At first blush, it reads like an SNL skit that the writers decided not to use at the last minute. Murderous genetically-altered sheep on a rampage? Even Roger Corman never went there, and maybe it was for a reason...

And that reason was because writer/director Jonathan King needed to claim this baby for his own, and he has made the most of the opportunity. "Black Sheep" has that same kooky, OTT vibe of the mad scientist/monster flicks of the Fifties and Sixties with a more post-modern sensibility, much in the same affectionately twisted tone adapted by similar movies like "Tremors", "Feast", "Slither", the often-mentioned "Shaun of the Dead", and the film that this will be most compared to (and rightly so) - "Dead-Alive", the splat-tastic horror/comedy opus created by fellow Kiwi filmmaker gone "big time", Peter Jackson.

The plot is classic creepfest kitsch with a New Zealand transplant. Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) has been terrified of sheep for most of his life, the result of a horrific prank played on him in childhood by his crippled, bitter brother, Angus (Peter Feeney). Fifteen years later, Henry has gone back Down Under to tend to unfinished business - meaning facing his fears and selling off his half of the family sheep farm to his brother.

Meantime, Angus has concentrated on increasing the fortunes and finances of the family business by turning it over to a disgraced geneticist (Tandi Wright) for whom the farm has become one big test tube. Hippie activists Experience (Danielle Mason) and her sometime boyfriend, Grant (Oliver Driver) are out to expose Angus's subsidized experiments for the crimes against nature and ecology that they are. But as well-intended as their efforts are, everyone knows how true the old saying is about the best-laid plans...

Not surprisingly, the success of the entire film lies in the engaging cast, the goofy-yet-solid script, the beautiful cinematography, but most of all in the practical on-set and visual effects provided by Peter Jackson's own WETA Workshop and WETA Digital companies. And all quarters deliver fabulously, resulting in a great, loopy time at the movies that will have you giggling, gasping or gagging, sometimes all three simultaneously.

With the right frame of mind, I think that most horror fans or just casual viewers who like the occasional off-beat entertainment should find something to like here. Everyone else can just revisit the Merchant-Ivory section of the video store and steer clear.

Black sheep is a New Zealand film about a farmer who's been conducting genetic experiments on sheep in a weird breeding programme, when two activists accidentally release some of the radioactive material all hell breaks loose. With effects provided by Peter Jackson's Weta studios this is a daft horror much like his early work 'Braindead' and 'Bad Taste'. There is blood galore, mutant flesh eating sheep, human-ram hybrids and silly jokes and it definitely doesn't take itself too seriously. Packed full of clichés and homage's to other films, look out for the 'American Werewolf in London' take off, it is at times quite funny but ultimately the story is nothing new and only just manages to hold your interest between sheep attacks. If you want a no-brainer and a bit of a laugh and a groan then you will probably like this movie but stay away if you want highbrow because Shakespeare this isn't. They are coming to get ewe so get out the mint sauce.