Review of The Black Sheep (1932) by Jason C — 08 Jan 2011

Wow! Wow! Wow! The only thing wrong with this movie was that I waited three years to see it! Even after one viewing it quickly become one of my favorite new movies, and not just horror either. This little indie flick had a tough time deciding if it wanted to make us laugh or cringe with fear.

But in all honesty, it is pretty hard to cringe at a cute lovable whooly sheep! Or so I thought ... After two brothers, Henry and Angus, lose their father in an accident at their sheep farm, the youngest brother leaves for England.

Fifteen years later, he returns in hopes of curing his sheep-a-phobia and to sell his share of the farm to his oldest brother, who is now in charge. When he gets there though, things aren't what he remembered.

The sheep still frighten him, but his brother seems to be acting strange. After getting paid he runs into family friends Tucker and Mrs. Mac and they convince him to stick around awhile and check things out.

At the same time, two bleeding-heart vegans who are protesting the unethical treatment of the sheep steal a large vile containing what appears to be a large mutated baby sheep. Grant takes off running with the vile, only to trip and expose the contents.

While laying on the ground, he searches frantically for the little sheep. What he doesn't know is that the little thing is crawling up his back and soon will try biting his ear off. And this is where the mayhem starts! From here the gore factor and the over-the-topness become equally primary with the story and characters, as this little sheep soon bites a normal sheep, setting off a wide spread disease within the rest of the herd.

With the help of Experience, the other vegan, our heros Henry and Tucker and Mrs. Mac get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding why all of a sudden, the sheep have a taste for human flesh, blood and organs! It turns out Henry's brother has been genetically engineering the sheeps DNA with human DNA to create a mass race of super sheep.

Ones with more meat and whool for the world's consumption. But as through out history, we have seen the created eventually turn against the creator, and once again that happens here. After more and more gloriously gory kills and unbelievable special effects, including seeing the humans that were bitten or killed by the sheep return from death as monster were-sheep! I was in tears from laughing so histerically, and I'm betting writer and director Jonathan King would have wanted me to.

King has done of great job of not taking the matter too seriously and is able to let us laugh with him. Just like Peter Jackson's amazing Dead Alive, Jonathan has crafted another great New Zealand horror/comedy, one that I believe is on par with Dead Alive.

If you need some over-the-top fun in your life, please please check out Black Sheep today as it contains all of the elements for a perfectly enjoyable time!