20 Years Ago, Lord of the Rings Paved the Way for New Zealand’s Weirdest Zombie Movie
Wētā Workshop’s practical-effects work on *The Lord of the Rings* helped pave the way for *Black Sheep*, a 2006 New Zealand horror comedy about genetically altered sheep that attack people. The film showed how the craft and experience developed on the fantasy trilogy could be used to make an unusual creature feature both convincing and grotesque.
Directed by Jonathan King, *Black Sheep* follows Henry, who returns to his family farm and discovers his brother Angus’s experiments have turned sheep into killers; bitten people become sheep-human hybrids. Wētā relied mainly on animatronics, creature suits, prosthetics and make-up rather than visual effects, including an eight-foot were-sheep suit. Beneath its absurd premise, the film also takes aim at corporate greed and animal cruelty.
- Wētā’s *Lord of the Rings* experience helped shape *Black Sheep*.
- The 2006 film used practical effects to bring killer sheep to life.
- Its horror-comedy premise carries themes of greed and animal cruelty.
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The Lord of the Rings films were made in New Zealand and involved extensive practical effects: physical models, costumes, make-up and mechanical creatures made and operated on set. Wētā Workshop, a New Zealand effects company, worked on the trilogy and built up skills and equipment that could be used on other productions.
Black Sheep, directed by Jonathan King, is a 2006 horror comedy set on a family farm. Henry returns home to find that his brother Angus’s genetic experiments have made the sheep dangerous; their bites can turn people into sheep-human hybrids. The film used creature suits, animatronics and prosthetics to bring its creatures to life.
The film connects New Zealand’s effects industry with a deliberately outlandish local story. Its comic horror also touches on concerns about corporate greed and the treatment of animals.