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Black Sheep, 2006
Henry (Nathan Meister) left his childhood sheep farm with a serious case of sheep-phobia as the result of a cruel, bloody prank by his older brother, Angus (Peter Feeney). When Henry returns as an adult with a tenuous hold on his fears, the timing couldn’t be worse: Angus has been doing some unscrupulous experiments on the flock, leading to loads of wooly beasties who are out for blood. With the help of his childhood friend Tucker (Tammy Davis) and overly-earnest animal rights activist Experience (Danielle Mason), Henry must save the flock and himself.
Landing in just the right sweet spot of horror-comedy, this one is full of easy laughs and enjoyably campy sheep-based carnage.
Sometimes a movie goes back to the same well over and over and you find yourself rolling your eyes. But other times, the water from that well is just as sweet the fourth time as the first. In the case of this film, I’m talking about a character looking up only to realize that they’re being regarded by a sheep, or maybe a handful of sheep. A dramatic musical sting accompanies the appearance of the sheep. Yes, I laughed basically every time.
There have been countless movies that riff on The Birds, but there’s something very special about sheep. Their faces are cute, but they also do always look like they’d eat your spleen if they felt like it. I cackled like a maniac every time one of the sheep regarded the camera with their patented head-on stare.
Now, this gag alone is obviously not enough to sustain a feature-length film. But fortunately there are plenty of other charming elements on hand. Going perfectly with the sheep is Meister’s performance as Henry. Sure, he’s kind of a hapless hero. But the gag that he’s terrified of the sheep even before they take their first bite out of someone is very funny. The fearful, smothered yelp he lets out every time he encounters one just doesn’t get old.
Davis is also quite likable as the laid-back Tucker. Mason is also very sweet and goofy as Experience, whose every anecdote starts with something like, “We were occupying a poultry farm when . . . “. Feeney’s immoral and greedy Angus is easy to hate, and is the real villain of the piece.
I also appreciated the place where the film landed in terms of its animal violence. It might seem silly to some horror fans, but I don’t like watching animals or creatures get killed, even when they’re the “bad guys.” The zombie sheep here are just rubbery enough that it doesn’t make you cringe when one takes a gunshot to the face. And while I’ll spare a ton of details, the animals are ultimately dispatched in ways that do not feel like they are reveling in cruelty toward them.
While I wouldn’t say that this is necessarily top-tier horror-comedy, there’s an affability to it and a gentle silliness that kept me hooked all the way through and rooting for the people and the sheep.
Black Sheep, 2006
Henry (Nathan Meister) left his childhood sheep farm with a serious case of sheep-phobia as the result of a cruel, bloody prank by his older brother, Angus (Peter Feeney). When Henry returns as an adult with a tenuous hold on his fears, the timing couldn’t be worse: Angus has been doing some unscrupulous experiments on the flock, leading to loads of wooly beasties who are out for blood. With the help of his childhood friend Tucker (Tammy Davis) and overly-earnest animal rights activist Experience (Danielle Mason), Henry must save the flock and himself.
Landing in just the right sweet spot of horror-comedy, this one is full of easy laughs and enjoyably campy sheep-based carnage.
Sometimes a movie goes back to the same well over and over and you find yourself rolling your eyes. But other times, the water from that well is just as sweet the fourth time as the first. In the case of this film, I’m talking about a character looking up only to realize that they’re being regarded by a sheep, or maybe a handful of sheep. A dramatic musical sting accompanies the appearance of the sheep. Yes, I laughed basically every time.
There have been countless movies that riff on The Birds, but there’s something very special about sheep. Their faces are cute, but they also do always look like they’d eat your spleen if they felt like it. I cackled like a maniac every time one of the sheep regarded the camera with their patented head-on stare.
Now, this gag alone is obviously not enough to sustain a feature-length film. But fortunately there are plenty of other charming elements on hand. Going perfectly with the sheep is Meister’s performance as Henry. Sure, he’s kind of a hapless hero. But the gag that he’s terrified of the sheep even before they take their first bite out of someone is very funny. The fearful, smothered yelp he lets out every time he encounters one just doesn’t get old.
Davis is also quite likable as the laid-back Tucker. Mason is also very sweet and goofy as Experience, whose every anecdote starts with something like, “We were occupying a poultry farm when . . . “. Feeney’s immoral and greedy Angus is easy to hate, and is the real villain of the piece.
I also appreciated the place where the film landed in terms of its animal violence. It might seem silly to some horror fans, but I don’t like watching animals or creatures get killed, even when they’re the “bad guys.” The zombie sheep here are just rubbery enough that it doesn’t make you cringe when one takes a gunshot to the face. And while I’ll spare a ton of details, the animals are ultimately dispatched in ways that do not feel like they are reveling in cruelty toward them.
While I wouldn’t say that this is necessarily top-tier horror-comedy, there’s an affability to it and a gentle silliness that kept me hooked all the way through and rooting for the people and the sheep.