Dark Tourist, 2012
Directed by Suri Krishnamma
Starring Michael Culditz, Melanie Griffith, Pruitt Taylor Vince
SYNOPSIS:
Jim obsesses over the hobby that has been part of his DNA since he was a young boy: grief tourism – the act of traveling with the intent to visit places of tragedy or disaster. Every year his week-long vacations from work are spent going to grief tourist locations in the lives of different serial killers he is fascinated with. This years obsession is Carl Marznap, a mass murder from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Dark, depraved with a very sick view of the world, Dark Tourist (formally titled The Grief Tourist) is an engaging, captivating and thought-provoking movie from British director Suri Krishnamma.
Michael Culditz plays Jim Tahana, a simple man with even simpler needs who works as a security guard on a night shift to avoid talking to people. Nothing in his life truly means anything apart from his one obsession – the act of ‘grief tourism’, -, travelling round the country to places where horrific acts have taken place and taking photos. Tahana compares this to being no different to going to Ground Zero, only his ‘tourist attractions’ are based around famed serial killers. His latest pilgrimage has him follow in the footsteps of famed arsonist Carl Marznap, but the demons of his childhood start to haunt him as does a vision of Marznap’s ghost.
With a movie like this, its success will live and die by its central performance and in the case of Dark Tourist, Culditz gives a powerful and moving one as his mind slowly deteriorates over the film’s running time. His warm and calm demeanour in the earlier stages of the movie makes us warm to him as he just comes off a bit quirky. But just like Dexter, there is a darker side to him and the movie, along with Culditz’s sublime performance, reveals more about his dark past to show us why he is the person he is today.
Krishnamma’s almost painfully slow pacing allows for every single scene of the movie to sink in with its audience. Scenes with lonely waitress Betsy (played perfectly by Melanie Griffith) are among the more interesting as their relationship reveals more about Tahana’s dark past and both actors sell these moments without missing a beat.
Dark Tourist will certainly not be for everyone as there are plenty of moments which will make even the strongest of stomachs wince. Krishnamma brilliantly makes his audience uncomfortable and usually not through visuals, but rather the suggestion of them. The focus is never one the pain, but on the character who is receiving it, making for a chilling atmosphere that will not be to everyone’s tastes.
However if you think you can handle it, Dark Tourist is a great movie featuring one of the most mesmerising performances of recent memory. Culditz is a true star and he takes this film to a whole new plateau. It does raise some interesting questions about people’s obsessions and how far we’re willing to take them (as well as comments on the media’s glamorisation of serial killers) and Krishnamma’s direction along with Frank John Hughe’s script makes for a superb piece of cinema that will stay with you for some time.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published August 28, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
