Black Sheep (2006 New Zealand film)

Black Sheep
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan King
Written by	Jonathan King
Produced by	Philippa Campbell
Starring	Nathan Meister Danielle Mason Peter Feeney Tammy Davis Glenis Levestam Tandi Wright Oliver Driver
Cinematography	Richard Bluck
Edited by	Chris Plummer
Music by	Victoria Kelly
Production companies	New Zealand On Air New Zealand Film Commission The Daesung Group Escapade Pictures Singlet Films Live Stock Films
Distributed by	Icon Film Distribution
Release dates	10 September 2006 (2006-09-10) (TIFF) 29 March 2007 (2007-03-29) (New Zealand)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	New Zealand
Box office	US$5 million

Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. It was produced by Philippa Campbell and stars Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Peter Feeney, Tammy Davis, Glenis Levestam, Tandi Wright, and Oliver Driver as a group of people who must defend themselves when a genetic engineering experiment turns harmless sheep into bloodthirsty zombies.

Black Sheep premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2006 and was theatrically released in New Zealand on March 29, 2007. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $5 million at the box office. It also received a Narcisse Award nomination for Best Feature Film. A sequel is in development.

Plot

Young Henry Oldfield lives on a sheep farm in New Zealand with his older brother Angus and his father Oliver. Angus envies Henry his natural gift at farming and Oliver's pride. One day, Angus plays a cruel prank on Henry. Moments after Henry discovers his pet sheep's bloody corpse, Mrs. Mac, the farm's housekeeper, informs them of Oliver's death. The combined shock of these two incidents leads Henry to develop a crippling phobia of sheep.

Fifteen years later, Henry returns to New Zealand to sell his share of the farm to Angus, ignorant of his experiments. Environmental activists Experience and Grant infiltrates Angus' lab and accidentally release a deformed mutant lamb, which bites Grant. The lamb then escapes into the fields and crawls toward other sheep.

Henry and his childhood friend Tucker visit the farm and notice that the flock refuses to run away. They team up with Experience and investigate a farmhouse, where they find the farmer's mutilated body. Henry sees a sheep in the hallway and, due to his phobia, quietly shuts the door to lock it. The sheep crashes through the door and Tucker shoots it. On the other end of the farmhouse, Angus sees Grant, who bites him and runs off. Henry, Tucker, and Experience attempt to warn Angus about the sheep, but another sheep hiding in the car bites Tucker.

After the car is destroyed, they seek refuge in the laboratory, where Henry learns of Angus' genetic experiments with his assistant Dr. Astrid Rush. Their sheep has turned from docile vegetarians into ferocious carnivores, whose bite can infect and transform a human. When Dr. Rush see that Tucker's foot has now become a sheep's foot, she keeps him there for study. Henry and Experience escape when Angus cannot bring himself to shoot his own brother. Flocks of sheep come running down the hill toward an offal pit surrounded by a gate. When Henry and Experience accidentally slip into a pit, Angus abandons them. Tucker transforms into a half-human, half-sheep hybrid and Dr. Rush administers him an injection of amniotic fluid from one of the mutant lambs, which undoes the transformation. When Dr. Rush goes outside to give the news to Angus, she is killed by a sheep.

Angus gives a presentation to businessmen about his new genetically engineered sheep, but the businessmen are soon slaughtered by the flock. Henry and Experience escape through the tunnels and try to warn Angus, but they learn he has a love for sheep and leave in disgust. Henry realizes he has been infected as the flock no longer attack him or Angus; not willing to risk hurting Experience if he fully transforms, Henry kisses her goodbye and parts away. Henry returns to the laboratory and fights Angus, who has now transformed into a gargantuan mutant half-human, half-sheep creature. However, governed by a sheep's instincts, Angus is kept in check by Henry and the farm's sheep dog.

While Angus is cornered by the dog, the revolving propeller of the family's plane cuts into him and wounds him badly. Experience and Tucker arrive with Mrs. Mac to disinfect both Angus and Henry with more amniotic fluid, administered via a medicine nozzle designed for sheep. Angus goes back to the flock for them to bite him again but the flock, driven by his wound's blood, maul him to death instead. Eventually, the flock is contained and killed in a massive explosion of ignited sheep flatulence. The cure is give to the surviving half-human, half-sheep hybrids, including Grant, who are all turned back into humans. Suddenly, the sheep dog begins bleating like a sheep.

Cast

• Nathan Meister as Henry Oldfield
  • Nick Fenton as Young Henry
• Danielle Mason as Experience
• Peter Feeney as Angus Oldfield
  • Eli Kent as Young Angus
• Tammy Davis as Tucker
  • Sam Clarke as Young Tucker
• Glenis Levestam as Mrs. Mac
• Tandi Wright as Dr. Astrid Rush
• Oliver Driver as Grant
• Matthew Chamberlain as Oliver Oldfield
• Richard Chapman as Muldoon
• Louis Sutherland as Winston
• Ian Harcourt as Brash
• James Ashcroft as Prebble
• Mick Rose as Mike
• Kevin McTurk as the Weresheep

Production

The film's special effects were handled by Weta Workshop, including participation from Richard Taylor. It was financed in part by an investment from the Korean company Daesung Group. It was also the first time a Korean company had directly invested in a New Zealand film, though Weta Workshop had previously collaborated with Korean effects houses on the South Korean film The Host.

Release

Black Sheep premiered at the 31st Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2006 as part of their Midnight Madness series and was theatrically released in New Zealand on March 29, 2007. Black Sheep was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 9, 2007 by Icon Home Entertainment.

In Spain, Manga Films released it on August 15, 2007, in a double-session Grindhouse lookalike after Severance. Warner Home Video (via Manga Films and its successor Vértice360) released the film on DVD on November 20, 2007, and in Blu-ray in March 2014. In North America, IFC Films picked up theatrical distribution rights, and Genius Products and The Weinstein Company released on DVD via their Dimension Extreme label.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 72% of 96 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "With an outrageous premise played completely straight, Black Sheep is a violent, grotesque, and very funny movie that takes B-movie lunacy to a delirious extreme." On Metacritic, it received a rating of 62/100 based on 17 reviews. In a positive review, the Houston Chronicle's Bruce Westbrook stated that the film combines its many influences with fresh ideas. Nigel Floyd of Time Out London rated the film 4/5 stars and called it a "treat for horror comedy fans". Philip French, writing for The Guardian, called it a "lively affair" and "full of what might be called shear terror". Andrew Pulver, also of The Guardian, was less impressed; he rated the film 2/5 and wrote that Shaun of the Dead had set the bar high for comedy horrors. Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2, academic Peter Dendle described it as an "excellent offering" that has zombie sheep "every bit as violent and contagious as the infected in 28 Days Later and other contemporary zombie fare".

Awards

• Silver Raven to the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film, in 2007.
• Special Jury Prize to the Gérardmer Film Festival, in 2007.
• Audience Prize to the Gérardmer Film Festival, in 2007.
• Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form Award at the 2008 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for New Zealand science fiction and fantasy

Sequel

On November 5, 2024, it was announced that a sequel is in the works, with Jonathan King returning as director.

External links

• Black Sheep at IMDb
• Black Sheep at Rotten Tomatoes
• NZ On Screen page