Picture lush lands of green rolling hills. Picture gentle flocks of sheep frolicking, eating, doing sheep stuff. Now picture them as blood thirsty monsters...better yet picture them as smart, bloodthirsty, zombie sheep. God hope you don't get bitten, then you will slowly and painfully change into a bloodthirsty Were-Sheep. Bullets help, letting them drive helps, Mint Jelly burns them like holy water on a Vampire. And yes there is even a love story..sort of. There you have it...it's up to a small band of brave New Zealanders to save this farm and in turn THE WORLD.
Oldfield Farm..where Harry and Angus spent their childhood learning the family trade of raising and caring for God's gentlest creatures. Harry is the golden child, winning awards, handling the raising of the sheep better and all around looking like he will be taking over the farm , instead of his older brother Angus. So Angus decides one day to get back at his little brother...by slaughtering Harry's pet sheep and wearing the carcass.
Fast forward a few years Harry (Nathan Meister) is returning to the farm he left. Angus (Peter Feeny) has taken over and is buying Harry out...of course Harry is more than fine with this, he has suffered from crippling fear of sheep since Angus' prank.
Of course we find that Angus behind the scenes has been doing a bit of genetic experimenting (that is NEVER good), to create the perfect lamb. He has hired the notorious, and very cocky, Dr.Rush (Tandi Wright), as his "Dr. Frankenstein". Of course there is the inevitable lab accident, as a jar of a mutated sheep fetus is dropped, and this little bugger crawls his undead butt off into the woods.
Enter our Earth-Mother, peace loving, vegan activists...Grant (Oliver Driver) and Experience (Danielle Mason). These two want to of course shut down the big bad sheep farm and sneak on the farm to get evidence against Angus. One thing leads to another and these two get separated, after Grant was bit by our little undead fetus friend...remember him? And hilarity ensues....
Our little friend has been busy, his bites infect you with the zombie sheep disease, that was inadvertently created, and crawls on to find his next victim. First he bites Grant, who leaves his vegan lifestyle now to snack on bunny rabbits,as he begins to turn into a Were-sheep. Then our little bundle of woolly hell nips a couple of sheep, they nip a couple of friends, and they nip a couple of friends, and they nip a couple of friends, and so on....and soon everyone is running for their lives from blood thirsty cannibal zombie sheep (wow, never in my life did I think I would type those words in one sentence).
So while our intrepid heroes...Harry and Experience are trying to save their skins...and in turn the world, with the help of the family housekeeper, Mrs. Mac (Glenis Levestam). Angus has been preparing for a meeting with sheep investors from around the globe, hide his experiments, and clean up the bite he receives on his hand. Those of us experienced in this genre know NONE of these things is going to work.
This of course brings us to the third act and the final showdowns (yes there is more than one). Harry fights off a 6 foot Were-sheep Grant, with the help of mint jelly, which burns our evil sheep creatures like holy water, and Experiences deadly acupuncture skills. Harry, Experience, and Mrs. Mac try and barricade themselves in the house while the sheep attack in a scene that is obviously a homage to "Night of the Living Dead", and Angus leaves to take his new "girlfriend" (see above pic), and spread his sheepy love to the world at large.
Harry, now having been bitten, rushes off to stop his brother in a fight worthy of Ali and Frazier, if they were sheep......all ends well sort of...Angus gets his just desserts, Harry is cured, the evil sheep destroyed, and Experience gets to find out what "Mountain Oysters" are. The world is once more safe from sheep...or is it?
All in all I really had a fun time with this movie. It took a original premise, mashed up with obvious tributes to some great zombie tropes, and came out the other end with something new, in a genre that can sometimes get very overdone. I would recommend this as a great get together film for people who love horror or zombie films, and even for those who love a good comedy, or both. I can honestly say this one is not BAAAAAAd and worth it's weight in wool (sorry about that folks...couldn't resist myself).
Black Sheep
Written by: Johnathan King
Directed by: Jonathan King
Produced by: Phillippa Campbell
Rating: NR
Runtime: 87 minutes
This recipe seemed fitting for those of us trying to save the world from the evil that is known as Mutton:
Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks
READY IN2½ hrs
Original recipe makes 6 servings
Directions
- Sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook shanks until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer shanks to plate.
- Add onions, carrots and garlic to pot and saute until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in wine, tomatoes, chicken broth and beef broth. Season with rosemary and thyme. Return shanks to pot, pressing down to submerge. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 2 hours.
- Remove cover from pot. Simmer about 20 minutes longer. Transfer shanks to platter, place in a warm oven. Boil juices in pot until thickened, about 15 minutes. Spoon over shanks.
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