Sightseers Review
Following hit-men horror Kill List, director Ben Wheatley creates another genre straddling British film, this time producing shocks and guffaws in equal measure. SIGHTSEERS has comically quirky killer characters and a very sick sense of humour, producing plenty of guilty laughs.
Tina (Alice Lowe, HOT FUZZ) lives at home with her overbearing mother and is invited to spend a week away with her bearded beau Chris (Steve Oram, KILL LIST). Like so many other unstable psychopaths, Tina’s problems no doubt stem in no small part from her awful mother’s horrible manner. Blaming Tina for the death of their beloved dog Poppy one year previous, the early scenes with Tina’s mother are unbearably real and have us immediately sympathising with the sad and sweet Tina and wishing her the best on her travels with Chris.
The natural born killers start off sensibly for their dream caravan holiday to Yorkshire and beyond, taking in the local sights of Tram and Pencil Museums but Chris is soon driven to murder after the litter bugs and posh do-gooders become too much for him to take.
The best thing about the film isn’t the beautiful (if a little wet and miserable) sights to be seen but the incredibly well realised characters of Chris and Tina and the wonderful performances of Oram and Lowe. These two sad-sacks are utterly believable with Tina being a particular revelation as the film’s story unfolds. Starting out meek and needy, by the end Tina is the character that is the most joy to watch as she emerges from her shell, leading to an absolutely divine and hysterical final scene that will have you laughing long through the credits. As long as you’ve got a sick sense of humour!
Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers is a serial killer comedy that has lots of laughs, vicious violence and heaps of heart, and all with a killer soundtrack.
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SIGHTSEERS is in selected cinemas now.
