Review by Ben Bussey
It might raise some eyebrows that director Ben Wheatley has chosen to follow up his widely praised hitman/Satanic panic chiller Kill List with a black comedy about a couple on a British caravan holiday. Those who rate Wheatley’s last to be one of the best horror films of recent years might initially look on his latest as a step in the wrong direction. However, for this writer the matter is rather different, as I was among the apparent few who did not hold Kill List in such high esteem (though our own Marc and Nia felt similarly). Even so, whilst I don’t think it was the genre-redefining masterpiece that some claimed, there was never any question that Kill List had some significant strengths, particularly an evocative, fly-on-the-wall atmosphere aided by highly naturalistic performances achieved via largely improvised dialogue. Much the same approach is taken here, but with rather different intent. Where Kill List blended gallows humour with illogical nightmarish elements in a bid to shock, Sightseers keeps it strictly to the gallows humour – and I think there can be little doubt that’s where Wheatley’s real strength lies.
Tina (Alice Lowe) is a henpecked thirtysomething Brummie who still lives at home with her domineering mother (Eileen Davies). Thanks to the apron strings firmly around her throat, Tina has never spent much time in the outside world. Her first chance to do so comes in the shape of her new boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram), who plans out a road trip on which they will see the sights of northern England while getting to know each other better, inside and out. However, not long into their travels, certain previously unseen facets of Chris’s character come to light: namely, his homicidal tendencies. Perhaps even more unexpected is Tina’s comfort with this; indeed, with decades of repression under her belt, she may well prove to outdo her other half in her taste for murder. But what kind of strain will this put on their burgeoning relationship? And will anyone who crosses their path get away unscathed?
I swear I don’t intend to spend this whole review comparing and contrasting with Kill List, but I must say the two films are not quite so far removed as they might seem at first. Both place as much emphasis on the mundane as the macabre; where the earlier film tended to dwell on Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley checking in and out of Premier Inns and driving along motorways, Sightseers follows Chris and Tina in and out of caravan sites traversing country lanes; subsequently both films have a certain travelogue quality, highlighting the beauty of Britain, whether by accident or design. Also in evidence again is Wheatley’s taste for sculpting unusual atmospheres. The soundtrack often contrasts with the action, off-setting humourous scenes with placid acoustic music. Both the director and the cast (it’s worth noting Lowe and Oram are also the screenwriters) maintain essentially the same tone throughout, whether the scene be dramatic, comedic or horrific, and much of the humour comes from how Tina and Chris react no differently to a corpse than they would to a flat tyre.
This is not to say that all the humour in Sightseers could be described as subtle. You need look no further than the poster above mocking Chris’s gingerness, or that to the left mocking Tina’s dress sense to garner how high the jokes generally aim. Lest we forget, Chris and Tina are not merely on a road trip/killing spree; they’re also on (if I remember their words correctly) an “erotic odyssey,” hence we have special knitted underwear, naughty behaviour in restaurants, the dog putting his nose where it doesn’t belong, and numerous shots of the caravan rocking as if in hurricane conditions. I won’t deny I barked with laughter throughout the bulk of this along with the rest of the Abertoir audience, but even so I can’t help but feel that obvious cheap gags were settled for perhaps too often, sitting a little awkwardly with the overall air of introspection. It could potentially put the viewer in a slight quandry as well, given that we are invited to laugh at Chris and Tina as much as we are made to identify with them. This isn’t necessarily a real problem, but it might just detract a little from the pathos.
Still, these are minor complaints for a film which proves a hugely satisfying hour and a half of horror-laced laughs (on which note, don’t worry gorehounds – while the horror elements are understated and the gruesome moments are few, they certainly don’t hold back). The Abertoir audience voted it the best new film shown at the festival, with which I would have to disagree – to my mind John Dies At The End easily came out on top – but nonetheless Sightseers definitely warrants high praise. Being milder than the average horror film, more naturalistic than the average comedy and smuttier than the average character-based drama, this is for certain a film that stands apart, which may well take audiences by surprise.
Sightseers is released to cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 30th November, from Studiocanal.