Sightseers (2012)

Directed by: Ben Wheatley
Country: UK

Review: After a dense experience on horror with “Kill List” in 2011, English filmmaker Ben Wheatley exceeds the expectations with his new indecorous comedy “Sightseers”. The film skillfully mixes dark humor, lurid crime, and an inviting weirdness, to depict an overwhelming love story stained by blood. The adventure begins when Tina decides to leave her senile mother alone for a whole week, to go in a caravan trip with her boyfriend Chris. What seemed to be normal holidays with normal people, soon turned out in a killing marathon with such naturalness and relaxation that I couldn't stop being perplexed. The faultless performances by Alice Low and Steve Oram (also screenwriters), helped create a new couple of freaks capable of standing side-by-side with other famous compulsive killers, such as Bonnie and Clyde, or the Knox couple from “Natural Born Killers”. Their characters slowly showed how dangerous they might be with their immature, capricious, and obsessive personality. The plot emerges in a crescendo towards the staggering last moments, which expressed as much of cold cruelty as intense relief. Wheatley shot it beautifully, using unpolished images to depict tense moments and composed frames for the leisurely ones. “Sightseers” was able to spread tension throughout every scene, being visually and emotionally provocative, and representing one of the cleverest pitch-black comedies of the last times.