Tag line : Prepare yourself for the Violence of the Lambs!

With the amount of sheep in New Zealand, I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone did a horror comedy about killer sheep on the rampage there. Set in a remote farming community, former farm boy Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) has returned to his family's farmhouse in order to sell his share in the family business to his older brother Angus (Peter Feeney).

Henry has suffered for years with an irrational phobia of sheep and simply wants to sell up as quickly as possible so he can get back to the city. But little does he know, his older brother has been dabbling in genetic experiments on the livestock, and when a couple of bungling animal rights activists inadvertently let loose the genetically modified mutants, they quickly spread a zombie-like virus throughout the rest of the flock.

The next thing Henry knows, he and his friend Tucker (Tammy Davis) and the surviving animal rights activist, a young hippy girl named Experience (Danielle Mason), are running for their lives from flesh-eating sheep, which is not going to do Henry's phobia any good.

It's obvious that director Jonathon King (no not THAT Jonathon King) was taking cues from the earlier works of fellow NZ director Peter Jackson when he filmed this, as those who have seen "Bad Taste" and "Brain Dead" will attest to, though the end result seems a lot less bloody and action packed than Jackson's fare's

However, the scenes with the 'Weresheep' were pretty damn funny and the end massacre during Angus's party was downright hilarious too. So overall, it's definitely worth a watch but in all, I  felt this could have done with a bit more gore and action.

Overall marks : 5/10.

Other Information.

• Alternate tag lines "There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand... and they're pissed off!", "The sheep on this farm have turned to the baaaaaad side", "Shear terror", "Get the flock out of here".

• Over 800 sheep were used for the opening shot, showing the farmer rounding his livestock up.

• Director Jonathon King has a small role as one of the guests during the end massacre. He plays the German chap, seen fumbling with his car keys, before being pulled down underneath the car.

• The building used for the exterior of the genetic research lab was actually a former radio communications relay station, just outside of Wellington.

• The special effects crew, Weta workshops, also did the effects for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

• Glenis Levastem, who plays Mrs Mac, also appeared in Peter Jackson's Brain Dead playing the lady from the WI.

• The book the farmer is reading in his hut, just before he gets attacked off camera, is the well known book "A penguin history of New Zealand", which was actually written by the directors father Dr Michael King.

• The scene where Angus turns into the 'Weresheep' was a parody of the transformation scene from "American Werewolf in London".

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD

Buy the US DVD

Notes on affiliate sites.
 

Other recommendations.

Reviews A-Z.

Reviews index. Home. Menu.