Is there any creature on earth less scary than a sheep? When I think "sheep," I think bland, mild-eyed creatures growing furry coats of wool for all those wool sweaters sold in LL Bean catalogs, not blood-thirsty freaks of nature, but when a film about sheep has the tagline, "There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand ... and they're pissed off!" -- you know you're in for something different.

Black Sheep, written and helmed by Jonathan King, takes perhaps the most innocuous creatures in the animal kingdom, and turns them into blood-thirsty, viscous monsters who can either eat you for dinner, or bite you and turn you into one of them. The film starts out at beautiful Glenolden Station, farmed for over a century by the Olden family. Elder brother Angus (Peter Feeney, who some might recognize from his roles on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules on television), who's been pathologically jealous of his younger brother Henry (newcomer Nathan Meister) since childhood, has turned the family sheep farm into a cutting-edge, scientifically-focused business focused on breeding the perfect sheep. Henry hasn't been home to the family farm in years; he suffers from a crippling sheep-phobia that was caused by Angus horrifically killing Henry's pet sheep when they were young boys.

A few days ago I shared the news that IFC and WeinsteinCo had paired up to bring Jonathan King's Black Sheep to cinemas / video stores -- which is pretty good news for people who enjoy movies about mutated killer sheep. (People like me.) To celebrate the good news, I decided to finally get off my ass and transcribe an interview I did with Mr. King at this year's Toronto Film Festival. So here it is!

Cinematical: At the premiere last night we talked about this: In New Zealand, the sheep outnumber the humans by about a 10:1 ratio. But beyond the idea that "Hey, we could make a horror/comedy about sheep!" -- beyond that, what was it that made you think "Hey, we can do this."?

Jonathan King: Well, the idea came, and I thought it worked. You can imagine me pitching this idea, just using the sheep. But what was cool about it was all the stuff we came up with later: The settings around the farm, the shed, the offal pit, where across the landscape the sheep would come from....

Cine: I made a special mention of that in my review. Practical or FX-wise, I've never seen anything that looks like the New Zealand countryside. Watching the film, the backgrounds are almost too beautiful. I found myself wondering if it was a practical shot, CG, a matte...

JK: Yeah, one of the things we're pleased about is that I think it's a view of New Zealand you haven't seen before. It's not like The Piano. It's not the snowy mountains of Lord of the Rings. It's kind of a rugged-but-beautiful look.

I just now realized that it wasn't all a dream: I really did interview a bunch of sheep a few months back. What a strange thing to do. But hey, it was all in support of a very entertaining little horror/comedy called Black Sheep, which hails from New Zealand and focuses on the activities of SEVERAL mutated killer sheep -- were-sheep! -- and the people they eat.

Back at Toronto we expected the flick to get snatched up right quick, but the back-room machinations took longer than previously anticipated. And now some good news: The movie will be hitting theaters (thanks to IFC) and DVD (courtesy of Los Weinsteins) relatively soon. That's right: We don't have release dates just yet, but they're the next logical step after a distribution deal is inked. Hopefully we won't have a Feast-style delay on this one.

I'd been hoping for a Lionsgate logo to grace this particular flick, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, LG dropped out of the bidding not too long ago. Ah well. Here's hoping writer/director Jonathan King got a decent price for his ovine-laden monster movie. He's a really nice guy.