# Dark Tourist (2018)

> New Zealand filmmaker David Farrier tours the world's grisly and offbeat destinations, from nuclear sites in Japan to Escobar-themed tours in Colombia.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/69368

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 41 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, reality
- Created by: Polly Fryer, Carthew Neal, Mark McNeill, David Farrier
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Sebastián Treviño, David Farrier
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8725166/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: bemused, darkly wry, unsettling, curious, intimate

## What critics say

Audiences find the destinations fascinating and the locations notably interesting, though some reviewers find host David Farrier's naivety irritating.

## Synopsis

Dark Tourist (2018) is a New Zealand documentary series created by Polly Fryer, Carthew Neal, Mark McNeill and David Farrier for Netflix. Across eight episodes of roughly forty-one minutes each, filmmaker David Farrier serves as both host and narrator, travelling to grim and offbeat destinations around the globe. The engine of the show is his curiosity about why people seek out sites tied to disaster, crime and frontier hardship, and what those visits reveal about the travellers and the locals who narrate these places day after day. Each episode follows a single destination: a nuclear tourism circuit in Japan, a Pablo Escobar inspired tour in Colombia, and frontier tourism in Turkmenistan among them. Farrier is frequently out of his depth, and his awkward encounters with guides, victims' relatives and entrepreneurs give the series a bemused, darkly wry register that alternates with sober moments of reflection. Viewers who enjoy host-led travelogues like Parts Unknown, or who are drawn to morbid curiosities and unusual subcultures, will find this a compelling companion. The tone stays intimate and conversational, with grim subject matter handled through observation rather than sensationalism, making it a loose, easy watch that still leaves room for unease.

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