Skip to content

TIFF 2012 Review: SIGHTSEERS

Written By:

Katherine McLaughlin
sightseers_review

Sightseers

Review: Sightseers / Cert: 18 / Director: Ben Wheatley / Screenplay: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe / Starring: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davis / Release Date: November 30th

With director Ben Wheatley’s body of work headed for cult status he’s a filmmaker whose output you cannot afford to miss, and with Sightseers he delivers yet again with a dark concept dominated by caustic characters.

Taking the brutal elements from Kill List with some gruesome and gory deaths, and featuring characters delivering smart dialogue as in his first feature film, Down Terrace, Wheatley has directed a sharp, standout film. For the first time Wheatley has not had a hand in the screenplay, with Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, who star in the film, writing a funny script full of macabre moments and hilarious one liners.

Chris (Oram) is a staunch advocate for green living who cannot abide litterbugs and society’s declining standards. Tina (Lowe) has been kept on a short leash by her controlling, bitter mother (played perfectly by Eileen Davis) who she lives with in a naïve bubble of a world. Tina and Chris go on a caravanning holiday around England’s green and pleasant land discovering the things that made this country great and setting the world to rights with their twisted ideology.

Oram and Lowe have been working on the characters of Chris and Tina for several years now and it really shows as their idiosyncratic ways give them depth and their interaction is naturalistic. The characters themselves pique interest from the start. Tina, a dog obsessed, knitted knicker wearing, potpourri enthusiast is hiding a terrible secret. When Chris declares Tina as his muse and takes her on a sexual odyssey their weird ways play out in cruel, comic fashion.

The soundtrack fits in superbly well with the psychotic tendencies of the couple who carry on a killing spree of those who make them irate. You will never listen to Tainted Love in the same way again as it bookends the film, first with the 1981 Soft Cell version and ending with the original recording by Gloria Jones. Along with Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power of Love the mood of the early ‘80s recession is prevalent and it coincides with the frustration of the current economic climate.

Sightseers comments on the snap judgements we make of people and their upbringing and looks at what would happen if we simply eradicated that which we didn’t like or agree with. Envy and greed is at the heart of this sick love story and it’s all delivered with buckets of humour. With the location shooting, references to our heritage and the mounting tension indicative of the current mood, this is a smart British film made for our times.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Katherine McLaughlin

You May Also Like...

chinese remake of anaconda drops trailer

ANACONDA Trailer Grants First Look At Remake Of 1997 Horror Flick

Three sequels and a spinoff-crossover film wasn’t enough for the 1997 creature feature Anaconda, which not only has a new movie in development, but is getting a Chinese remake! From
Read More
black widow star scarlett johansson in talks to lead new universal jurassic world film

Scarlett Johansson In Talks To Join JURASSIC WORLD Film

Another MCU star appears to be taking up the reins for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie: two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson is reportedly in talks to lead the franchise that
Read More

Exclusive Reveal! Titan Comics to Deliver Prehistoric Hysterics in First 2 DUMB DINOS Collection

Titan Comics have exclusively revealed to STARBURST that they’re gearing up to publish the first-ever collection of the hilarious cult digital comic strip 2 Dumb Dinos, and we’re not the
Read More

New Dates For Lovecraftian Key of Dreams

Key of Dreams has announced new spaces for its titular immersive luxury horror event. The critically acclaimed company is known for its overnight experiences that dunk you into a strange
Read More

FAB Café to Host Free Film Screening of New Indie Comedy SECRETS OF A WALLABY BOY

We’re well known for our championing of truly independent filmmakers here at STARBURST, so it’s doubly exciting to be writing about one of our own! After joining the crew in
Read More
colin farrell returns as oswald cobblepot in the penguin series trailer

Colin Farrell Returns In THE PENGUIN Trailer

Colin Farrell returns as Gotham City’s answer to Tony Soprano in the first trailer for Max series The Penguin, which spins out of the world of the 2022 DC film
Read More