movie about genetically deformed man eating sheep and a movie with a storyline that silly, can only be silly. If splatter stick isn’t a genre that tickles your fancy then avoid this mutation at all costs but if blood, guts and gore, far fetched scenario’s, stupid characters and scenes so ridiculous you have no option but to laugh out aloud is what you’re looking for, then head straight over to the front of the queue for this one.
