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Black Sheep

This import from New Zealand gets far more mileage than you would expect out of rampaging sheep that develop a taste for human flesh. The story takes place on the idyllic sheep farm where Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) was raised and suffered a traumatic experience. As a result, he is now a grown man terrified of sheep. Henry returns to the farm to confront his fears, but when the genetic testing conducted by his demented brother (Peter Feeney) goes haywire, Henry gets more of a confrontation than he had expected. This sort of visceral silliness is something of a Kiwi tradition, considering Lord of the Rings mastermind Peter Jackson got his start making just these sorts of gory gag-fests in his native country. Indeed, Jackson’s Weta Workshop handled the special effects here, which combine two elements usually kept apart: puppetry and fake guts. If you have the bad taste for this sort of thing, it’s rarely done better, even by Jackson. And if the picture somehow does manage to scare you, just don’t try to fall asleep that night counting sheep.

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