What Do The Critics Say?

"Is it a horror film? Is it a comedy? Is it a load of utter silliness? Well, all three actually. Black Sheep is one of those films that will get talked about a lot because it’s an original, funny idea – killer sheep! – that everyone will get straight off the bat. And where else could it be set than New Zealand, where there are half a dozen sheep for every human inhabitant. Black Sheep looks like it was made by a bunch of friends over a weekend. But in the best and most entertaining possible way." Julian Wood FILMINK "Amid the blood, gore, shrieks and ovine freaks, there's plenty of novelty value in this original flock-horror fest, albeit little else. Writer director Jonathan King fleeces every bale of sheep humour to deliver a perverse, woolly yarn that is tainted black and delivers scares and laughs in equal quantities." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "We’ve seen some pretty dodgy killer animals in horror movies over the years, with serious monsters made of worms and grasshoppers, rabbits and shrews, to name but a few in the crazy menagerie. But as well as being a funny guy, New Zealand debut writer-director Jonathan King is a horror aficionado - he knows how to make his woolly charges surprisingly scary, especially in the first half of his film. For genre fans, Black Sheep is packed with nods to horror classics, from "The Birds" and "American Werewolf In London", to "Dawn Of The Dead" and fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson’s early comic gorefests "Bad Taste" and "Brain Dead". As a smartly crafted silly movie worth bleating about, this rates 3 ½ stars." Michael Adams THE SBS MOVIE SHOW

"Who would have thought that anything good could come out of combining the marvellous concept of a zombie apocalypse with New Zealand’s national treasure, the sheep? Black Sheep’s opening scenes – a flashback – introduce the viewer to the film’s protagonists, brothers Henry and Angus Oldfield (Nathan Meister and Peter Feeney respectively). 7/10" Logan Booker ATOMIC CULTURE "Following in the high-gore, low- budget tradition of The Evil Dead and Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, writer and director Jonathan King had plenty to work with. After all, if you want to make a movie about bloodthirsty ewes with a hunger for humans, New Zealand is the place to be. There's a formula for B-grade zombie comedy and this film follows it closely and, indeed, rams it home. 2 1/2 Stars." Rodney Chester BRISBANE COURIER MAIL "New Zealanders have a good sense of humour and can laugh at themselves which is a good trait if this latest little film from their shores is anything to go by. Here they take the mickey out of the usual slasher/horror/monster flicks keeping the audience laughing while they pile on the gore and violence. Trailing the footsteps of Peter Jackson's early horror pics this is indeed a wolf in sheep's clothing with the good sense to be funny." John Bale THE BLURB "The temptation for bad puns is almost overwhelming with this New Zealand horror-comedy about killer sheep but the filmmakers have already thought of most of them. "Get ready for the violence of the lambs," says one tag-line. "Get the flock outta here," says another. The writer and director, Jonathan King, acknowledges "Black Sheep" was inspired by "Bad Taste" and one of the films that inspired Jackson - "George Romero's Night of the Living Dead". Naturally, the question of sex arises, but it's wittily dealt with. "F--- the sheep," cries one character. "No time for that," cries another. 3 Stars" Paul Byrnes SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

The Inside Story An irreverent thrill ride into the dark heart of rural New Zealand that charts a battle between the forces of science and the guardians of nature, Jonathan King’s debut feature is a high-spirited take on the question that has puzzled New Zealand for over one hundred years. Are we forever to be known as a small isolated nation dominated by sheep? It is, as King says, "the New Zealand story that had to be told." "Black Sheep" explores a myriad of twists on New Zealand’s defining woolly icon. There are methane emissions, car seat covers, gourmet cuisine, drenching and, of course, sheep shagging. A flock of over one thousand animals, a small number of trained sheep and animatronic puppet creatures, created by world renowned Weta Workshop, were captured in camera to bring the rampant underbelly of ovine rage to life on the big screen. Inspired by Peter Jackson’s grand tradition of Kiwi splatter using physical effects, King’s collaboration with Richard Taylor and his Academy Award-winning team at Weta Workshop, lies at the heart of the film. Devising everything from conceptual art to buckets of gore, sculpted body parts and sophisticated prosthetic makeups, a highly experienced crew came together to build King’s distinctive vision of Kiwi bucolic bliss turned monstrously on its head. The making of "Black Sheep" draws on the enormous skills and infrastructure in the New Zealand industry developed, most recently, through the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy and "King Kong" to tell this uniquely New Zealand story. "It’s a midnight screening of "The Evil Dead". A packed house screams, cheers, stomps their feet through 85 mins of mayhem; it’s an extraordinary collective experience and a huge source of inspiration to me. Finding out it was made by a bunch of college dropouts on 16mm over two torturous years was even more inspiration, as was Peter Jackson’s "Bad Taste", with its own amazing DIY story – made in my home town! As it turned out, "Black Sheep" wasn’t made like this, but the kind of film that it is, owes much to those formative experiences. I’d been writing for some time when two things came together in my head: horror film and, sheep. It all flowed from there!" says director Jonathan King. "Black Sheep" plays with the defining image the world has of New Zealand and, in turn, the image we’re anxious about; the sheep and the scenery! Taking those images and exploding them; finding ways and places to stage violent, gross, funny scenes within these familiar ideas was tremendous fun. It was exciting to discover how readily sheep could be transformed into monsters by exploiting their natural features. They’re actually powerful beasts with sharp hooves, splayed teeth and black, lizard-like eyes. It’s only a small imaginative shift to see a sheep as a scary and dangerous animal and when you have tens, hundreds or thousands, acting as a flock, the effect is terrifying. I worked closely with Weta Workshop on some incredible concept art that took the sheep into terrifying new dimensions. The next part of the journey was discovering what happens when sheep meet humans in the lab; creating our spectacular ‘weresheep’! Much of the humour in the film comes from the unlikely nature of sheep themselves and New Zealanders’ attitude toward them. They have a reputation for silliness and we’ve co-opted their woolly character into countless tourist souvenirs. Of course there’s also the sheep-shagging jokes New Zealanders can never quite escape when you travel abroad. Yeah, we went there in the film how could we not? We were privileged to have the support of Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop from early in the film’s development. They were key to making our sheep into monsters, and to making sheep do in the film what they won’t do in real life. Being a lifelong movie geek, to find myself in the workshop that’s produced all their amazing work as we built animatronic sheep, creepy-crawly lamb creatures, weresheep suits, incredible prosthetic make-ups and piles of rubber gore for "Black Sheep" was beyond cool! I also felt strongly that this film should be grounded in the world of practical, physical effects rather than CGI. I think that there’s a suspension of disbelief and a drawing into the experience that you get from physical effects that you just can’t get from CGI and, from the start, physical effects really felt the way we had to go. This flowed through into the full spectrum of effects – from suit work that incorporated state-of-the-art animatronics, rod puppetry, lifelike prosthetics, to our take on some classic gore effects and old fashioned gags. So how do you get sheep to act? Very slowly! Our amazing animal trainers had trained the sheep for "Babe" and, as soon as I told them about the project, they assured me that they had just the sheep for the job. The sheep were impressively trained. They’ll come when called, stop on a mark, follow limited direction; all for little snacks (not so different from humans, then). But there are limits to what they will do, or how efficiently they’ll do it, so that’s when special effects took over. Of course, no sheep were harmed in the making of "Black Sheep" (though, I must say, there were days I wanted to). The human actors, on the other hand, were a real joy to work with, and they interacted with the sheep with good grace and patience. There were times when we’d be up to take 10, as the sheep wandered off in the other direction again but, then there were times when the sheep were dynamite from take one. Our actors had to be ready, and were! "Black Sheep" was filmed in and around Wellington where I live. The coast has rippling, rugged hillscapes, vertiginous cliff tops that have inspired since childhood. Having soaked up inspiration for the locations and sets over several years, including my step-father’s family’s sprawling South Island sheep station, it was such an exciting part of the process to discover the real-life versions of these places around the region and bring them together into the world of the story. Our principal farm is on the wild coast, less than half an hour from the city but feels like hundreds of miles from anywhere. The moment I saw the 19th century farming homestead; 90 mins north of Wellington in the Wairarapa district; I knew we had our homestead. Our shearing shed is a registered historic place and is the biggest woolshed in the lower North Island. The sinister Lab in the film was once the receiving station for all the radio broadcasts coming into New Zealand. Shot during during March and April 2006, locations on six farms stretching from Wellington’s spectacular south coast to the Wairarapa, were used to create the world of the film. Synopsis

Terrified of sheep and dosed up on therapy, Henry returns to his family’s farm to sell out to his older brother Angus, unaware that something baaaad is going on: Angus’ reckless genetic engineering program. When a pair of inept environmental activists release a mutant lamb from Angus’ laboratory onto the farm, thousands of sheep are turned into bloodthirsty predators. Along with farmhand Tucker and greenie girl Experience, Henry finds himself stranded deep on the farm as his worst nightmare comes to life. Battling their way to safety the intrepid trio discover there’s worse to come: one bite from an infected sheep seems to have alarming effect on those bitten . With Angus acting suspiciously sheepish, a delegation of international investors gathering at the homestead, a ravenous flock descending from the hills, Henry must find the farmer within himself, step up to the plate, wrest control of the farm from his monstrous brother and defeat an ovine invasion. Can Henry save New Zealand’s pastures green?

The Verdict "Another film that honours the genre of those classic B grade horror flicks many find total fun to watch. This little beauty from the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand, has a twist. Killer sheep! Never meant to be taken serious, "Black Sheep" is a bloodied tale with a strong environmental message about the perils of genetic manipulation. Those who use that age old method of counting sheep to get themselves of to sleep will be looking for another method after seeing "Black Sheep". Those who experienced "The Silence Of The Lambs" can now experience "The Violence Of The Lambs" in this very clever film that is sure to become a cult classic. The film not only takes the piss out of all those New Zealand sheep jokes but also offers some very pertinent pearls of wisdom from Danielle Mason's character, Experience. The involvement of Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop in the SFX ensures a chilling degree of realism for viewers. A worthy effort from all those who worked on the film. Recommended. 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "BLACK SHEEP" stars .......
Nathan Meister ["No. 2"]; Danielle Mason ["Futile Attraction"]; Peter Feeney ["The Platform" and "Toy Love"]; Tammy Davis ["Whale Rider", "Fracture" and "Tama tu"]; Glenis Levestam ["Skin Deep", "The Footstep Man" and "Braindead"]; Tandi Wright ["Absent Without Leave", "Permanent Wave" and "Sylvia"]; Matthew Chamberlain ["The Last Tattoo", "In My Father's Den" and "King Kong"] and Oliver Driver ["Space Nuns", "Topless Women Talk About Their Lives" and "Snakeskin"] as Grant.
"BLACK SHEEP" was .......
directed by Jonathan King ["Black Sheep"]; screenplay by Jonathan King ["The Tattooist" and "Black Sheep"]; casting by Liz Mullane ["Heaven", "Fracture", "King Kong" and "The Chronicles of Narnia"]; art direction by Simon Bright ["The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "Without A Paddle" and "King Kong"]; production design by Kim Sinclair ["My Grandfather Is a Vampire", "The Climb" and "Her Majesty"]; costume design by 1999 New Zealand Film Best Costume Design Award winner Pauline Bowkett ["The Whole of the Moon", "The Climb" and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?"]; edited by Chris Plummer ["Traffic Island", "Mananui" and "In My Father's Den"]; cinematography by 2003 Visual Effects Society Award Richard Bluck ["Eau de la vie", "Bitch" and "Water"]; original music by Victoria Kelly ["Heaven", "Fracture" and "Closer"]; produced by Philippa Campbell ["Via Satellite", "Rain" and "No 2"]. Who's Who?

Nathan Meister Danielle Mason Peter Feeney Tammy Davis Glenis Levestam Tandi Wright Oliver Driver Matthew Chamberlain Nick Fenton Sam Clarke Eli Kent Nick Blake Richard Chapman Louis Sutherland Ian Harcourt James Ashcroft Mick Rose Kevin McTurk

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Henry Oldfield Experience Angus Oldfield Tucker Mrs Mac Dr Rush Grant Oliver Oldfield Young Henry Young Tucker Young Angus Taxi Driver Muldoon Winston Brash Prebble Mike Were Sheep

Run Time 86 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Icon Distribution - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.