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| Black Sheep * * * |
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| Written by Ivan Radford |
| Friday, 12 October 2007 00:00 |
 Director: Jonathan KingThe New Zealand tourist board aren’t a happy bunch. First, everyone thinks they’re all widgets with West Country accents. Now, the world thinks their countryside is swarming with zombies. Hardly an invitation to visit your estranged Kiwi cousin, is it? Come to New Zealand, see the small people and get munched on by Mother Nature. Nonetheless, Black Sheep is inevitably entertaining. Indeed, when the concept of a film can be summed up in two words, mindless fodder can be expected. When those two words are “zombie” and “sheep”, you know you’re in for a good time. It all starts with a sentimental flashback to Henry Oldfield’s youth. The son of a farmer, he (Meister) and his older brother Angus live wholesome lives, herding the animals out of barns and stacking up hay in picturesque fields. Angus even dresses up in the skin of a dead sheep to scare his younger sibling. Awww. Jump 15 years forward and Henry has a complex. What a surprise. Even more ominously, he’s visiting Angus at precisely the same time environmental activists are sneaking in through the back fence. Within minutes, a suspicious canister breaks open, freeing a deformed ovine foetus which feasts upon the hippies. The infection spreads with increasing entertainment. Did you know a sheep can drive a car? Well, thank goodness WETA were on hand to provide such effects; we might not have been warned in time. Bizarrely, though, despite the glorious violence of the lambs, the film works best when you see nothing; there’s something inherently funny about a white object appearing from nowhere and knocking someone over with a loud “baa”. Sadly, the human characters are not as captivating. From Henry, the paranoid black sheep of the family (see what they did there?) to Experience (Mason), the animal friendly activist, it’s hard to care about the human prey. Compare it to the excellent Brit flick Dog Soldiers and the lack of cast chemistry is clear. By the end of the film, Angus may be shagging the sheep but you won’t be bothered if he ends up sleeping with the fishes. VERDICT Zombie. Sheep. This inherently hilarious concept saves this B movie from its shallow characters. For better or worse, Black Sheep is bloody simple entertainment. |
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