Sightseers is a movie by director Ben Wheatley, whose previous movie Kill List played at last year’s DIFF (I didn’t enjoy it). And if you have watched Kill List, it will be easy to recognize the director’s style. This in itself is a distinction for the director, that within the span of just two films, he has established himself as a name recognizable from his work. Sightseers retains the shock, gore and violence of Kill List, but this time in the guise of a black comedy. A new couple (they’ve just started seeing each other) go on a road-trip date with a caravan, touring the country side for its many tourist stops. Quite early into the film it is revealed that the man is a psychopath — he kills people that irk him (his first victim is a guy who litters). The woman not only does not object, she takes it in her stride, even occasionally committing a few kills herself. All this is set in the backdrop of the beautiful countryside and innocent English tourists who become the hapless victims. The absurdity of it all provides for many uncomfortable laughs. Ben Wheatley, quite interestingly, manages to pull it all off without turning Sightseers into a genre exploitation film, and therein lies its eccentric success.
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