The people behind BLACK SHEEP may have the smiles wiped from their faces by the news that they are being sued for supposed plagiarism by a budding Spanish scriptwriter, who penned a screenplay which he claims has an identical plot to the New Zealand-lensed horror/comedy. Rafael Toba, from Galicia in northwest Spain, wrote a treatment called OVEJAS ASESINAS (KILLER SHEEP) back in 2001. Having registered his work with the Registro de Propiedad Intelectual (the Spanish copyright office), he then proceeded to hawk the script around the offices of various film production companies. “I envisaged it being made into a highly commercial horror/comedy feature,” he says. “I even had a director in mind, Albert Ponte,” a British-born filmmaker with numerous Spanish film and TV credits who has also acted in features like the acclaimed INTACTO.

Nothing ever came of Toba’s attempts to drum up support for his project, but six years later, he had a shock upon reading the synopsis of BLACK SHEEP in a local paper. The movie is currenty being distributed in Spain by Manga Films on a double bill with the British slasher satire SEVERANCE, and Toba is unwilling to believe that the film’s story of genetically mutated sheep turning into ravenous, bloodthirsty beasts could be a so similar to his own work by pure coincidence. “If it were any other animal, it could be so,” he notes, “but sheep? Come on.” Adding insult to perceived injury, the Spanish release title is the same as Toba’s original, OVEJAS ASESINAS. Toba is so convinced of his case that, according to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia, he has already started legal proceedings.

Fuente:Fangoria