Sightseers (2012)

After watching the trailer the film looked really good, well that was a very misleading trailer. I found that the film was very poor indeed, the plot was non existent and the characters were not even funny. I don't understand how all the critics gave it such good reviews. Maybe its just me, but I have to say this is one of the worst films I have ever seen. It was on par with The Keith Lemon Movie, which was dreadful as well. The scenery was the only good part of the film. People in our theatre walked out about 15 minutes in. The group I was in while watching this film, we kept looking at each other wondering if we should walk out and leave. Most of us just kept looking at our watches, hoping it would end soon. The film is 88 minutes long, it felt almost 6 hours in that theatre! I would not recommend this film to anyone!

Fmovies: This is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever seen at the cinema if it hadn't have been for my friend I would have walked out! Something I have only done once before (Dukes of Hazzard was the first film if you were wondering).

The film is so unfunny it hurts. Acting is terrible the plot or lack thereof is just mind blowingly bad.

It such a depressing experience and I actually wanted to die as I watched it.

Stay AWAY!

If you want good black twisted comedy do yourself a favor and watch The League Of Gentleman or its sister show Psychoville.

Sightseers is typically British dark comedy. A nerdy couple go on a caravan trip that turns increasingly surreal and bloody. It is a quirky film and not one to take too seriously.

I wasn't totally convinced by the scenario or some of the scenes but I liked the way it didn't always go for the obvious. There are plenty of darkly comedic moments and for a comedy it does actually make you laugh. There are a few wince inducing scenes that make give you some guilty laughs.

The two lead performances are good and put interesting performances as the unbalanced couple. You never quite know how the relationship will turn out and the writers are to be applauded for not going down a stereotypical route.

It is not a perfect film by any means, there are a few patchy moments, Tina's mom was criminally underused and some of the scenes just didn't work. As a result Sightseers falls short of being a great film which is a shame as I think it had the potential to be just that. However the good outweighs the bad and this is a very enjoyable film and unique film that delivers a brilliant ending.

Sightseers fmovies. Sightseers is emphatically not for your Aunt Nelly. Actually, it isn't suitable for my dad, most of the run-of-the-mill Saturday night cinema-goers, Daily Mail readers or the die-hard caravan owners who embark on such road trips. To be honest, Sightseers isn't right for many people at all; it's what you might call a niche film. It's going to satisfy a minority audience, but those few who do relish the thought of another dark, very dark, British comedy are going to absolutely delight in it.

Falling somewhere between Dexter and The League of Gentlemen (and if you don't know it, try Big Woman out for size – a Desert Island Disc if I'm ever invited on), Sightseers is a road movie about an odd couple with all manner of demons swirling around their minds. Tina (Alice Lowe) still lives with her mum, has been traumatized by the death of her dog, Poppy, and knits. Having seen nothing of the world, an invitation from her new boyfriend, Chris (Steve Oram), to join him on a caravan holiday around Yorkshire with an itinerary that includes a tram village and a pencil museum, is tantamount to a golden ticket to a new life. However, her overbearing, overly dependent witch of a mother doesn't want her to go and Chris has an angry streak with murderous consequences.

Sightseers is beautifully downbeat and both subtler and far darker than Dexter could ever manage. It never makes a big deal of being funny but casually drops in five-star moments throughout that don't always cause belly laughs but do prompt a regular supply of chuckles and wide-eyed smiles. The action, or rather certain activities by the odd couple, however, causes explosive guffaws and shrieks of delight, the bloodier the better judging from the small audience I shared the experience with. There's no judgment from me on that score, I laughed as loud as the best of them.

The first murder we enjoy is swift, but the effect lasts long and the understated humour of the act echoes some time later as Chris nonchalantly washes the remaining of the blood off his caravan wheel. His mild annoyance followed by a passing satisfaction at a job well done are precursors to the simmering rage that follows.

Sightseers doesn't skimp on the horror although director Ben Wheatley keeps the gore and actual violence to acceptable (for those with a strong stomach) levels. He has crafted some genuinely disturbing scenes that take their time building the anticipation until the inevitable and occasionally truly brutal conclusion arrives. There is one quick shot of a, um, demolished head that will have you reaching for a pause button to admire the make-up if nothing else.

But the joy of Sightseers is not in the moments of horror but in the consistency of the subtle humour from Osram's and Lowe's stinging screenplay as much as their chillingly dour performances. Their performances are never fanciful but frighteningly convincing and turn the stomach ever so slightly when one recalls brief interactions with similar characters in real life.

Sightseers invades the brain, it expulses laughter from the belly and at times it wriggles under the skin like white noise and scratches at the nerves. It isn't always easy to watch and the occasional quip is over-egged as if neither cast nor director were convinced it would work completely. It's a minor criticism and a great pity because whenever the dialogue and performances are restrained to levels of naturalism, and that occurs for a good 95% of the film, Sightseers flies

SIGHTSEERS is very much a team effort: the two stars (Alice Lowe and Steve Oram) also co-wrote the script. With a distinct nod to earlier films such as Terrence Malick's BADLANDS (1973), it focuses on two lovers, Tina and Chris, who embark on a caravanning holiday that takes a decidedly bloody turn, as they dispose of several innocent victims. Ben Wheatley's cinematic style is certainly startling, with its deliberate use of out-of-sync sound, fantasy sequences, memorable short of gore and a soundtrack that includes work by Soft Cell and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The script is deadpan yet extremely funny: both protagonists get some valuable one-liners. What is perhaps more interesting, however, is Wheatley's focus on his characters' lives; hitherto they have spent their entire existences in total anonymity: Tina has lived with her mother Carol (Eileen Davies), and lavished all her love on a favorite terrier, who was unfortunately impaled to death on some knitting-needles. The road-trip gives Tina the chance to liberate herself, just like Chris, who dreams of becoming a full-time writer after having been made redundant. The idea of "writing" is significant; it suggest the desire to leave a legacy, to inscribe oneself in the present so as to be remembered. When Chris' writing dreams come to naught, he looks for alternative ways to establish himself; hence his desire to kill so as not to be pushed around by anyone (i.e. treated as a nobody). Tina follows suit; but what Wheatley suggests is that the two of them find it very difficult to work as a team - Chris believes that Tina has plagiarized his idea, and resents her for what she has done. Two serial killers don't attract as much media attention as one. For her part, Tina learns how to acquire self-determination, even though there are moments when she doubts herself. The film's ending takes us by surprise, reminding us that the protagonists were not as much in love as we thought they were. With its Grand Guignol action taking place against a breathtaking backdrop of the rolling hills of Yorkshire and the Lake District, SIGHTSEERS is strong meat, but definitely worth staying with.

I was glad that booking this hilarious black comedy at the Melbourne International Film Festival was so worth it.

The story is centered around an odd couple; Chris (Steve Oram); who takes his girlfriend Tina (Alice Lowe) around the British towns of rural England for inspiration for a book he's writing, However their circumstances take unusual turns until things go horribly wrong.

I may of heard about director Ben Weatley's earlier films' but haven't caught up yet. This film however show he's a skilled filmmaker able to bring a promising film like this to viewers of adult comedy.

Sightseers is woefully original, full of witty dialouge, charming characters and some of the best British Black Humour I have seen in a long time if not ever. There's so many laugh out loud moments I just really feel that this film should be given a limited release in Australia. Its was such a great surprise, by far my favourite film of the Melbourne Intrnational Film Festival.

I do highly recommend this gem of recent British cinema.

4/5