Black Sheep

The first time I saw there was a horror film about killer sheep, I was expecting it to be "baaaad," if you can pardon the pun. But this movie is "shear" entertainment. Black Sheep is a 2006 horror-comedy film from New Zealand. It features beautiful scenery of rolling grassy mountains, as many of you will recognise from Lord of the Rings. While this movie has been compared to Shaun of the Dead, I have yet to see a better horror-comedy film than Shaun. Just think of Shaun of the Dead in a rural setting with zombie sheep instead and you have Black Sheep!

Black Sheep is about the genetic engineering experiments gone-wrong on the protagonist's sheep farm in rural New Zealand. While there is little intimidating about sheep, this movie will make you think twice the next time you wear a wool coat. There is a fair amount of bestiality-related and other raunchy jokes in the movie, but you could expect no less from a film about killer sheep.

The filmography and directing is top-notch. The acting is also commendable. The main characters are lovable and fun, which makes this type of movie even more entertaining to watch. Instead of a bunch of semi-nude teenagers running around idiotically, the main protagonists include a timid guy with a not-so irrational fear of sheep and a feng shui obsessed environmentalist who mistakeningly helped cause the whole mess in the first place.

There are limbs flying, entrails yanked, and a pit of bloody viscera so it is "sheepish" to say that this film is lacking in the horror department. The opening scene of the film will be shocking to any animal lover. The animatronics in the film are deliciously bad. The special effects in this movie is from a company called Weta, which is behind the effects in the Lord of The Rings trilogy. This movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously, so the effects are apt for such horror comedy.

All in all, this is a great monster movie, exactly what you would expect from a movie about killer sheep. This movie is as ridiculous as it sounds, but it is a guilty pleasure. 3.5 out of 5.

The Midnight Meat Train

The 2008 horror film The Midnight Meat Train is based on a short story by Clive Barker. I know the title sounds like a bad porno, but it is really quite a good horror film. The story centers around a photographer, Leon, who follows a serial killer onto a subway and his attempt to figure out what is really going on. I got this movie on a whim, having never heard of it before or knowing anything about it. It starts out like any other horror movie but picks up pace as it goes along, ending in a bang.

The actors are all pretty good. The main actor who plays Leon is a nice looking young guy named Bradley Cooper. He gives a believeable, if sometimes overacted performance. His girlfriend is played by Leslie Bibb. Of all the characters in the movie, she is the most annoying. She plays the annoying, cliched girlfriend who whines too much and just generally gets in the way. She tries to play "tough girl" near the end, but it just comes off forced. We also see a horror film familiar, Roger Bart, who played Stuart in Hostel: Part 2. His part in the movie is not very big, but what he does play is fine. And finally, Vinnie Jones plays the mute killer. Remember, he played a small part in the movie Tooth & Nail that I commented on previously. He is one of the mail characters in this movie and he commands much attention from the audience as he whacks away at his victims.

The pacing of this movie is mostly quick, with just a few parts in the middle that are drawn out. The filmography is very nicely done, making the world of the subways bleak and beautiful, setting this movie a notch above most horror films. The director often gives the viewer a first person view of the deaths and cuts to 3D-like angles of characters being hacked to death. There are times when it feels like the blood is gong to come right off the screen. This is reminiscent of the remake of My Bloody Valentine. The best horror movies are those that are quickly paced with adequate gore, good actors, and beautiful filmography. This movie has all of that.

The gore in this comes ny the bucketful, with characters slipping around in pools of blood and eyeballs popping out of heads, literally. There is no gore spared in this movie, as every death is shown in its fantastical detail. The only complaint I have about the gore in this movie is that it is CGI. I am not usually a fan of CGI blood, but due to the director's manner of depicting the deaths (which is one of the unique aspects of this film) I can understand why it was necessary. It does look a bit fake, but the movie makes up for it in other aspects.

Overall, I give this movie 4 out of 5. Good movie. I will definitely be watching this again soon.