BLACK SHEEP
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2007 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
Baa baa "Black Sheep," have you any wool? Well, enough to pull
over the collective eyes of the undemanding audience with whom I saw
this New Zealand import about killer mutton anyways.
For an appreciative throng can well and truly scupper a movie-going
experience, even if the movie itself happens to be a good one (which
"Black Sheep" is decidedly not). This lot of 20-plussers was guffawing
right from the opening credits, when nothing much had happened save for
the stark black and white of the title followed by a few blood red spots
above the word "Sheep" for (presumably comic) effect.
Cut to a pastoral scene of undulating New Zealand fields, with
sheep farmers hard at it, and the laughter would continue, as if those
congregated together in one place had seen all this before and were
anticipating what was to happen next.
What was to happen next, I have to admit, was majorly disappointing.
Jonathan KingâeTMs film is a comedy first and a horror film later,
which should make it funnier than it is gross (if not scary) which,
again, it isnâeTMt. Its humor is trite and insincere, corny and obvious.
Its characters are paper thin, largely uninteresting, and unconvincingly
performed by an all-star cast of unknown New Zealand actors on their
break, presumably, from TV soap operas and Tasman Bitter commercials.
Considering that the visual effects are by the same outfit that
worked on the "âeTMLord of the Rings" films (Weta Workshops) one might have
expected something a little less cheesy. Clearly hampered by budget
constraints, the mutant sheep fetuses look like rejected puppets from
Jim HensonâeTMs Creature Shop. As for the "transformation" scenes, when an
infected Kiwi shepherd turns into a full-grown "were sheep," itâeTMs all a
lot of fast-motion head shaking--nothing too groundbreaking or
particularly special. At least LOTRâeTMs Gollum, although irritating
beyond belief, was somewhat credible seeming and definitely unique. By
comparison "âeTMSheep"âeTMs FX run cold and even colder!
ItâeTMs a cute tagline though: "The Violence of the Lambs." And itâeTMs
a promising plot outline: "An experiment in genetic engineering turns
harmless sheep into blood-thirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New
Zealand farm." But the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the
eating and "Black Sheep" tastes like week-old lamb without any mint
sauce to pep it up. (I felt my jaw drop several inches when one of our
hapless heroes actually cracked open a bottle of the tangy jelly and
tossed it at a fleece-covered zombie in defense. Cue the crack-ups.)
IâeTMd even give the film the benefit of the doubt and call it "a cute
idea" (and "mercifully short," perhaps) had writer/director King not
opted for over-the-top gore sequences the likes of which would make
splatter maestro Tom Savini (the original "Dawn of the Dead," "Friday
the 13th") proud. I mean weâeTMre talking entrails, intestines, severed
limbs--the works--here. All tongue in cheek, of course. Make that
tongue *out of* cheek!
As horror spoofs go, KingâeTMs bloody farce cannot hold a pair of
shears to either the smart funny ones ("Shaun of the Dead") or the dark
scary ones ("An American Werewolf in London"). All told, "Black Sheep"
remains well and truly rooted in its own field: the singularly sheepish one.
--
David N. Butterworth
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