Best for: Buzzfeed Unsolved addicts, horror seekers, conspiracy theorists
Dark Tourist is perfect for viewers who can be morbidly curious about all things horrific and macabre. The host, David Farrier, visits wildly taboo places, ranging from Mexican cities tied to organized crime all the way to Japan’s famous “suicide forest,” Aokigahara.
Farrier takes a wide look at a different region every episode, hitting up three destinations each episode, each with their own distinct attraction. With each episode roughly an hour long, viewers can easily skip a section if they’re not particularly interested. However, what’s more engaging than the attractions visited is Farrier’s unexpected hunger of adventure, no matter how dangerous.
Farrier may come across as a gangly, mild-mannered nerd, but he surprises the audience by daring to cross restricted territories and face danger and death in the face, all while documenting it with his film crew. This might be surprising to documentary nerds who know Farrier mostly from his equally bizarre documentary, Tickled, which dives into his investigation on “competitive tickling.” (Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds . . . even more so, actually.)
I should warn viewers that if you’re looking for a sensationalized news Vice-type video or an outrageous host, you may be disappointed. One of the show’s best qualities is that Dark Tourist takes a genuinely balanced, non-judgmental look at our world’s bizarre oddities, making for a fascinatingly creepy and engaging show.
[…] place is unique and too interesting to pass up, which makes it easy to binge the show in a whole sitting — Farrier’s travels range from campy to quirky to downright disturbing. Offbeat and fascinating […]