Mister Organ is one of the most unsettling documentaries I’ve ever seen

The genesis of Mister Organ began like many modern investigative reports: with a seemingly local, low-stakes dispute over urban parking. Farrier, an Auckland-based journalist known for his sharp eye for the eccentric and the unjust, initially started reporting on Bashford Antiques, an antique shop located in the upscale Auckland suburb of Ponsonby. The business had begun aggressively clamping cars parked in its private lot, holding the vehicles hostage and demanding exorbitant fees for their release. In some cases, the cost to remove a clamp reached as high as $760—an extortionate sum that signaled predatory behavior disguised as property management.

Farrier’s reporting on the matter for The Spinoff, a prominent New Zealand digital magazine, shone a harsh public light on the predatory clamping practices. The coverage generated widespread outrage and public discussion, ultimately drawing the attention of lawmakers. The pressure proved effective, leading the New Zealand government to introduce specific legislation designed to clamp down on predatory parking operators and outlaw extreme clamping fees. Under normal journalistic circumstances, that regulatory victory would have served as a satisfying conclusion to the story—a corrupt practice exposed, public officials forced to act, and the local community protected from further exploitation.

Yet, as Farrier quickly discovered, the parking controversy was merely the entrance to a much darker and more bizarre rabbit hole. At the center of the Bashford Antiques clamping operation was a man named Michael Organ, who had been hired by the shop to police the lot. What began as a routine inquiry into the parking lot bully quickly unraveled into the uncovering of a sophisticated, long-term con artist whose history was as colorful as it was troubling.

As Farrier dug deeper into Organ’s background, he discovered that the parking lot enforcement was just the latest chapter in a long history of manipulation. Years earlier, Organ had been criminally charged with attempting to steal a multi-million-dollar yacht in the course of an elaborate, highly calculated scheme. Furthermore, Organ had cultivated a web of grand falsehoods about his own identity, frequently claiming to be both a prince and a qualified lawyer—assertions that were entirely fabricated, yet somehow persuasive enough to fool numerous people over the years.

As Farrier continued to talk with individuals who had crossed paths with Organ over the course of his life, and as he began interacting with the man directly, a deeply disturbing portrait began to emerge. Organ was not simply a harmless eccentric or a run-of-the-mill fraudster; he was a deeply troubled individual who left a long, quiet trail of traumatized people in his wake. The dynamic between the journalist and his subject shifted dramatically as the documentary progressed. What started as a wild, almost absurd character study transformed into something far more alarming, tense, and claustrophobic.

The turning point in the documentary—and in Farrier’s real-life sense of security—occurred when Organ revealed that he had somehow managed to get his hands on a key to Farrier’s home. Far from being a mere slip in domestic security, the revelation was delivered with a chilling nonchalance, accompanied only by a vague, ominous warning for the journalist to be careful. The casual violation of his private space stripped away the safe distance that typically exists between a reporter and their subject, dragging the filmmaker directly into the nightmare he was trying to document.

From that moment on, the situation escalated rapidly. The harassment and psychological gaslighting grew so intense, persistent, and unpredictable that Farrier eventually felt it was necessary to leave the country entirely in order to protect himself and regain his peace of mind. It is a rare and disturbing feat for a documentary to bridge the gap between investigative journalism and psychological horror, yet Mister Organ achieves precisely that, capturing the suffocating reality of being targeted by a master manipulator who refuses to let go.

For viewers interested in exploring the documentary and witnessing the strange, tense dynamic firsthand, Mister Organ is currently available to stream on several digital platforms, including Hoopla, Kanopy, and YouTube.