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Tickled

  • 20162016
  • RR
  • 1h 32min
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
18K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Tickled (2016)
Trailer for Tickled
Play trailer2:21
3 Videos
23 Photos
DocumentaryCrimeMystery

Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of... Read allJournalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.

IMDb RATING
7.5/10
18K
YOUR RATING
  • Directors
    • David Farrier
    • Dylan Reeve
  • Stars
    • David Farrier
    • Dylan Reeve
    • David Starr
Top credits
  • Directors
    • David Farrier
    • Dylan Reeve
  • Stars
    • David Farrier
    • Dylan Reeve
    • David Starr
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 44User reviews
    • 95Critic reviews
    • 76Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 15 nominations

    Videos3

    Tickled
    Trailer 2:21
    Tickled
    Tickled
    Trailer 2:28
    Tickled
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:26
    Official Trailer

    Photos23

    Tickled (2016)
    Tickled (2016)
    Tickled (2016)
    T.J. Gretzner in Tickled (2016)
    T.J. Gretzner in Tickled (2016)
    T.J. Gretzner in Tickled (2016)
    Tickled (2016)
    David Farrier and David Starr in Tickled (2016)
    David Farrier in Tickled (2016)
    Dylan Reeve in Tickled (2016)
    David Farrier in Tickled (2016)
    David Farrier in Tickled (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    David Farrier
    David Farrier
    • Selfas Self
    Dylan Reeve
    • Selfas Self
    David Starr
    David Starr
    • Selfas Self
    Kevin Clarke
    • Selfas Self
    Adam
    • Selfas Self
    T.J. Gretzner
    • Self - Former Tickle Competitoras Self - Former Tickle Competitor
    • (as TJ)
    Richard Ivey
    • Self - Tickle Fetishistas Self - Tickle Fetishist
    Marko Realmonte
    • Selfas Self
    Anne James
    • Self - Radio Host: KSEN, K96as Self - Radio Host: KSEN, K96
    • (archive footage)
    • (voice)
    Alden
    • Self - Former Tickle Video Performeras Self - Former Tickle Video Performer
    Hal Karp
    • Self - Journalist 1992-2007as Self - Journalist 1992-2007
    Debbie Scoblionkov
    • Self - Journalist 1981-2006as Self - Journalist 1981-2006
    Jordan Schillaci
    • Selfas Self
    Lance Roberts
    • Selfas Self
    • (voice)
    David D'Amato
    • Self - aka Terri Tickle aka Terri DiSisto aka Jane O'Brien aka Jane J. O'Brien aka Debbie Kuhnas Self - aka Terri Tickle aka Terri DiSisto aka Jane O'Brien aka Jane J. O'Brien aka Debbie Kuhn
    Romeo Salta
    Romeo Salta
    • Self - Attorney Allegedly Hired by Jane O'Brien Mediaas Self - Attorney Allegedly Hired by Jane O'Brien Media
    Dorothy J. D'Amato
    • Self - David P. D'Amato's Stepmotheras Self - David P. D'Amato's Stepmother
    • (voice)
    • (as Dorothy)
    • Directors
      • David Farrier
      • Dylan Reeve
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    Storyline

    Edit
    David Farrier, a New Zealand pop cultural reporter whose story subjects often verge into the bizarre, believes he's found his next story when he stumbles across an online video on the world of competitive endurance tickling, a sport where the participants, with hands and feet tied down, are tickled for as long as they can endure. Participants are flown to Los Angeles first class, paid $1,500, and put up for four nights in a luxury hotel. Suitable participants are deemed to be younger, muscular males. The event is held on a monthly basis. In contacting the organizers, US-based Jane O'Brien Media, via their popular Facebook page to arrange for an interview, David receives a return message from one of their representatives, Debbie J. Kuhn, declining the offer, the message a homophobic rant largely against David. In that message, Debbie asserts that the competition is wholly a heterosexual athletic activity, she who does not appreciate what will be David's assumed gay bent on the story as a homosexual himself (which David does not state he is or isn't in his request). David finds the message all the more odd as the activity as it appears in the videos has an undeniable gay vibe. What is even more odd is that Debbie on behalf of Jane O'Brien, continually emails David over the following weeks expounding on the themes in the original message. At this time, David's friend, Dylan Reeve, enters the fray, acting initially as a researcher for David, and then eventually as co-filmmaker for a documentary on the subject. However, the documentary eventually morphs from the sport of competitive endurance tickling into the mysterious world of Jane O'Brien and Debbie Kuhn, especially: as they seem to have unlimited resources both to hold the events and to conduct their online harassment they learn not only of David, but of former associates who now seem to want to distance themselves from the "sport" and Jane O'Brien Media; as Jane and Debbie initiate legal action and threaten even more legal action, and issue general threats time and time against David and Dylan not only for this unauthorized documentary but for their activities toward Jane O'Brien Media as a whole; and as no one seems to know who Debbie or Jane are, even the people that work for them, or what their end goal is, namely what will be done with the resulting videos of the competitions, which populate the Internet. The story takes a further twist when David and Dylan learn there truly is a tickling sexual fetish subculture, one within that community, Richard Ivey, who willingly talks to David and who remembers someone else online decades ago within the community with a similar M.O. to Debbie and Jane. —Huggo
    ticklinghumiliationcompetitive endurance ticklingtickling fetishcrowdfunded7 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • It's not what you think
    • Genres
      • Documentary
      • Crime
      • Mystery
    • Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
      • Rated R for language
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The executive producer, the producer, the two directors, and one of the actors... all five were sued in US Federal District Court in an effort to stop the film from being shown. Source: Courthouse News ("Tickled Film")
    • Quotes

      David Farrier: I started this journey curious about a bizarre sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling. But I now think this was never even about tickling... This is about power, control and harassment. It's about one person's twistedness, and how far that can go. One person, who has managed to shelter himself with money to keep his obsession going. But now, it's his life exposed. For once, it's him on camera.

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 20 Best Documentary Films of the Last Decade (2019)
    • Soundtracks
      Stirring Them up as the Keeper of a Menagerie His Wild Beasts
      Written by Shane Carruth

    User reviews44

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Tickled: A visceral, awkward, depressing and funny must see film
    One would assume a documentary about tickling to be a somewhat innocent, funny, and strange peek into a niche fetish community. At least that's what I was expecting. I'm not the only who got more than they bargained for in the new documentary "Tickled."

    After stumbling onto a website about tickling competitions, David Farrier, a pop culture reporter from New Zealand, and the director of the documentary, set his sights on revealing this weird fetish to his local audience. Upon digging further, his goal shifts from a lighthearted reveal to the responsibility of exposing an illegal, abusive organization which is preying on vulnerable young men all over the world.

    Tickling competitions (for those not familiar) involve young men participating in a game of endurance wherein they are strapped down and tickled by numerous other young men, all in revealing gym clothing. When Farrier discovers that teenagers from New Zealand and elsewhere were being flown to the US to participate in these competitions (all expenses paid), he did what any good reporter would and stuck his nose into other people's business. He reached out to Jane O'Brien Media, the organization that sponsors the tickling competitions, for an interview. In response, Jane O'Brien Media almost immediately confronted him with an aggressive letter suggesting he and his bisexual preferences are perverted and he will not be granted an interview. This is a bit confusing due to the obviously homoerotic vibe of these tickling videos, but that's only the beginning of where this story gets bizarre.

    Farrier quickly joins forces with fellow Kiwi and internet nerd Dylan Reeve (the co- director of the film) and they begin to dig. Reeve, having previously worked with internet service providers, knows how to access and research online data and started researching the history of this organization and its representative "Debra," with whom they've been corresponding. At this point, the layers slowly begin to unravel and the audience's awkward giggles fade. Before you know it, your seemingly innocent trip into a colorful rabbit hole of "weird stuff humans do" is transformed into a tornado of deception, greed, and control.

    As Farrier went deeper into researching Jane O'Brien Media—often working from his couch with a live parrot on his shoulder—the offensive email attacks quickly turned into legal threats followed by a personal visit from two New York lawyers to his office in New Zealand. Farrier and Reeve opened up a Pandora's Box into the world of endurance tickling and it is not pretty.

    Unwilling to back down despite the legal actions taken by Jane O'Brien Media, they head to America and begin interviewing people involved in the tickling ring. They fail in an attempt to sneak into a Jane O'Brien video shoot (held in some sketchy warehouse) so instead they find themselves in the house of a small-scale tickling entrepreneur—a mid-50's clean cut man living in Florida—and witness a "session." Allow me to paint the picture: The "client," a fit young man in his late teens, early 20s comes over, takes off his shirt, and gets strapped in for 20 minutes of non- stop, video-recorded tickling. The tickling involves the use of various objects including an electric toothbrush, feathers, and, of course, the Florida man's hands. Watching this attractive young man squirm and giggle while being dominated and tortured with no way to escape creates an incredibly voyeuristic scene that leaves Farrier visibly uncomfortable.

    The film's success is rooted in the non-stop peeling back of layers of manipulation which draws the viewer deeper and deeper into the core of this disturbing world. As Farrier and Reeve continue to piece together the mystery of who is running the Jane O'Brien empire through accounts from its victims, it becomes clear that the organization is using money to target and manipulate a certain demographics— young, low-income boys—and then basically ruining many of their lives with the footage. It's like a psychological mystery thriller after-school special and the lesson is still, "don't talk to strangers."

    The film is really a journey running through themes of domination, manipulation, the power of the internet, bullying, the dynamics in economic inequality and greed all rolled into one. It's an exposé that involves a real emotional roller-coaster and a must-see film. Especially if you want to laugh and then feel awkward for laughing, get mad, maybe laugh again, and perhaps shed a tear, too. Feel the feelings, see the film.
    helpful•21
    4
    • sutherlandkimberly
    • Dec 12, 2016

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 26, 2016 (New Zealand)
    • Country of origin
      • New Zealand
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Kittlad
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • A Ticklish Tale
      • Fumes Production
      • Horseshoe Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $613,956
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $21,898
      • Jun 19, 2016
    • Gross worldwide
      • $790,519
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 32min
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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