JP Nunez
To riff on the opening line of another recent review of mine, horror and religion go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s a classic combination that’s given us some of the greatest horror films of all time, like The Exorcist, The Wicker Man, and The Witch, so when I first heard about Sheeps Clothing, I was instantly intrigued. This movie looked like an unsettling new chapter in the time-honored legacy of religious horror, and I couldn’t wait to see what unholy terrors it had in store.
Sheeps Clothing was directed and co-written by Kyle McConaghy, and it stars Aaron Phifer, Sean Heyman, and Nick Heyman. In the film, a high school principal named Mansa is left with a traumatic brain injury after being violently attacked by a coach at his school, and during his recovery, he joins a small Christian church led by a charismatic pastor (whose name we never learn).
At first, the place seems just about perfect. Mansa’s pastor loves him, the people accept him despite the lingering effects of his injury, and he’s even found work editing videos for the church. However, everything falls apart when a disgruntled member of the congregation named Terry demands that the church return a recent $8,000 donation. The pastor ends up killing the guy, and when he enlists Mansa’s help to dispose of the body, the situation snowballs into a bloody pilgrimage that neither man will escape unscathed.
That’s a really intriguing plot, and thankfully, the execution in Sheeps Clothing is totally up to par. To begin, the two lead performances in this movie are pretty good. First, we have Aaron Phifer as Mansa, and he’s totally believable as a man recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Most obviously, the character walks with a limp and often has trouble getting words out, but there are some other, more subtle signs of Mansa’s condition as well.
For example, his facial expressions are different before and after his injury, and he sometimes pronounces words in a way that makes him sound like he has an intellectual disability. To be fair, I don’t know enough about brain injuries to know how accurate that all is, but Phifer makes you believe it’s spot-on. He nails all of those changes to his speech patterns and mannerisms, so you’ll have no problem buying into this character.
Phifer definitely gives the best performance in Sheeps Clothing, but Nick Heyman, the actor who plays the pastor, isn’t far behind. When his character is in front of his congregation, he looks and sounds like a real pastor, and you completely understand why people like Mansa trust the guy. He’s an excellent speaker with a whole bunch of charisma, so I almost wouldn’t mind sitting down to hear him deliver a sermon.
What’s more, when the pastor’s dark side rears its ugly head, Heyman changes up his performance without breaking a sweat. He can convey a sense of unspeakable evil without saying a single word, and when he twists the Bible to justify his monstrous actions, the venom in his voice is impossible to miss. It’s miles apart from the kind, charming tone he uses when he’s preaching, and that contrast makes for a truly chilling villain.
Next, let’s talk about the horror in Sheeps Clothing. To be frank, there’s not much typical horror in this film. It doesn’t have jump scares, violent kills, or creepy imagery. In fact, I suspect that a lot of people would say this isn’t even a real horror movie, so don’t go into it expecting the kinds of chills and thrills we get in more traditional genre fare.
Instead, the horror in Sheeps Clothing hits on an emotional level. As Mansa and his pastor try to dispose of Terry’s corpse, the ghastliness of what they’re doing quickly rises to the surface, and director Kyle McConaghy does a great job of making us feel every ounce of depravity in their twisted plan.
For instance, there’s a moment when Mansa’s resolve cracks, and he says that what they’re doing isn’t right. He reminds his pastor that Terry has kids, so they can’t just hide the body and pretend like they have no idea what happened to the poor guy. Along similar lines, there’s also a scene where the pastor reminds Mansa that a famous figure from the Old Testament did something similar to what they’re doing now, and he twists that story to imply that God actually wanted him to kill Terry.
On the surface, moments like those may not seem all that horrific, but they’re executed in such a way that they really hammer home just how monstrous these two men have become. Like I said, they hit pretty hard on an emotional level, so even though Sheeps Clothing doesn’t really have scares, it still more than qualifies as a legit horror flick.
Last but not least, I want to give a few thoughts about the movie’s message. As the name Sheeps Clothing implies, this is essentially an indictment of religious hypocrisy. It’s about calling out the wolves in sheep’s clothing who try to hide behind a façade of piety and religiosity while secretly (or not-so-secretly!) living like the teachings of their faith don’t apply to them, and it especially targets the religious right.
For example, during the opening credits there’s a brief montage of soundbites from hyper-conservative Christians, including some very racist remarks and Donald Trump’s infamous misreading of 2 Corinthians as “Two Corinthians” (it should be “Second Corinthians”). On top of that, there are also seemingly random allusions to political and social issues peppered throughout the film, like a scene where the pastor mentions a Christian group that was undone by the influence of socialism.
And in my opinion, this is the one real flaw in Sheeps Clothing. It’s not that I disagree with the movie’s message. As a religious guy myself, I despise religious hypocrisy just as much as anyone, and I think the film highlights some very real examples of that unfortunate phenomenon. However, I just wish it was more balanced. There’s plenty of religious hypocrisy on the left side of the political spectrum too, and I really wanted the movie to point that out.
But in the grand scheme of things, that’s a relatively minor criticism, so on the whole, I’m happy to report that I had a really good time watching Sheeps Clothing. The film features two excellent main characters, some emotionally hard-hitting horror, and an important (albeit regrettably one-sided) message, so if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I recommend that you give it a shot.
Sheeps Clothing was released on VOD on March 12.
