The Grief Tourist
Jim Tahna, a quiet and solitary man, explains in voice-over narration his hatred of society and his employers, though he enjoys his work as security guard, as it allows him long periods of solitude. On his vacation time, he engages in dark tourism, the visitation of murder sites. His current subject is Carl Marznap, a mass murderer and arsonist. He leaves Yonkers, New York, to visit Carl's home in California. His neighbor at the cheap motel in which he stays, Iris, turns out to be a prostitute. Nervous, Jim fumbles in conversation with her, then states in voice-over how much he hates prostitutes. At a local restaurant, he meets Betsy, a friendly waitress. Jim introduces himself to her as Carl and falsely claims that his sister has been diagnosed with cancer. Betsy and Jim draw closer over their difficult lives, and she invites him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
On his tour of Marznap's home and crime scenes, Jim becomes increasingly disturbed by hallucinations and vague flashbacks. Eventually, Jim hallucinates Marznap himself, who urges him to teach the world what it feels like to be a victim. Once tortured and gang-raped in juvenile detention, Marznap explains that he sought revenge by burning down a church, as he blamed those people for doing nothing to help him while his father abused him. After the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jim and Betsy bond further, and Betsy invites him to dinner at her house. Betsy offers him marijuana, and he reluctantly accepts. When she tries to kiss him, he becomes agitated and demands that they have sex without any affection. When she asks him to slow down, he berates her and leaves. Marznap encourages him to visit Iris. A trans woman, Iris has anal sex with Jim, and he flashbacks to a childhood gang rape.
Jim and Carl discuss their shared experiences, and Jim expresses his belief that he is broken beyond repair. The next day, at the restaurant, Betsy apologizes to Jim, and he calls her disgusting. She runs away crying, and Jim returns to his motel. Jim breaks into Iris' room, scares off her client, and beats her savagely. After he berates Iris, God, and the kids who raped him, he takes Iris to the church, where he strangles her. Marznap and Jim then discuss what to do next; Marznap counsels him to commit suicide, and Jim slits his own throat. In the epilogue, the police reveal that Jim has killed six trans-women prostitutes on his various dark tourism trips, and a young man visits Jim's house as part of his own dark tourism. Around a hole in the wall in Jim's house, a message reads, "From this void, no one returns!"
violence, murder, flashback