How Lord of the Rings Paved the Way for New Zealand Zombie Comedy Black Sheep

Director Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring stands as one of the greatest fantasy films ever made. The acting, phenomenal soundtrack, and breathtaking New Zealand scenery make it a masterclass from beginning to end.

However, The Lord of the Rings trilogy could not have looked half as good without creative studio and special effects house Wētā Workshop. Every elf ear, dwarf nose, orc prosthetic, and even ring of chainmail was painstakingly crafted to help bring Middle-earth to life. The lessons learned from that hard work undoubtedly helped Wētā create one of its most beautiful yet gross comedy-horror film projects just a few short years later.

Baaaaad to the bone

The horror genre is open-ended enough to lead to some far-out concepts. Serial-killer thongs, children’s book characters gone murderous, and a black bear ready to chow down on anything after snorting cocaine have all been the focal points of scary movies in recent years.

Before any of those strange concepts came to life, director Jonathan King ventured into intriguing territory with the horror film Black Sheep. As the title suggests, the 2006 horror-comedy follows Henry, played by Nathan Meister, who develops a phobia of sheep after a cruel prank by his brother Angus, played by Peter Feeney. A decade later, Henry returns to sell Angus his share of the farm. Unbeknownst to Henry, his brother has been conducting genetic experiments on the sheep with an unfortunate side effect. Unlike the docile sheep grazing in the New Zealand countryside, these animals want to chew on any human foolish enough to get close. Anyone who gets bitten transforms into a bloodthirsty half-human and half-sheep killer too.

The premise is absurd, but going in expecting only cheap thrills and cheaper comedy would be a mistake. King treats the zombie-sheep-plague concept seriously. There is a scene where throwing mint sauce at a sheep makes it smoke and writhe in pain, but the film’s message about corporate greed and animal cruelty remains relevant even 20 years later.

King was not the only one who put heart and soul into making a film about killer sheep. Wētā Workshop, which brought several movie masterpieces to life through its expertise in animatronics, prosthetics, makeup, and creature effects, knew how to lean into the gruesome elements King needed.

Aside from a few mistakes the crew edited out, the film used very few visual effects. Instead, the gnarly, viscera-covered killer sheep were created by combining animatronic puppets with stitched-together creature suits for performers to wear. One memorable puppet was the bloodthirsty sheep baby experiment that tears through a hapless environmental activist in an early scene.

Made of foam latex with dual-gimbal cable controls, rod puppetry for its arms, and a servo pack to aid movement, the sheep baby animatronic was expressive, grotesque, and slimy as it chomped into a man’s jugular. It was horrible, but undoubtedly a work of art.

Wētā proved itself with The Lord of the Rings’ orc prosthetics, but the studio went the extra mile for Black Sheep by turning creature-suit performer Kevin McTurk into a were-sheep. While some visual effects were used to convey the transformation between human and sheep, the were-sheep itself was carefully crafted. The suit stood eight feet tall, built around McTurk’s frame on stilts, and included an animatronic head.

Though the orcs of Moria and the were-sheep of Black Sheep may seem to have nothing in common, Wētā’s work on both films proves that practical effects were exactly what the production needed. This is especially true of Black Sheep, whose premise alone is strange enough to make anyone dismiss it. Sitting down to watch reveals how realistic the murderous sheep look and how CGI simply would not have compared.

Wētā’s work with King and Black Sheep is not over yet. Though 20 years have passed, a sequel titled Black Sheeps is on the way, set to release on November 12 with both King and Wētā Workshop returning. Whether it lives up to the original remains to be seen, but with Wētā involved, master puppetry and animatronics are guaranteed.

Black Sheep is streaming on Starz.

Source: Polygon