Looking for the best of our local film content? Look no further than TVNZ OnDemand. Tara Ward catches up on the service’s New Zealand movie selection. Put down your atlas and wave goodbye to old mate Google, because the best way to learn about New Zealand is to chuck on the gogglebox and take a … Read more
After watching a mind-bending film about a dying magician that reminded him of Tickled, David Farrier interviewed the director, only to have his interview disappear. This has never happened before. I’ve never lost audio from an interview, and it’s the most frustrating feeling I’ve felt in years. I can see it sitting right in front … Read more
Tickled co-director David Farrier becomes suspicious about yet another website that is very quick to point out that it is not porn. Definitely not porn. Update, October 30 – Splat! HQ has been in touch with the following response: With regards to the “This is not an adult website” statement we had on our site. Yes, … Read more
The Spinoff’s not at all embittered or deranged reporter Hayden Donnell talks to David Farrier about his Dark Tourist series for Netflix the time David failed to show up to his wedding. The career of New Zealand journalist David Farrier has skyrocketed since the release of his acclaimed documentary Tickled. Last week his new series for Netflix, Dark … Read more
Why, if David D’Amato is dead, does Jane O’Brien Media and the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling live on? The filmmakers behind Tickled address the conspiracy theories, and reveal a new side to the story – and lawsuits – that simply won’t go away. A Spinoff Exclusive. A precursor: This article contains spoilers for both … Read more
David Farrier was sucked into a tickling vortex back in 2014, and spent the next few years immersed in the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling. Throughout 2016 he took the resulting film, Tickled, to festivals around the world and followed it up with The Tickle King on HBO last month. After three years he was … Read more
News broke overnight that David D’Amato, the antagonist of David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled documentary, has died. The film-makers have issued a plea for respect over his passing The star of Tickled is David Farrier, the dogged and dazed New Zealand journalist who started pulling a thread online and found it attached to an array of characters, … Read more
David Farrier, director of docu-thriller Tickled, stumbles into another deeply disturbing instance of vulnerable people being exploited online – this time children, on YouTube. Editor’s note: While we have endeavoured to protect the identities of the children involved, we recognise that by publishing this story their privacy may be compromised. It is our opinion that privacy … Read more
For the past two years, director and weird news guy David Farrier has been living a bizarre cheese dream, following homophobic hate mail down a pink, fluffy rabbit hole and chasing it all the way to an Oscar nomination. With the resultant lawsuits still working their way through the court system, Farrier hit the tank … Read more
David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled had its most gonzo moment yet when two of the film’s subjects dropped in for the Q&A. Joshua Drummond watched the chaos unfold on Facebook Live. “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” David Farrier and Dylan Reeve are living the truth of Hunter Thompson’s famous saying after a Q&A … Read more
An early participant in the saga that became Tickled, Joshua Drummond recounts the online comments, threats and shadow-boxing in the leadup to David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s acclaimed documentary. For me, it started with trolling. David Farrier had just left a message on the Facebook page of Jane O’Brien Media, a company that seemed to exist solely … Read more
Tickled documentary maker David Farrier pieces together his dreamlike memories of a week at one of the world’s most intense (and high-altitude) film festivals. They say that as you climb Everest, your body is dying. Humans are simply not meant to exist at that height. The severe lack of oxygen and freezing temperatures are actively … Read more