Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 15, 2008

Bizarre meets funny in Jonathan King’s “Black Sheep” (2006), an ambitious but ultimately very disappointing film with a perverse sense of humor. A weak script and plenty of red paint splashing quickly transform this one into a bore-fiesta with an impressive string of dull twists. Distributed in the UK by Icon Home Entertainment.

Henry (Naithan Meister) returns to the family ranch to finalize his brother’s (Peter Feeny) takeover of the sheep business. He signs the needed papers and gets a fat check. In the meantime his brother preps an enthusiastic speech for a group of visiting investors focusing on the enormous progress his business has made in the field of genetic breeding.

Grant (Oliver Driver) and Experience (Danielle Mason), animal rights activists, are also at the ranch. They steal a large jar with a sheep fetus and run into the nearby forest. While running Grant stumbles and smashes the jar, the fetus falls off and bites him. Shortly after he begins to transform into a giant sheep-creature. Experience runs away.

Back at the ranch Henry, a local farmer, and Experience encounter something that will change their lives forever. Things get completely out of hand when Grant and a large herd of sheep attack the investors.

Soon to be attacked

If there is one thing that has become clear to me after watching Black Sheep it is that this is a film that will surely resonate differently with different people. It is gory, brutal, and dark, yet, filled with quite a few punch lines with a distinctive comedic flavor. It is also rather well filmed considering the limited budget its creators had to work with.

Mixing two so extreme genres however – horror and comedy – could be quite a tricky endeavor. There are a few good examples (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) proving that great imagination could offset a lot of the possible issues such an explosive cocktail is likely to deliver. But there are also some truly wild turkeys out there (Street Trash) that only fans of the genre would be brave enough to embrace as good.

So, where does Black Sheep fit in? As far as I am concerned most definitely in the same camp with Street Trash. This is a bizarre, very straight-forward, and ultimately disappointing film that borrows from a lot of different sources to tell its story. Above all it is effectively littered with plenty of clichés that make it nearly impossible to like especially by knowledgeable viewers who have already seen a good amount of the best the genre Black Sheep competes with.

The most obvious issue here is the lack of originality. The narrative is so predictable that instead of funny the bizarre quickly turns into annoying. Furthermore, even though plenty of red paint is willingly used to mask the lack of depth the film is so transparent that even some of the more successful scenes in it come off as notably wishy-washy, lacking a sense of excitement. As a result, unless you are a die-hard fan of the type of spectacle Black Sheep boasts, you will be quickly turned off by its undoubtedly mediocre delivery.

On a positive side the technical presentation is rather satisfying. Cinematographer Richard Bluck makes the most out of a very limited terrain with the introduction of a few very interesting decisions. The ranch raid in particular is smartly photographed and with a true sense of horror complimenting it. Still, Black Sheep never quite manages to overcome the overwhelming amount of stereotypes that congest it, let alone be entertaining,

Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer Black Sheep arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of UK-based distribs Icon Home Entertainment.

There is a lot in this transfer that I liked. In fact, prior to seeing the film I was expecting mostly an average at best transfer with an acceptable color-scheme as well as passable contrast levels. After all Black Sheep is a low-budget production which I incorrectly assumed would not benefit much from a high-definition treatment. I was wrong, the film actually looks quite strong. The color-scheme in particular is excellent. There is a variety of lush colors here (yellows, reds, blacks, etc) that have been captured by the Blu-ray transfer very well. Furthermore, the film definitely has more than a few "popping" scenes where one could hardly tell that this was a low-budget production (the field scenes from the beginning are a good example). This being said, I did not spot disturbing edge-enhancement or macro-blocking patterns either. The overall quality of the transfer certainly appeared very pleasing to my eyes and I was not distracted by any production deficiencies whatsoever. In fact, I feel very comfortable stating that Black Sheep boasts a strong print that will surely meet the expectations of those who wish to own it on Blu-ray. (Note: Even though the disc is marketed as Region-B it is in fact Region-Free meaning that you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising to see that Icon Home Entertainment have not offered an HD mix of some sort (DT-HD Master, Dolby True HD, or PCM) as their releases typically provide terrific audio treatments. Still, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is certainly quite pleasing. It captures a great deal of the action rather well and with a degree of consistency I am convinced would have been terrific on an HD mix. The sheep attacks are, obviously, the focal point in this film and the majority of the activity that you would notice is precisely when they occur. Occasional enhanced noises (mostly during the gorier bits) tend to pop up here and there and the Dolby Digital track does the most out of them. Unfortunately, it seems like there is a lot more that could have been done given the potential for audio excellence Black Sheep offers. On the other hand, the dialog is very easy to follow and as far as I am concerned well balanced with Victoria Kelly's atmospheric soundtrack. Finally, I did not detect any hissing or drop-outs. Optional white English subtitles are provided and they appear to be split - they are bellow and within the film frame.

Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In addition to the original theatrical trailer on this Blu-ray disc you will also find five deleted scenes with an optional commentary by the director of the film. (both in standard PAL). A blooper reel and a standard "Making of" featurette have been added up as well (also in PAL). The key piece here is the commentary with writer/director Jonathan King and Nathan Meister (Henry Oldfield). I listened to a fairly large chunk of it and dare say it is actually much more intriguing than the actual film. The comments are quite informative and as far as I am concerned very honest as well. I think that both the cast and crew knew exactly what they were getting into and what the possible reactions their work would instigate amongst viewers.

Black Sheep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

To say that I disliked Black Sheep would be quite an understatement. I certainly understand what the intention was here but frankly neither the plot nor the manner in which everything was put together appealed to me. On the contrary, I found Black Sheep to be a predictable and ultimately very tasteless attempt in comedic absurdity. The Blu-ray disc courtesy of Icon Films Entertainment, surprisingly, does not offer an HD soundtrack. The video presentation, however, is very strong and as far as I am concerned up to the high-standards established by the UK-based distribs.