Black Sheep

Black Sheep? Baahh Humbug

I should have known better than to rent this old mutton chop when I read the 'If you enjoyed Shaun Of The Dead...' comment on the box. Because like the god awful 'Severance' and the equally disappointing 'The Cottage' , 'Black Sheep' is yet another miserable attempt to fuse horror with comedy (with emphasis heavily on the comedy), and cash in on Edgar Wright's hit.

Henry is left terrified of sheep (now ain't that a coincidence) after a childhood prank, and on returning to the family farm for a funeral, uncovers his brother's dastardly plot to genetically modify, you got it, sheep. Guess what happens next...

This is a New Zealand made film, a country that gave us such genre classics as 'Bad Taste' and 'Braindead'. Those movies succeeded because despite them being incredibly daft, Peter Jackson's execution was anything but. 'Braindead' in particular was a gross out slapstick masterclass, superbly choreographed, with bags of energy, in jokes, and razor sharp wit. 'Black Sheep' on the other hand relies solely on it's central idea for laughs, and let me tell you, after about fifteen minutes of this movie, the joke wears pretty thin.

The film's main problem is it's total lack of innovation, despite said sheep, you won't see anything here that you haven't seen before and done better. The whole thing just feels stale, it's by the numbers comedy horror, and after half an hour I was simply left counting wallpaper patterns just hoping it would hurry up and end.

That's the trouble with the whole 'Horror Comedy' genre, it's extremely hit and miss, films very rarely working, save as cult curiosities. Films like 'Re-Animator' and 'The Return Of The Living Dead' were great, and I love em', but they're not scary in the slightest. To my mind 'Horror Comedy' is a contradiction in terms, a 'horror' film should scare you and be just that, horrible. A 'comedy', well, you do the math. Infact I can think of only one film which succeeded in both the scares and laughs department, and that's 'An American Werewolf In London'. If anyone can think of another example, please feel free to let me know.

In it's favor 'Black Sheep' is well made, fast paced, has abattoirs full of gore (though most of it looks rubbery and fake), and lots of, errr sheep. But really your enjoyment of this movie will depend on whether you find the aggressive man eating sheep hilarious, I didn't.

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

I bought this as soon as it came out because the trailers looked funny and gorey which I thought would be good for a laugh but god was I in for a shock, this is possibly one of the worst films ive EVER EVER EVER seen. It was rubbish soooo bad. I wasnt best pleased!

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

I'd have to disagree with the assessment that it was the worse film ever. It was a "bad" film, but it wasn't near the level of being as "bad" as Starship Troopers or the worst film ever made Welcome to the Jungle, or I could list off a bunch of other films (mainly remakes of Japanese horror films, or films starring both Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen). This film set out to be a horror comedy, and I thought it pulled that off very well.

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"As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away."
-From Identity

I agree with some of your opinions but I was really disappointed with this film it is in my opinion very bad, and possibly the worst film ive ever seen. There are lots of really bad films out there which look quite pants from the trailer but this did look really good in the trailer. Its one of those films that sadly look good but all the best bits are in the trailer.

definatly 1/10

I was feeling nauseous already after one too many beers last night and the site of that makes me want to vomit

I agree with Gnat on this one. By far, not the worst film ever made.

It had it's moments, the sheep driving the car bit was funny.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

I have to admit there was one or two scenes that made me giggle but still the overall film is very very poor.

It had it's moments but they were few and far between.

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Bleacheddecay

The first two installments of the Evil Dead series came to mind instantly.

Also, I agree, this film was average.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I still think this film was a waste of time and I really cant see me ever see this again.

I've always seen the original Evil Dead as a straight horror film with elements of black humor. It never made me laugh out loud like An American Werewolf did, and I certainly wouldn't describe it as a horror comedy. Evil Dead Part II on the other hand is definitely a horror comedy, but it's not scary in the slightest.

UF, I'm suprised you got sucked in by this one. A horror comedy about zombie sheep, which has the same name as a film which 'starred', not only Chris Farley, but David Spade too. There's just too much there to go wrong.

It was one of those 'it's only a pound I might as well' budget rentals from the library. Plus there was nothing else remotely interesting there and I was determined to rent something. We live and learn.

Funny, that. American Werewolf never made me laugh out loud the way that The Evil Dead has, and I've never really thought of it as a horror comedy. I think having someone around (or being in a theatre full of like-minded audience people) helps a lot in determining just how funny a horror film is.

Personally, I thought Evil Dead II was plenty scary the first few times I watched it, but eh. Different strokes and all.

Thread closed at user's request; please direct all relevant discussion to UF's review thread:

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