I'd heard a few things about Black Sheep early last year and the trailer definitely had me going that this would be a film I'd adore. After reading some of the comments on here it seems to be a movie that's polarised opinion somewhat. Well, here's my two pence worth...
The plot is extremely run of the mill (fine in a tongue-in-cheek instance such as this) - genetic tampering which leads to killer sheep on the loose turning humans they bite into were-sheep. The characters are cut-out-and-keep standard horror fare as well (out of his depth hero, feisty but screamey love interest, rough and tumble sidekick who's handy in a tight spot etc) but work well enough as an ensemble and the cast do a fine job with an often patchy script (even for schlock / homage / whatever this film is trying to be - I'll get to that). So far, so average - let's get to what's good about this film before touching on what's not...
First off (and I don't think I'm the only one to have noticed), Black Sheep is GORGEOUS. You can't go far wrong with NZ as your backdrop but every interior set as well is lit and shot incredibly well, lending the entire production an atmosphere that if absent, would have made the film hugely less enjoyable. Second on the list are the sheep themselves. WETA have done a fantastic job with them - although personally I found the 'normal' killer sheep much more charming than the 'super' sheep (or were-sheep or whatever) who did appear a bit naff. Every time a human character hears a noise, turns around and we are treated to a shot or one or two sheep simply standing there, staring in a deeply sinister manner... comedy gold. Unfortunately, here I start to run out of standout highlights for Black Sheep. While the film is shot through with an affably daft charm, and some (and ONLY some) of the humour translates well enough for an international audience to garner some genuine crack-ups (Tucker's fight in the front seat of a careering truck with a killer sheep which then ends up driving; the "f*ck the sheep!" - "no time for that bro" moment; and the wonderfully childish 'don't light your farts at home kids' ending) there are problems with the movie that really do grind down on the viewer.
The biggest issue I think Black Sheep had was that it just was not sure what it wanted to be. In places it's a great homage and full of effective (if utterly absurd) parody, making it a comedy. In others, it's almost devoid of humour and the violence / gore goes beyond the excessive into the plain unnecessary (and no, I'm not squeamish... I wrote a dissertation on extreme horror cinema so have seen my fair share of zombies chewing legs off etc). The film opens with a flashback scene that is so sadistic I almost considered not watching the rest (I would genuinely advise animal lovers to skip the first chapter - yes, there is some killer-sheep bashing all the way through but this first instance is pure, unadulterated animal cruelty merely to provide reasoning for one of the main character's fear of sheep/dislike of his brother), and there are some other instances throughout where shots of the sheep chewing on various internal organs feel like they're only there to pad out the running time. In addition to this, while some of the already-mentioned humour works wonderfully, other jokes fall flat on their face; and places of the film that would have worked brilliantly as parody are delivered so seriously that the viewer is left a bit bewildered as to how they should feel. The balance that made Shaun of the Dead (the links to which drawn all over the DVD case smell terribly of lazy marketing by the way Icon) such a triumph is mostly lacking, and instead what we get is a bit of a mishmash that totters from straight-up comedy to extreme-violence without ever settling down comfortably in the middle. All of which is made much worse by the fact that the most entertaining character in the whole affair (apart from the sheep themselves) - Tucker - is CRIMINALLY sidelined for the majority of the 2nd half. If a sequel ever gets commissioned, and I think it's worth giving the director/producers/writers another chance to live up to the missed promises here, we better see a lot more of him...
In all fairness, Black Sheep isn't awful - it's just so unsure of itself at times that as a viewer you can't help but get a bit too lost and confused to make it all that enjoyable. Gawp in wonder at the scenery, chuckle at the sheep-shag-gags, squirm at the gore and admire the incredible acting talents (both of them) of Experience... but ultimately, I challenge you not to be slightly disappointed. In trying to please everyone - those who love PJs shock gore, those who loved the hairbrained comedy of SotD - Black Sheep only ends up shoots itself in the hoof.
Twice... just to be sure.
The plot is extremely run of the mill (fine in a tongue-in-cheek instance such as this) - genetic tampering which leads to killer sheep on the loose turning humans they bite into were-sheep. The characters are cut-out-and-keep standard horror fare as well (out of his depth hero, feisty but screamey love interest, rough and tumble sidekick who's handy in a tight spot etc) but work well enough as an ensemble and the cast do a fine job with an often patchy script (even for schlock / homage / whatever this film is trying to be - I'll get to that). So far, so average - let's get to what's good about this film before touching on what's not...
First off (and I don't think I'm the only one to have noticed), Black Sheep is GORGEOUS. You can't go far wrong with NZ as your backdrop but every interior set as well is lit and shot incredibly well, lending the entire production an atmosphere that if absent, would have made the film hugely less enjoyable. Second on the list are the sheep themselves. WETA have done a fantastic job with them - although personally I found the 'normal' killer sheep much more charming than the 'super' sheep (or were-sheep or whatever) who did appear a bit naff. Every time a human character hears a noise, turns around and we are treated to a shot or one or two sheep simply standing there, staring in a deeply sinister manner... comedy gold. Unfortunately, here I start to run out of standout highlights for Black Sheep. While the film is shot through with an affably daft charm, and some (and ONLY some) of the humour translates well enough for an international audience to garner some genuine crack-ups (Tucker's fight in the front seat of a careering truck with a killer sheep which then ends up driving; the "f*ck the sheep!" - "no time for that bro" moment; and the wonderfully childish 'don't light your farts at home kids' ending) there are problems with the movie that really do grind down on the viewer.
The biggest issue I think Black Sheep had was that it just was not sure what it wanted to be. In places it's a great homage and full of effective (if utterly absurd) parody, making it a comedy. In others, it's almost devoid of humour and the violence / gore goes beyond the excessive into the plain unnecessary (and no, I'm not squeamish... I wrote a dissertation on extreme horror cinema so have seen my fair share of zombies chewing legs off etc). The film opens with a flashback scene that is so sadistic I almost considered not watching the rest (I would genuinely advise animal lovers to skip the first chapter - yes, there is some killer-sheep bashing all the way through but this first instance is pure, unadulterated animal cruelty merely to provide reasoning for one of the main character's fear of sheep/dislike of his brother), and there are some other instances throughout where shots of the sheep chewing on various internal organs feel like they're only there to pad out the running time. In addition to this, while some of the already-mentioned humour works wonderfully, other jokes fall flat on their face; and places of the film that would have worked brilliantly as parody are delivered so seriously that the viewer is left a bit bewildered as to how they should feel. The balance that made Shaun of the Dead (the links to which drawn all over the DVD case smell terribly of lazy marketing by the way Icon) such a triumph is mostly lacking, and instead what we get is a bit of a mishmash that totters from straight-up comedy to extreme-violence without ever settling down comfortably in the middle. All of which is made much worse by the fact that the most entertaining character in the whole affair (apart from the sheep themselves) - Tucker - is CRIMINALLY sidelined for the majority of the 2nd half. If a sequel ever gets commissioned, and I think it's worth giving the director/producers/writers another chance to live up to the missed promises here, we better see a lot more of him...
In all fairness, Black Sheep isn't awful - it's just so unsure of itself at times that as a viewer you can't help but get a bit too lost and confused to make it all that enjoyable. Gawp in wonder at the scenery, chuckle at the sheep-shag-gags, squirm at the gore and admire the incredible acting talents (both of them) of Experience... but ultimately, I challenge you not to be slightly disappointed. In trying to please everyone - those who love PJs shock gore, those who loved the hairbrained comedy of SotD - Black Sheep only ends up shoots itself in the hoof.
Twice... just to be sure.