You won’t look at roast lamb the same way again after the New Zealand story that had to be told, Black Sheep. An thriller ride into the dark heart of rural New Zealand, the ‘comedy-horry’ film is the debut feature from director Jonathan King.

IFC and WeinsteinCo have paired up to bring Jonathan King’s Black Sheep to cinemas / video stores – which is pretty good news for people who enjoy movies about killer sheep… and also really good for anyone working in the NZ Film Industry.

If your like me and wondering what inspired King to make a movie about sheep… ? Read the ‘TIFF Interview’ with King here. Or watch the TVNZ news article / interview here.

‘Black Sheep’ explores a number of subjects surrounding New Zealand’s defining woolly icon – methane emissions, car seat covers, gourmet cuisine, drenching and, of course, sheep shagging.

The film is inspired by Peter Jackson’s grand tradition of Kiwi splatter e.g. ‘Braindead‘ and more recent modestly-budgeted ‘The Locals‘ directored by Grey Page. Using physical effects, King’s collaboration with Richard Taylor and his Academy Award-winning team at Weta Workshop, lies at the heart of the film. Devising everything from conceptual art to buckets of gore, sculpted body parts and sophisticated prosthetic makeups, a highly experienced crew came together to build King’s distinctive vision of Kiwi bucolic bliss turned monstrously on its head. With a flock of over one thousand animals, a small number of trained sheep and animatronic puppet creatures, created by Weta Workshop, its easy to imagine the effects won’t be kind on the faint hearted or queasy stomached…

The film recently screened at the Gerardmer Film Festival in France, where it won the Jury and the Audience Awards. North American distributors Weinstein/IFC have announced a US release date of 22 June 2007.

King’s next movie, ‘The Tattooist’, is currently only in post-production and will probably appeal to a wider audience due to its lack of sheep gore. ‘The Tattooist’, is the story of a young artist (Behr) who unknowingly plays a role in releasing a deadly spirit as he attempts to learn tatau, the Samoan tradition of tattooing.

‘Black Sheep’ to open in NZ theatres late March. Check out the offical website here or the hilarious trailer here…