Tickled (2016)

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.

Directors:

David Farrier, Dylan Reeve

Stars:

David Farrier, Dylan Reeve, Marko Realmonte

1 win & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Farrier	...	Himself
Dylan Reeve	...	Himself
Marko Realmonte	...	Himself
Kevin Clarke	...	Himself
Adam	...	Himself
T.J. Gretzner	...	Himself, former tickle competitor (as TJ)
Richard Ivey	...	Himself, tickle fetishist
David Starr	...	Himself (as Dave Starr)
Anne James	...	Herself, radio host, KSEN / K96 (voice) (archive footage)
Alden	...	Himself, former tickle video performer
Hal Karp	...	Himself, journalist 1992-2007
Debbie Scoblionkov	...	Herself, journalist 1981-2006
Jordan Schillaci	...	Himself
Lance Roberts	...	Himself (voice)
David D'Amato	...	Himself, aka Terri Tickle aka Terri DiSisto aka Jane O'Brien aka Jane J. O'Brien aka Debbie Kuhn

Storyline

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...

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Plot Keywords:

tickling | hidden camera | investigative journalism | blackmail | legal threat | 

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Taglines:

It's not what you think

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Genres:

Documentary | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 June 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Csiklandozás életre-halálra

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,898, 19 June 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$612,816, 25 September 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

A Ticklish Tale,Fumes Production,Horseshoe Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A number of subjects from the film attended a screening and Q&A with co-director Dylan Reeve in Los Angeles. The very unusual Q&A was streamed live on Facebook and involved legal threats and warnings of potential criminal charges for the filmmakers by the film's subjects.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Nostalgia Critic: Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (2016)

User Reviews

Absolutely Riveting

Excellent debut for Dylan.

Went in expecting a ho-hum doc about a strange subculture. Instead, this film impressed at every turn with it's sophisticated handling of a strange and complicated story. Yes, as some readers have noted, it does not have a particularly surprising reveal, but that is not the point. The audience is taken on a twisty turn-y roller coaster which, unlike a carnival ride, only gets more dramatic towards the end.

Themes of power, control, exploitation remind the viewer why we have white-collar crime laws on the books. The men shown benefiting in this movie are scarier than any monster I've seen in film.

I guess that is sort of the Splash Mountain ride.