Black Sheep (2007)

I was a bit unsure whether Black Sheep would live up to the premise, so when it turned out to be utterly hilarious I was very, very happy! Filmed and set in New Zealand, the movie is a comedy-horror where a mutant sheep species is accidentally released into the population at a sheep farm. People who are bitten begin to turn into sheep (in scenes parodying An American Werewolf in London), and others are not so lucky, as the killer sheep bite off limbs and eat entrails with gay abandon. The tongue is wedged so firmly in cheek in this movie it almost wears a hole through the side of it's mouth. 

The plucky trio who are being besieged by the sheep include a young guy with sheep-phobia, picked up from a disturbing incident as a young boy; a cheery Maori farm hand who's handy with sheep medicine guns; and a chirpy, vegetarian, animal-activist who of course is partly responsible for freeing the killer sheep mutant. They're a massively likable threesome, and the actors are all clearly loving what they're doing. The script is witty, knowing, yet has a keen originality in places. This isn't just some lame Scary Movie retread of other movies, although I did spot some wonderful takes on the raptor-Muldoon Jurassic Park showdown and the wildebeest stampede from The Lion King as rendered by a flock of sheep! 

The gore quotient is fairly high, but it's comedy gore, nothing too upsetting. There is great delight to be had in the sheep puppet work and their savagery is never upsetting, always funny. I'd rank Black Sheep in the horror-comedy pantheon alongside Shaun of the Dead and the aforementioned American Werewolf. Yes, it really is that good! Oh and the posters are the funniest I've ever seen.