The Tripper
Review by Peter Syslo

THE TRIPPER (2007) is one of those movies that I was really excited to see; I had heard that it was “edgy”, politically charged, and a little bit “out there”. However, I was a little disappointed after viewing it and I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. Overall, I thought that the film was “so-so” – I didn’t hate it but I didn’t like it that much, either. Honestly, the whole in-your-face political slant just ruined it for me; I do like a movie with an underlying message but I also don’t like to be preached to while I am trying to be entertained.

A movie like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD put forth the same sort of political and societal message but it was subversive and it didn’t undermine the overall story – that is part of its brilliance. I just thought that THE TRIPPER got too caught up in itself and for the most part, it turned into a liberal Hollywood sound-off on President Bush. Now, I’m not defending Bush by any means but I think it is illogical and futile to base all of the country’s woes on one person – I could care less about politics, but I do know that one man doesn’t make all of the decisions: there’s Congress, The House of Representatives, and probably hundreds of corporate a**holes who all take part in making decisions. If you think one man controls it all, you are surely mistaken – the re is a line in the movie VANILLA SKY (excellent flick, by the way) that says “What is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions?” (the answer) “money.” That is a very accurate assessment of life.

But anyhoo…back to something I actually care about, horror movies! The Tripper is directed by David Arquette and is co-written by Arquette and Joe Harris. The film stars Richmond Arquette, Paz De La Huerta, Balthazar Getty, Lukas Haas, Brad Hunt, Thomas Jane, Jaime King, Jason Mewes, Paul Reubens, and Marsha Thomason.

Again, I felt that there was too much political content injected into the film; but, the premise is actually a fresh take on the whole “slasher-in-the-woods” type of film and I was excited about some new ideas in horror; despite the fact that the slasher component of it took a back seat to the political dominance. Case in point, the killer (who wears a Ronald Reagan mask) goes to finish off one guy and before that guy gets axed, the guy says, “But I’m a Republican!” Yes, a scene like that is funny but it is also reeked of the, “Republicans are evil and they deserve their fate”, stench. It’s possible that I may be reading too much into the movie, but it was just overbearing, at times.

On a positive note, one message that I did get from the film (I think I interpreted it clearly) is that getting caught up in political beliefs can be disastrous. I did like the idea of, “Okay, let’s just set aside our political beliefs and be humane to each other” –that was pretty apparent in some scenes. Also, I did like the message of hypocrisy and profit in the world of politics; there is a concert promoter (played by Paul Reubens aka Pee-Wee Herman) who meets a fitting demise for overcharging people and there is a hilarious cameo by Courtney Cox, who plays a PETA-type who falls victim to her “beliefs”. I admit, there are some funny scenes and actually, there is a lot of “meat” to this film.

I think that my beef with this movie is that I really wanted more of a horror film and I wished for the “podium” to fall back into the scenery. Arquette had a pretty good opening, with the killer’s back story, and I feel that he did a good job with the traditional slasher elements (the kills are decent, there is a surprising amount of gore, and the ending is what you would expect). The acting is negligible – most of the “young adults” are the typical types in all slasher films (yes most of them are annoying, too), with the exception of Jason Mewes and Jaime King. The best actor in the film was probably Thomas Jane, as a police officer who turns into the “ahab” of the story (his reactions were pretty realistic and a little “tongue-in-cheek”, which was perfect for this film). Regarding other things, the film was shot really well, the killer’s Reagan mask was pretty creepy, a nd the whole “hippie” atmosphere provided an interesting element to the story.

Cutting to the chase: the movie was just “okay” – there were some fresh ideas for the slasher genre and there were some bright spots, but the film just got bogged down in political self-righteousness. However, I do like Arquette’s style and I hope that he attempts another horror film because his take on the genre is very fresh. He has some great ideas and I think that he does have the potential to produce some really great films.