Reviewed by Anna Krahn
Stars Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Peter Feeney,
Tammy Davis, Tandi Wright, Oliver Driver, Matthew Chamberlain
Written by Jonathan King
Produced by Philippa Campbell
Certification UK 15 | US R | Australia MA
Runtime 87 minutes
Directed by Jonathan King
There are so many scary things in the world: spiders, zombies, evil little girls whose heads spin all the way around — so many things one could think, "Oooh, that would make a good horror film." Then there are sheep. Those cloud-like, fluffy dumb animals that go baa. Shaking in your stylish yet affordable boots yet? No? Well, writer/director Jonathan King thought that coupling sheep with lots of blood and guts would make for a funny yet totally gruesome black comedy. And he was right.
Probataphobia, otherwise known as a fear of sheep, is a real and deeply troubling issue that affects, well, probably nobody. But who knows; people have all sorts of weird and wonderful fears — geniophobia (fear of chins) anybody? For Henry (Meister), there is nothing more terrifying than those beasts (sheep that is, not chins) coming towards him. He and his brother Angus (Feeney) grew up on the family's farm but drifted apart ever since their beloved father died and nutjob Angus kills Henry’s pet sheep and uses it as a cape (so gross) to scare Henry, who is thereafter terrified of sheep. Henry doesn’t set foot on the farm again, until finally returning to sell Angus his part of the property. Upon his arrival he discovers Angus has been genetically modifying, you guessed it, sheep. At the same time an activist steals a mutant foetus from the lab which then escapes and infects all nearby flocks, turning them into crazed mutant sheep. With the woolly monsters running around tearing bits off people left, right and centre, Henry’s phobia doesn’t look so ridiculous any more, but he has to overcome his fear to battle the sheep and his crazy brother.
Every possible sheep joke you could think of (yep, even that) is in there, plus a whole load of ridiculousness that goes so far past ridiculous that it works and makes this one very funny film. If loads of blood and limbs flying around tickle you, then you’ve hit gold here. As for being actually scary — it’s not. OK, OK, I admit there was one point where I jumped. Yes, I know it was a sheep and it’s a stupid film, but the sheep came from nowhere! (I just heard that in my head and you have permission to laugh at me.) If you’re one who likes your horror with a bit of tongue in its cheek, or you like your comedy with a dark and slightly sick edge, then go and see this.
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SECOND OPINION | Hemanth Kissoon ** The poster is awesome. Three people in a car surrounded by sheep with an especially psychotic member of the flock on the roof, seemingly howling werewolf-style at the moon. The tagline suggests something epic: “There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand AND THEY’RE PISSED OFF!” This had the potential of being cheesily exciting and funny in the vein of Slither, Bad Taste and the fantastic Tremors. The problems emanating from the film’s obvious low budget straightjacket aside, this does not deliver on any level — humour, thrills or scares. The jokes feel laboured and the dialogue is clumsy. I was very much looking forward to this movie. Killer sheep is a crazily bad-boy idea that here ends up being criminally mishandled. The sheep weren’t scary like the worms in Tremors, the spiders in Arachnophobia, the birds in The Birds or the slugs in Slither. The set-pieces did not have style, nor were they gripping. Black Sheep never really starts and is bordering on dull, which is unforgivable. There was even a possibility to have a little depth by making an environmental and science parable. A wasted opportunity to achieve B-movie cult status.