The Tripper (2006)

A Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer targets a bunch of hippies who are heading to a weekend-long concert.

Director:

David Arquette

Writers:

David Arquette, Joe Harris

Stars:

Jaime King, Thomas Jane, Lukas Haas

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Arquette	...	Muff
Richmond Arquette	...	Cooper
Courteney Cox	...	Dog Lover Hippie (as Courteney Cox Arquette)
China Crawford	...	Paramedic (as China Raven Crawford)
Paz de la Huerta	...	Jade / Summer (as Paz De La Huerta)
Alan Draven	...	Kid #1
Norwood Fisher	...	Band (as John Norwood Fisher)
Ben Gardiner	...	Wilson
Rocky George	...	Band
Balthazar Getty	...	Jimmy
DeAndre Gipson	...	Band
Redmond Gleeson	...	Dylan / Father
Richard Gross	...	Cop
Lukas Haas	...	Ivan
Josh Hammond	...	Tyler

Storyline

In the 80's, after seeing his father and lumberjack foreman being hit by a protestor against the deforesting and arrested by the police, the boy Gus kills the protestor with a chainsaw. In the present days, Samantha, who is traumatized after being abused by her former boyfriend Jimmy, travels with her pothead friends in a van to the American Free Love Festival, a rock-and-roll concert in the woods. Near the location, they are assaulted by three local hillbillies, but they succeed to arrive in the festival. Meanwhile, Mayor Hal Burton and Deputy Buzz Hall try to give a minimum of organization to the event. However, a deranged psychopath serial-killer wearing a mask of Ronald Reagan uses an ax to kill the pacific stoned hippies.

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Plot Keywords:

festival | van | lumberjack | chainsaw | blood splatter | 

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Taglines:

Move Over Jason, Look Out Freddie. HEEERE'S RONNIE!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, drug content, language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

President Evil

Filming Locations:

Big Basin Redwoods State Park - 21600 Big Basin Way, Boulder Creek, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$20,840 (USA) (20 April 2007)

Gross:

$20,840 (USA) (20 April 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Coquette Productions, NaVinci Films, Raw Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Arquette, the director, showed up for a screening of this film in a fake-blood-spattered suit.

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Goofs

The US flag behind the stage is an old 48 star version.

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Quotes

Ivan: I'm Rambo. I am Rambo.

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Crazy Credits

No hippies or republicans were harmed in this film

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Connections

References First Blood (1982)

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Soundtracks

Nothin' No
Written by David Vandervelde and Jay Bennett
Performed by David Vandervelde
Dude Camp Music (ASCAP) and You Want A Piece Of This Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Secretly Canadian Records ©2007

User Reviews

An Acidic Trip

What do you get when you cross Republican president Ronald Reagan, hippies, hatchets, a homicidal maniac and a whole lot of drugs? You get David Arquette's The Tripper. Basically the movie is about a group of friends, who are hippies, that travel through the northern wood of California for an all night rock n' roll concert, similar to that of Woodstock. The problem is, people start dying and turning up in pieces by the hands of a lunatic dressed up like Reagan. This movie was an equally balanced horror flick in my opinion. I enjoyed the horror/scares; I loved the outstanding lighting techniques, but I somewhat enjoyed the acting and the plot structure. In fair's game, I enjoyed this film and I did not think it was a waste of time, and it is a very good average horror movie.

First off, I enjoyed the horror and the gore that is placed throughout this movie. It's easy to see that this film follows "standard serial killer guidelines," which is why it was such a good homage to slasher flicks of the 80's and 90's. in this movie "Reagan" wields a non-firearm weapon (hatchet), super human strength, brutal attacks and a scary mask, your typical Republican serial killer. We even have our anti-survival-girl (the heroine that does seem like the hero of the movie). There is a good amount of blood and gore that is NOT typical in slasher flicks, but when dealing with a hatchet it is very necessary to have that amount of blood. The killer does pop out of nowhere at the most inopportune times, which plays for an effective "jump-out scare." There is a good helping of all to familiar blood. The blood in this movie is not as clear as other movie blood, but rather thick and red-pinkish, similar to that of Tim Burton blood that we saw in films like Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd. All in all a good scare from this movie.

The lighting in this movie was a marvel; in fact, it was a huge component to the films genre and its drug themed story. The lighting provided a great mind expander to enhance the already intoxicated feel this movie has. There was a beautiful circular array lighting that had a tie-dye design to it whenever somebody was in silhouette, there were fantastic straight primary colors used and the natural coloring (green plants, blue sky, fire and blood) were amplified to give the audience the blinding feel of the mind on horrible drugs. Ultimately and curiously enough, these amped colors and tie-dye designs only seemed to be present when one of the main characters took a hit. The lighting, as funny as it sounds, played a huge part in the films genre.

The acting was sort of a bittersweet thing for me because by a normal eye, the acting was great but I can see that the emotion and the reactions didn't fit the characters or the situation. Jamie King, who plays the main actress, does a good performance but she tends to overreact to the most subtle things, but when the killer comes, her performance lowers. There were okay performances by Lukas Haas and Balthazar Getty. Jason Mews did not seem like the pot-smoking-foul-mouthed bad boy in this movie, I enjoyed that, he performance was good but I don't think that his character should have been so "light." And Paul Reubens, who plays Frank Baker the owner of the concert, was an obnoxious character who swore too much and seemed like a plot device to set up the ending.

Overall, this movie had a great homage to slasher movies with some good scares and amazing lighting, though the acting and the plot seemed a bit unorthodox, ultimately giving this movie a good average rating. I do recommend this movie for people who enjoy a good slasher flick as well as humorous political satire. Though, I would not recommend this film to those who don't like comedy-horrors like Cabin Fever or Slither. I enjoyed it but I did not like it, basically I have a bittersweet relationship with this movie.