Black Sheep (2006)

[trekgeezer]

Henry Oldfield returns home after ten years to Oldfield sheep station in New Zealand. Henry has a condition which his therapist calls Ovinophobia (fear of sheep), which was caused by his being traumatized as a child by his older brother Angus on the day their father was killed in an accident (Angus killed Henry's pet sheep Dudley and then wore the skin to scare Henry.

Henry arrives home on the day Angus is to unveil his new breed of genetically engineered sheep. Angus buys Henry's part of the farm.

Meanwhile a couple of animal rights activists (Experience and Grant) spy on Angus's lab. Grant steals a container meant for disposal and the lab workers pursue them into the forest. When the two get separated Grant accidentally drops the container releasing the carnivorous sheep fetus contained in it. Grant is attacked becomes carnivorous himself, killing a passing bunny eating it.

The fetus crawls away to be taken in by the sheep herd.  You can guess what comes next.


The funniest thing about this movie is idea of making a sheep look ominous.

The victims who survive become a sort of weresheep with prosthetics, animatronics, and probably some CG courtesy of Peter Jackson WETA workshop.

This is an extremely gory movie, very reminiscent of Peter Jackson's early work. The version I have is the unrated one , but I'm unsure what they cut out for the theatrical release (Angus's death scene was one that probably didn't make it to theater's unedited).

I can't say the movie is outright hilarious, but it does have it's moments. It reminds me of Night of the Lepus for the sheer prepostorisness  of the plot. Night was made as a serious movie while Black Sheep is written as black humor.


It's really worth watching, especially for gore hounds.

[indianasmith]

I posted a thread on this one last spring . . .  it was pretty hilarious!!!!

[HappyGilmore]

Black Sheep is downright hilarious.  Good good movie.

[peter johnson]

What made me laugh was the constant contrast between the shots of the real sheep, the CGI sheep, and the puppet sheep/wer-sheep.  Real sheep are like real bunnies:  They simply do not trigger any sort of fear reflex in the human psyche, however they are photographed -- The wer-sheep & mutant sheep on the other hand, while gory and monstrous, did not benefit from our having seen the real sheep in other scenes.  My laugh reflex kept kicking in due to having seen the real sheep & comparing the two.
peter johnson/denny lamb from hades . . .

[Torgo]

Loved this flick.

[the naked kiss]

I thought it was really boring and not funny. I am from NZ myself so maybe that is why, but I love Jackson's early films so I don't think that is the reason, the humour was just really corny and predictable, but I understand why people love it.

[inframan]

I thought it was really boring and not funny. I am from NZ myself so maybe that is why, but I love Jackson's early films so I don't think that is the reason, the humour was just really corny and predictable, but I understand why people love it.

Speaking of Kiwi humor did you like this one?: http://www.devildaredmeto.com/

[peter johnson]

If you're looking for a good New Zealand film, check out "The Cost of Milk" -- Surreal fairytale come to life -- really beggars description/one of the weirdest films ever made:

A woman runs over an old woman by accident, but the old woman gets up and walks away.  Turns out she's a Maori spirit-being who makes the driver's life complicated from then on.  Her boyfriend owns an agoraphobic dog who runs around the fields while inside a cardboard box.  People constantly wreck their cars and chat with one another in the debris as if nothing has occurred.  Cows appear and disappear, but not at random!  Some of the mythic servants of the spirit-being are a Maori rugby team who specialize in stealing blankets & comforters.  This is a highly inadequate description -- just see it and be amazed.  It has a happy ending.

peter johnson/denny crane

[Doggett]

I thought it was really boring and not funny. I am from NZ myself so maybe that is why, but I love Jackson's early films so I don't think that is the reason, the humour was just really corny and predictable, but I understand why people love it.

I agree with you. It's not a patch on Braindead.

[WilliamWeird1313]

Great concept, and it has some great elements within it, but, overall, I thought the film was poorly executed. BORING with a capital "BORING."

[Doggett]

Writers need to learn that characters that try to be funny, ironically, aren't. The same problem with Jack Brooks.

[ghouck]

I liked the movie, it was fun.

[Magnus]

I really liked this film and I learned that inside of every sheep there is a flesh eating killing machine lurking and waiting to get out.   

[Frogger]

I thought it was really boring and not funny. I am from NZ myself so maybe that is why, but I love Jackson's early films so I don't think that is the reason, the humour was just really corny and predictable, but I understand why people love it.

I agree with you. It's not a patch on Braindead.

I loved Braindead (why have I not bought it on DVD yet????) but blacksheep was rather dull. I took my girlfriend to see it with me due to the Shaun of the dead comparison in humor. (same way I was tricked into watching slither which is equally dull)

I had to say I considered walking out the cinema as I felt it was crap, only 3 places I remembered laughing.
1. puppet sheep doing the driving car over cliff.
2. The horde of sheep running over the hills.
3. The ending with exploding sheep. (mainly laughing at how crap it was)

Still I have seen far better films and far worse films. This film attempted to be funny using gore joke which fell flat unlike in Braindead which was very funny.

I recommend avoiding this film, instead watching both Shaun of the dead and Braindead.

[Doggett]

Slither grows on you when you re-watch it.
Black Sheep does not.