30 Days of Nightmares #6: BLACK SHEEP (2006)

 
The Story: Night of the Living Dead + The Wolf Man... with sheep. 

Expectations: Once upon a time, Peter Jackson invented the Kiwi horror movie -- an utterly outrageous hybrid of black comedy and cartoonish gore.  I first heard about this cinematic mutation from Fangoria magazine, via an article on the filmmaker's 1992 slapstick zombie movie DEAD/ALIVE.  Fangoria advised, "You've got to see it to believe it."

There's nothing remotely believable about anything that happens in DEAD/ALIVE, but that's not the point.  If you were a horror fan, you had to see it anyway.  After that, I tracked down Jackson's earlier efforts, BAD TASTE and MEET THE FEEBLES.  I will never forget watching MEET THE FEEBLES -- an X-rated farce about angry, horny Muppets with V.D. -- with a group of high school friends.  We were all a bit traumatized.  Since then, Peter Jackson has gone on to slightly bigger projects... but the sensibility of his early films is alive and well -- in BLACK SHEEP.

Reaction: This picture delivers what it promises.  It is chock full of ironic characterizations (the heroine is an animal rights activist, who wants to rescue the flesh-eating sheep), sight gags (a half-naked man alone in a room with a well-groomed ewe doesn't require a punchline -- thank god), and gruesomely inventive practical effects, courtesy of Peter Jackson's company WETA.  Obviously this film isn't for everyone.  If you've read this far, then you've been warned.  You already have a pretty good idea of whether or not this is your kind of entertainment.  All I can say is that it will make for interesting dinner conversation.

Most Nightmare-Worthy Moment: You haven't lived until you've seen a zombie sheep bite off a man's you know what.  (Yup.)