Nathan Meister (who? you cry) stars in this severely disappointing horror comedy about genetically engineered mutated killer sheep.
I honestly did have high hopes for this, and regular readers will no doubt have noticed that I can be pretty forgiving, but this film really disappointed me. Hyped as the best thing to come out of New Zealand (bar LOTR) since Braindead and sharing a cast member, one can be forgiven for getting excited about this. I was not caught up in any kind of hype as there wasn’t that much press attention here in the UK (I hadn’t even seen the trailer on TV until three days after I had seen the film), but what looked very promising ended up being a flat special effects showcase.
The film opens well with possibly the best ever casting of younger actors who resemble their adult counterparts in young/old(er) Angus and Henry but sadly never lives up to its full potential.
The story sees sheep phobic Henry return home to sell his share of the family farm only to discover that Angus has been involved in agricultural science projects which have unfortunately gone awry. When two crazy animal rights campaigners accidentally set one of the sheep free, it infects the rest of the flock and the area becomes overrun by mutated sheep and people.
The film looks good and truly is a wonderful showcase for Weta Workshop’s special effects work, but besides the odd laugh or gross moment, the film was silly and dull.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Black Sheep looked promising but its efforts were sadly wasted on me. I’m not surprised that this went straight to DVD in the USA. If you have to see it, you would probably only ever watch it once. I say wait for the rental release.
