This Coleslaw Archives: The Tripper (2007) by Tucker

The following review is from Tucker's old blog This Coleslaw Makes Me Sick. In an attempt to simplify their web presence, Tucker, Jeff and other contributor's writings will be periodically transferred to the If We Made It Podcast blog. Of course the old blog still exists, but Tucker never looks at it and neither does anyone else. 

The Tripper (2007)

Lovingly observed by Tucker

I have never been a fan of David Arquette. He never particularly bothered me either, but I was never a fan. He's been in a few movies I enjoyed, but mostly he was just not making an impression. Then he married Courtney Cox and that seemed to put him in a proper context. Other than Cox's appearances in classics like Family Ties,Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark video and perhaps Masters of the Universe, the only thing she'd done of any consequence was raise my blood pressure for however many hundreds of years Friends was on the air. I can't hold him responsible for his bad taste in women, but since that event he has gotten increasingly more grating. Of course I could just be looking at him in a different light. I also seem to place the blame forFriends squarely on Cox's shoulders simply because she's the only cast member who has done nothing of any quality since that shows long overdue demise (Matt LeBlanc doesn't even count). In short, I don't like Courtney Cox and by virtue of this hatred I dislike David Arquette. My point is, I'm not a good candidate to be a fan of Arquette's directorial debut The Tripper.Of course besides this, and the inclusion of Jason Mewes in the cast, everything else sounds like something I would love. The movie follows a group of drugged-out hippies into the woods for a music festival run by Frank Baker(Paul Reubens) a concert promoter who makes wonderful use of the word "fuck" and will let nothing stand between him and every last dollar he can squeeze out of the hippies he's catering to. Once in the woods, the hippies start getting killed off by a wacko in a Ronald Reagan mask who roams the woods with his dog Nancy, leaving Jelly Beans at the crime scenes.
The first section of the movie plays with the tensions between the Reagan/Bushies and the hippies in generally amusing ways. The fun kicks off with a flashback of the killer watching his logger father arrested after trying to remove some hippie tree-huggers from his work area where all he wanted was to make a few dollars to pay for his dying wife's medication. The kid goes a little loopy and chainsaws the hippie. Of course this is followed with a short history lesson on Reagan and his policies as governor of California regarding environmentalist (you've seen one Red Wood you've seen 'em all) and the mentally ill. He cut funding for psychiatric hospitals resulting in hundreds of mentally disturbed people being turned loose. Our killer is one of those hundreds. Why Reagan's policies weren't horrific enough for a movie without a killer in a mask I can't tell you, but the movie kept rolling.
The kids we follow to the concert have their own run-ins on the way to the show. When they stop the van Lukas Haas gets out to pee and is hit in the head with a bottle by a bunch of rednecks in a pick-up--one of them David Arquette. They deal with more loyal Bushies at a backwoods gas station/diner, who then multiply when Arquette and his fellow bottle-throwers show up. And finally, one of the girls in the van is just getting out of an abusive relationship with right-winger Balthazar Getty. That's fun to say.
The best thing about this film is that neither Republicans nor hippies are spared. Neither are shown in a flattering light and if Arquette's intention was to make one of the groups likable, he is a miserable failure. Two of the most disgusting groups of people in the country, if not the planet. I think the mafia is more tolerable than hippies and I like them more than Republicans.
The movie is populated by crazy townsfolk and stoned hippies which makes for a pretty entertaining horror film. Since you want almost everyone dead you can sit back and enjoy without getting too involved. That's not necessarily a good thing. There is no one really to pull for here and the only truly likable people in the movie are Officer Buzz Hall and Frank Baker played hilariously by Thomas Jayne and Paul Reubens. But even these characters aren't likable, they're just funny. So we're left not being very invested, but I also can't remember the last time that criteria actually applied to a slasher film. So, I liked the movie.
The film has dog attacks, decapitation, evisceration, stabbings, axe murders, boobs, bush (not the president), peen, bum, someone gets cut in half with a chainsaw, fat kid's leg gets cut off, a drum circle gets slaughtered with an axe, Jason Mewes' hand gets cut off! I think there are at least two reasons to see this movie listed there. It's not quite as bloody or gory as it should be, but I have pretty high standards when it comes to that. In short, if you like slasher movies you should see this because it is one. Don't watch the credits however, or you will be woe to find out that no hippies or Republicans were harmed during the making of this film, which is just sad. If they had been hurt I could officially call myself a David Arquette fan. Although I must say, he is growing on me.

Grade: B-

Check this review out at its original home: The Tripper