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The Tripper is a 2006 American comedy slasher film directed by David Arquette and starring Jaime King, Thomas Jane, and Lukas Haas. The film, Arquette’s directorial debut, is about a group of hippies at a music festival who get stalked by a madman dressed up like Ronald Reagan.

The Tripper
Promotional poster
Directed by	David Arquette
Written by	David Arquette Joe Harris
Produced by	Courteney Cox Arquette Evan Astrowsky David Arquette Navin Narang Neil A. Machlis
Starring	Jaime King Thomas Jane Lukas Haas
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski
Edited by	Glenn Garland
Music by	Jimmy Haun David Wittman
Production companies	Coquette Productions Raw Entertainment
Distributed by	NaVinci Films
Release dates	October 13, 2006 (2006-10-13) (ScreamFest) April 20, 2007 (2007-04-20) (United States)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

In 1967, a young boy is watching a news report on TV of then-governor of California Ronald Reagan railing against the environmentalist movement. The boy's father, a local logger, faces resistance from a group of tree-hugging hippies who will not allow him to clear the forest. A standoff between the logger and the hippies ensues, in which the disturbed boy takes a chainsaw to one of the protesters.

In the present day, five young friends head to the American Free Love Festival, a modern-day Woodstock festival, for a weekend of debauchery. Frank Baker, the festival organizer, is unaware that the festival grounds were the site of the violent standoff three decades ago. One by one, the group of friends are stalked by a radical-minded psychopath who dresses and talks like Ronald Reagan.

Cast

Production

David Arquette came up with the idea for the film when he was at a reggae concert in Northern California. "We're surrounded by redwood trees and the redwood trees are always so creepy anyway. And I thought it would be crazy if a madman came out of the woods and started hacking up all these hippies," said Arquette.[2]

Arquette decided to make the killer obsessed with Ronald Reagan because he wanted the film to be a commentary on Reagan-era policies. Said Arquette, "Reagan was president, and governor while I was growing up in California and I remember for the first time I saw homeless people everywhere and that was due to cuts in mental health that he did. Then after that, I saw a Reagan mask at one point...I was like 'oh, wait a second.' It reminded me of… William Shatner's mask that they used to be Michael Myers, so from there on it all kind of came together."[3] Arquette wrote the script with Joe Harris, adding elements of political satire.[3]

The Tripper was shot in Santa Cruz, California.[4]

In August 2007, writer-producer Fritz Jünker sued the Arquettes' production company, Coquette Productions, Inc., for copyright infringement, claiming Jünker's 2001 film, The Truth About Beef Jerky, was the basis for The Tripper.[5] The Truth About Beef Jerky was also shot in the same state park north of Santa Cruz, several years before The Tripper. The case never went to court, and was eventually dropped, because Jünker could not afford to take the case to court.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival on October 13, 2006.[6] It was also shown as a bonus film as part of 2006's After Dark Horrorfest.[7] On April 19, 2007, the film premiered at the Del Mar Theater in Santa Cruz, with Arquette and fellow cast members present for an audience Q&A.[8] The film received a limited theatrical release the following day on April 20, a reference to 420 in cannabis culture which is a theme of the film.[8]

The Canadian premiere of The Tripper was at Fantasia Festival in 2007.[9]

The MPAA rating system gave the film an R rating for strong horror violence and graphic violence, drug content, language, and some sexuality/nudity.[10]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Tripper has an approval rating of 38% based on 16 reviews.[11]

In his review for Variety, Justin Chang wrote, "For anyone who's ever wanted to see a bunch of 'shroom-smoking, free-love-espousing flower children get picked off one by one, 'The Tripper' has undeniable appeal. But the cynical script by Arquette and Joe Harris also has various axes to grind with conservatives, the Iraq War and, most pointedly (and absurdly), Reagan's policies toward mental patients. Don't be fooled by the semi-serious veneer; this is a movie whose idea of political humor is an attack dog named Nancy."[12]

Brian Holcomb of CinemaBlend said the film's real strength is "a good natured and modest sense of mischievous fun. It’s a dumb movie made by a director smart enough to recognize absurdity when he sees it."[13] In his review of the DVD, MovieWeb's Evan Jacobs said the film is "a nostalgic homage to the exploitation films of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper."[14] Criticisms of the film were that it succumbs to slasher film clichés,[15] as well as that it has a lack of scares.[12] Film Threat wrote, "While the film has some genuinely cutting observations about both liberals and conservatives to make, the aforementioned middle contains too many scenes of people either doing drugs or dancing; and too few (in fact, almost none) of the biting satire that fueled the first act. Not until the ending do we get a whiff of what made it great earlier."[16]

Home media

The DVD was released on October 23, 2007 as an unrated version, with 4 minutes not seen in the theatrical cut.[14] The DVD includes audio commentary by cast and crew, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Comic book

Image Comics, in conjunction with Raw Studios, published the Tripper comic adaptation David Arquette's The Tripper during May 2007 in its first edition.[17] David Arquette is credited with the story, alongside Joe Harris, who adapted the concept for the comic medium with artist Nat Jones.

References

External links

• The Tripper at IMDb
• The Tripper at AllMovie

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