Sightseers (2012)
6/10
Dark Humour From The Twisted Mind Of Ben Wheatley!
11 October 2014
What happens when 2 un-complimentary psychopaths go on a holiday caravan adventure together? A whole lot of murder, apparently.

What starts off as an innocent vacation between two social outcasts- Chris & Tina- quickly takes a darker turn when it becomes clear that Chris is not only a manipulative psychopath, but someone who will resort to murder over the most petty of concerns.

Basically he'll murder anyone who annoys him. But he's gotten quite good at covering up his work and throwing the dogs off his scent.

After witnessing one of these outbursts first hand, Tina comes around and begins to embrace the ethos of her beloved. And once she pops her murder cherry, she starts to realize that she can use random violence and murder to manipulate others- particularly Chris- with the best of 'em, if not better.

This drives Chris mad. He thinks she's too chaotic- a liability even. She murders randomly, without the structured justification on which he bases his code. Though, really, she just murders anyone who crosses her, or whoever might arbitrarily be in the vicinity when she gets upset.

Like she did before him, though, Chris eventually comes around to accept Tina's new-found tendencies toward murder.

But it becomes ultimately clear that Tina has taken the upper hand when she discovers Chris' deepest, darkest fantasies- inevitably leading to the conclusion of the film.

Sightseers is another brilliant black comedy-horror concoction from the twisted mind of Ben Wheatley- who is proving himself to be one of the most exciting new director's out there (especially after his $30,000 masterpiece- A Field In England). This film is much in the same vein of his previous two features: Down Terrace and Kill List- though each are original in their own ways. There are some interesting sequences which reference satanism and dark shamans, that will have you pondering on the symbolic meaning. And I do believe I detected some Vertigo influences spun in there. When all is said and done, Sightseers is a darkly hilarious film that is definitely worth a watch.

6 out of 10.
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