After seeing Jonathan King’s 2006 horror film “Black Sheep,” it will be impossible to recite the children’s poem “Baa Baa black sheep.” A genetic engineering project in a New Zealand farm to produce high-quality sheep went horribly wrong, transforming the innocuous sheep into ravenous monsters ravaging the country’s fields. Henry Oldfield is played by Nathan Meister, Angus Oldfield is played by Peter Feeney, Experience is played by Danielle Mason, Tucker is played by Tammy Davis, and Grant is played by Oliver Driver.
Despite the fact that it is a low-budget film, Jonathan King’s direction is quite excellent, as the film is really well-made and never loses focus. Weta Workshop handled the animatronics and special effects for the picture, which included input from Richard Taylor, the founder and creative director of Weta Workshop.
Natural sheep are used as monsters, which makes them extremely frightening. The zombie sheep have an insatiable craving for human flesh, and their bite transforms any person into a half-human, half-sheep monster, making the virus epidemic a double-whammy. The film had its world premiere at the 31st Toronto Film Festival and was released on March 29, 2007, in New Zealand. Let us go to a sheep farm in New Zealand and see how it all started.
Get Ready for the Violence of the Lambs! – Black Sheep: Released in 2006
The film commenced in the lush green sheep farm of the Oldfields in New Zealand, where young Henry lived with his elder brother Angus and their father. Henry’s father was very impressed with Henry’s natural ability in the field of sheep farming, making Angus jealous of his younger brother. He played a very cruel prank by killing Henry’s pet sheep and then wearing the upper half of the sheep himself to scare Henry. That was quite terrible indeed! Henry almost collapsed from the shock of this prank when their housekeeper, Mrs. Mac, informed them that their father had died of an accident. As an effect of the combined shock, Henry developed an unusual phobia of sheep.
After fifteen years, as Henry returned to his farm, his taxi was surrounded by a flock of sheep. We got a glimpse of his phobia as he grew very restless, and his breath became heavier with a panic attack. Finally, the flock of sheep moved away and Henry reached his farmhouse. Meanwhile, two animal rights activists, Grant, and Experience, silently sneaked into Angus’s farm to investigate the genetic experiment secretly being carried out in a lab. Grant suddenly stole a container of waste and ran off. But he tripped while running and broke the container. A tiny sheep in fetus form crawled out and bit him vigorously before biting another adult sheep.
Angus, a gentleman farmer, handed a two-million-dollar cheque to buy off Henry’s share of the farm and rehearsed a speech for introducing his new breed of sheep. Before leaving, Henry and Tucker went for a drive up the hill, but their way was blocked by a sheep whose nose was bleeding. Actually, that was the first sheep that was bitten by the fetus sheep. Meanwhile, Experience joined them in an attempt to find Grant. Soon the three reached a farmer’s house and found his mutilated body.
Guess who the killer is? The mutated sheep had turned carnivorous. The killer sheep started attacking them while a flock of carnivorous sheep surrounded the house. Henry was almost on the verge of another panic attack, but somehow, the trio managed to get into the truck. A monster sheep somehow got inside the truck, and even after a tremendous fight, it managed to bite Tucker in the foot. On the other side of the farm, Angus got bitten by Grant who had transformed into a zombie-like creature.
As the group entered the lab, they realized that the genetic experiment that Angus had initiated transformed the sheep into carnivorous monsters. But they were yet to learn that whomever this sheep bit would be converted into a half-human, half-sheep monster. The scientist was intrigued with Tucker’s condition, and soon she discovered that Tucker’s foot had become a sheep’s hoof.
Tucker was held back for experiments, but Henry and Experience fled from the lab. Where would they go? Wherever they looked there were sheep everywhere, fiercely advancing towards them. Having nowhere to go, Henry and Experience went inside the offal pit, which was surrounded by a gate and barbed wire. Accidentally, both of them slipped into the pit full of bloody organs of creatures. Thank God Experience was carrying a candle and lighter, which helped them walk through the pit’s pitch-dark tunnel.
After emerging out of the pit, they entered a woolshed on hearing some noise. Experience finally found Grant there but in a giant were-sheep form. She even scolded Grant for eating meat as they were apparently vegetarians, and though he did appear guilty for a moment, he soon resumed his attacks. By the way, four people were involved in operating this Giant monster sheep suit in the set.
Back in the lab, as Tucker transformed into a sheep, the scientist administered an injection that converted him back into human form. When the scientist went out to check on her partner and Angus, she was attacked and killed by the monster sheep. The disemboweled corpses were terrifying.
On the other side, Angus was trying to impress his delegates with a speech, but he was constantly losing his composure as the sheep’s gene seemed to take over. When he uncrated his Oldfield sheep, it called out to the farm’s other sheep, which started approaching the gathering in huge flocks. Soon they started ripping out the organs of whomever they encountered. With his ongoing transformation into a sheep, Angus was spared from being attacked by the monstrous flock of sheep. We could see that his wounded hand had turned into a hoof of sheep.
Mrs. Mac appeared in her car and rescued Henry and Experience to their house. Angus revealed that the sheep had been genetically engineered using Oldfield family DNA. He then tried to reach his airplane and escape with his new breed of sheep, as the siblings faced each other for a final confrontation.
By that time, Angus had fully transformed into a giant were-sheep and Henry was no match for him. Somehow, Henry used his sheepdog and placed Angus in a position where the propeller of the plane could slice him. Still, Angus was alive while Tucker showed up and used the same fluid used on him to cure Henry and Angus. A badly injured Angus still offered himself to the flock of sheep, but this time they started ripping him apart. As the sheep farted Methane, Henry threw the lighter to incinerate them all with a blast.
The movie concluded with Tucker and Henry helping all the infected people get back to their human forms, and amidst the happy ending, we see the sheepdog standing on the hill and letting out a ”Baaa”.
After the sheep became carnivorous, there was a lot of blood, gore, and disemboweled bodies everywhere. The special effects of the Weta Workshop were quite remarkable. The transformation from human to were-sheep and vice versa, though not as effective as the legendary transformation in ”An American Werewolf in London”, is still pretty impressive.
The best thing about the film is that it had a perfect blend for everything, making it highly entertaining. Nathan Meister strikes the right balance between his phobia and his struggle to survive, with equal support from Peter Feeney with his hatred for a sibling, obsession with sheep, and maintenance of his status. Danielle Mason was adorable in her performance and looked perfect in her role.
Tammy Davis was so focused that he worked on a farm to perfect his role as Tucker. The film was shot in and around Wellington in New Zealand. Finally, Weta Workshop and its director Richard Taylor did a spectacular job in making the sheep do what they would never do in real life. As the debut film of Jonathan King, I must say the film is quite brilliant despite some flaws here and there.
Virus That Turns Man into Half-Human, Half Sheep Monster, and Zombie Sheep Explained
We all know that Angus Oldfield was secretly experimenting on a genetic mutation to produce a special breed of sheep to be introduced to the world. But the experiment ended up creating a virus that turned the sheep rabid. The entire episode would have been concealed from the outside world, but the endeavor of Grant and Experience exposed everything.
And thanks to Grant’s brilliant effort, the virus that was going to waste got released into the outside world. In fact, Grant was the first person who was bitten by the monstrous sheep fetus, and we immediately see the effect as the vegetarian Grant grabbed a cute little rabbit and started eating its raw flesh.
The fetus doesn’t stop there. With great difficulty, it climbed uphill, and when an adult sheep came to help the struggling fetus, it got bitten and infected. Within some time, we find that almost all the sheep on the farm have been infected as they start attacking, killing, and devouring anyone they encounter. On the other hand, Grant, apart from turning carnivorous, also got transformed into a giant half-sheep half-human monster who is vicious, monstrous.
In the case of human beings, it is to be noted that they retain their memory and intelligence even after getting infected or transformed into a were-sheep. Grant was the only infected person who could be observed closely. He was seen taunting Angus about his work and, in the end, quickly bit his hand and ran off. Thus, the act of Karma was fulfilled. Angus got infected with the virus which he had created.
He also seemed to remember Experience and the fact that he had been a vegetarian, but there is no stopping the effect of the deadly virus that had converted the human beings into savage predators. The were-sheep monsters were bipedal and used their forelimbs to attack, apart from their teeth.
Another thing to be noted is that if a person gets infected with the virus and no matter which stage of transformation the person is in, the sheep will no longer attack them. Hence, we see, amidst the massive rampage of the sheep during the launch program of the new breed, all the monstrous sheep spared Angus.
No matter how powerful and ruthless the rabid sheep and the were-sheep had been, they were vulnerable to all kinds of weapons meant to kill any living organism. As claimed by Experience, the gas emitted by a sheep’s fart is Methane which is highly inflammable and proved to be true in the end. When all the sheep were held in an enclosure and they farted, Henry threw a lighter, which blasted the entire area as all the sheep along with Angus were engulfed in flames.
However, there was a cure to convert the were-sheep back to human form. Tucker was the first person who was converted back into his human form by the scientist in the lab. Tucker was smart enough to get hold of the fluid and eventually convert all the infected people back to their human forms.
Why should you watch ”Black Sheep”?
There is a scene when Tucker, Henry, and Experience had jumped from the truck, but the sheep was seen behind the wheels as the truck rolled down the hill. It is heard that the filming of the scene took several days to shoot. Some films may not be the greatest blockbusters or award-winning films, yet they are worth watching. ”Black Sheep” is one such film, brimming with entertainment.
The performance, as said earlier, is fantastic. The concept of transforming an innocent-looking sheep into a carnivorous monster must have been challenging. The subtle touch of humor makes the film even more watchable. There is plenty of horror and bloodshed that can make you nauseous, but that’s what horror films are about! Amidst all the horror and commotion, the gorgeous view of New Zealand is so mesmerizing that it takes your breath away.