Plot
A rural Northern California town
prepares for it's annual America's Free Love Festival where hippies come for the
sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Also coming along is a serial killer sporting a
Ronald Reagan mask, butchering teenagers to death with his axe and leaving jelly
beans behind at the scene.
Review
I just didn't get this at all. Maybe its
because I'm too young to have lived during the swinging 60s to fully understand
the hippy thing. Maybe it's because I'm not American so I didn't really get all
of the political jibes about Bush and Reagan. Or maybe it's just because the
film was rubbish and I didn't feel like getting it. Before I go on, I'd like to
point out that The Tripper isn't
some cheap-jack indie horror. David Arquette's directorial debut has got
decent production values, has managed to attract some big names for cameo roles
and even manages a few shocking moments of violence. It's just that the whole
drugs thing is taken a little too far in places and you've also got to remember that
it's just a slasher film so there are no surprises as to what is going to
happen at any point.
The Tripper is entertaining in places, frustrating in others. There is a
decent amount of gore on display and a reasonable body count so the killer isn't
just twitching his thumbs (he takes a while to show up though). The Ronald
Reagan killer has a mean streak a mile wide and when he starts butchering
someone, he doesn't just give them one or two whacks with his axe, he goes to
town on them. I would have liked to have seen more of the deaths on screen but I
guess it would get tiresome quickly seeing the same routine over and over. Just when
things seem to be on the right tracks, Arquette goes over the top with his many
drug-induced hallucination scenes. It may be mildly amusing the first time but
it gets tiresome very quickly. The political satire is also a problem for
non-American viewers who may not have the slightest clue about Ronald Reagan and
the state of America during his time in charge. I can't really criticise this as
I'm sure there are British horror films from the past that Americans wouldn't
"get" due to their political relevance. Thankfully this isn't fully developed
once the blood starts flowing and it shouldn't pose a major problem, just a mild
diversion.
There's some nudity of the hippy
variety although any horror film which features full frontal male nudity
immediately loses all of it's credibility in my eyes. It's fair to say that a
large majority of the slasher film audience is male so seeing some wiener
swinging to and fro on screen isn't exactly what I have in mind when I put in a
slasher film. Sorry to sound sexist but the rules of the genre are clear!
Arquette clearly has a few
friends in Hollywood and has familiar faces such as Jason Mewes (where's Silent
Bob?), Thomas Jane and Paul Ruebens (Pee Wee Herman) all pop up in small roles.
Jane is the pick of the bunch as the local sheriff with a really bad "porn"
moustache that looks like he's auditioning for a role in the Village People. The
problem is that all of the characters are goofy or cartoony which turns the
whole film into a bit of a joke. When the whole joke revolves around getting
stoned (the film is obviously pro-drugs), it wears a little thin. Arquette
spends too much time trying to make the film easy going and laid back when it
could have done with a bit more of a killer touch. The jokey tone of the film is
more damaging when most of the stuff just isn't funny. Laying into stereotypes
or smoking weed and tripping out isn't exactly what I call comedy. It's more
than probable that a lot of weed was smoked on set and would explain a lot of
what we seen on the screen.
Verdict
The Tripper is a rather mediocre
slasher with a few decent moments but it's just too goofy for it's own good
without actually being funny. There's way too much time spent getting stoned and
not enough time getting slashed for my liking. The tagline reads "Move over
Jason. Look out Freddie. Here's Ronnie!" but I'd rather see Jason or Freddy
killing people stoned than watch this again.
