Black Sheep

Viewed objectively, sheep aren't all that scary. They're actually quite cute and fluffy. But Black Sheep achieves the almost impossible by making you believe, at least for 90 minutes, that they could really turn into unstoppable killing machines. When a sheep-phobic ends up back on his family's farm to discuss his father's estate with his tyrannical brother, a pair of bumbling eco-warriors accidentally unleashes his worst nightmare--a flock of mutated sheep, hungry for human flesh.

Pitched perfectly between horror and comedy, Black Sheep fits neatly into the tradition of genre classics like Shaun of the Dead and American Werewolf in London. It's funny without either being cruel or becoming tediously post-modern, scary without being sadistic. New Zealand's rolling green hills make a stunning and rather incongruous backdrop for the bloodbath--and the prosthetics and special effects look fantastic, packing a visceral punch that CGI could never hope to match. Director Jonathan King paces the laughs and scares expertly; there's not a minute wasted in Black Sheep's runtime, and not a minute that isn't ridiculously enjoyable. Who'd have thought zombie sheep could be so much fun? --Sarah Dobbs