MovieChat Forums > Sightseers (2013) Discussion > I thought I was going to watch a black c...

I thought I was going to watch a black comedy...

posted 10 years ago by hellevaart
16 replies | jump to latest

Instead what I watched was some sort of indie drama with pointless violence and gore and no comedy element whatsoever.

Braindead is a black comedy, this was just painful and boring, If this drivel had been American it wouldn't have gotten nearly as much praise, but it was a British indie 'black comedy' and the fact that most of the people who praised it on their reviews were unredeemable snobs who usually have their heads so far up their asses they wouldn't EVER give a proper horror or a proper comedy more than 3 out of 10 just speaks volumes about how much hype plays a role in these people's perception.

I have also seen Kill List which I though, once again, it was an indie turkey but with loads of violence and gore and yet still incredibly boring and pointless. But in fact Sightseers is just as 'humorous' as Kill List, even though the former wasn't trying to be, and just as boring.

You just can't make a black comedy without the comedy part, it just doesn't work.

I myself could think of many 'black comedies' in the way Ben whitley conceives this genre, for example let's make a black comedy based on the Joseph Fritzl case where he kept his daughter in a basement for 24 years.It will be so bleak yet humorous!.
We can have a Fritzl type of character behave all 'awkward' and stuff, maybe in one scene he is having sex with a dog and in the next he is raping his daughter (this would be funny because of how gross it'd be that he put his penis first in the dog and then in his daughter) Then we can have hilarious black comedy dialogues between him and his wife like "why do you prefer our daughter?" and some quasi college humour situations (ala dog licking balls of main character in Sightseers when he is having kinky sex with girlfriend), but it will be an English film, and the camera will be slightly shaky (to convey intimacy) and the cinematography will be very bleak with washed out colours (so beautiful and artsy), also all lines, even the 'comedic' ones will be delivered flat just like in your usual pointless indie drama and numerous hipster songs will play through the whole thing, especially songs featuring an acoustic guitar and some guy singing.

Prepare yourself Ben Wheatley, I'm about to step up the game so high your next movie is going to need real child molestation and perhaps to be filmed in sepia to get you some of that sweet ass snob critic's praise.

[–] Tess-tastic 10 years ago

I had never heard of this film before watching it last night, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't consider myself an 'unredeemable snob', and have given a lot of 'proper' comedies MUCH more than 3 out of 10. I'd be very interested to know what you consider to be a 'proper' horror and a 'proper' comedy. Something like 'Saw V' maybe, or 'Police Academy III'?

Anyway, I don't consider this to be a horror film, anyway, and nor does IMDb. I'm not really a fan of horror films, especially not the 'teen horror' that is all we seem to get these days. I probably won't have voted on many of them because I wouldn't waste my time seeing them. The same with 'teen comedies', and any old rubbish with the likes of Ferrell and Sandler. 'PROPER' comedies are funny, and this film was quite amusing.

[–] galluslass 10 years ago

I'd describe this as a very black comedy.

[–] Little_Tyke 8 years ago

Agreed. There were several LOL moments, despite the shocking scenes, which were exaggerated to contrast with and highlight the seemingly mundane life of driving around in a caravan from one campsite to another. Like in the flashback when the dog inadvertently topped itself. Now what's the real likelihood of that happening?

All said and done, I enjoyed it, although I really wanted them both to get caught. I had visions of them meeting their end like towards the end of Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

[–] lukecampbell_beatle 10 years ago

Sounds like we got a Daily Mail reader.

[–] edwardrevans 10 years ago

Yes, it had bundles of dark humor

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

Putting aside the OP's emotive references to snobs etc., I think the film really tried hard to be funny, without much success.🐭

[–] axy23 7 years ago

It rarely happens to me not to laugh during any movie, and I have a pretty dark sense of humor, but with Sightseers somehow since the very beginning I was cringing and feeling upset with pretty much everything that was going on in the plot. I think the vibe was too dark for me and the characters unrelatable to the point where I felt like watching it is too unenjoyable and pointless, so I quit around the half and read online about how it ends. Not sure what does that say about me psychologically, but just like I didn't appreciate it there's apparently a loads of the people who did. It's undoubtedly a medium to high quality movie, from what I've seen it seems pretty unique and well done, with fun dialogue - I actually laughed while reading some of the quotes online. I decided not to rate it, as my personal impression would be around 2, but at the same time it looks like it deserves at least a 6.

[–] El_Guapo_Caballo 9 years ago

Yup, most definitely, a daily mail reader.

[–] iainhammer 9 years ago

@hellevaart:
Thanks! Delicious takedown of the ugly, repellent Sightseers. I much preferred your angry rant to the self-conscious, self-congratulating efforts of the movie to **** all over its audience.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] LnineB 9 years ago

All of those words to say "I didn't like it".

here's my opinion,,,,,I liked it. see how simple that is!

I love !

[–] zarch-3 9 years ago

Post reported to the National Trust

[–] Gobobo 8 years ago

The police announced today that they're pursuing a ginger-faced man and an angry woman in connection with inquiries.