The true work of genius is the simultaneous creation of something that is both intellectually engaging as well as entertaining. However, if a filmmaker is attempting to do just this, or even the slightest portion of both, it is best to set one’s foundation with the former and then add the latter as icing. Perhaps this is what went wrong with David Arquette’s The Tripper, for he admitted during a panel discussion that his sole agenda was to make a “fun” movie, the basis of which was not, ironically given the film’s plot, politics, but a slasher appearing during a rainbow gathering.
How original.
Given Arquette’s limited helming experience, as well as the less-than-shining monuments which seeped out of the pen of his co-writer, Joe Harris (such as Darkness Falls and Tooth Fairy), perhaps expecting the production’s satirical premise to live up to its promise is . . . well . . . just plan naïve. Truth be told, there is no difference between the routine Friday the 13th redux and The Tripper, all the way down to the trite woodland setting, axe-wielding psychopath in a mask, teens breaking the Puritan Code of Ethics who are subsequently punished with death, and the requisite vestal Final Female. “Ho-hum” doesn’t quiet cover it, especially when the uninspiring execution is met with flaccid attempts at humor and satire.
True, a back story is provided for the killer and a juxtaposition is posited between the Reagan Era and Bush’s nightmare that is the early 21st century, but the film fails to congeal into a convincing whole. Arquette does point out certain inconsistencies with the GOPs various platforms, such as how the music industry aides the economy (something which Reds love a whole lot), but what do we make of the thematic detour of a hippie who bemoans the killing of an attack dog because “It’s one of God’s creatures” before we are thrown back into our antagonist chasing hippies out of the woods as “You can’t stop him [because] it’s Reagan” is screamed? C’mon David, your political rep doesn’t precede you and you’re definitely not Trey Parker or Matt Stone for, if you were, you’d know that to be able to sit on the fence and get away with it, you would have to turn the rib-poking up to 11 instead of allowing it to hum on the lighter side of 2.
I suppose credit is partially due the filmmaker for acknowledging, contrary to popular belief, that hippie culture is still alive and well (anyone who has been to Ithaca, New York will attest to that). Yet there is little else to applaud. Perhaps if the feature’s plot weren’t politically oriented, then judgment wouldn’t be so harsh–The Tripper would just come and go as yet another lethargic, carbon-copy slasher but Arquette’s premise is just too big for its britches. Too many missed opportunities exist, especially considering the GOP candidates exponentially referencing the Gipper during their primary campaigns (true, this was after the film had wrapped, but the obvious reverberations of the Universal Unconscious were nevertheless apparent to anyone who bothered to keep up). And it’s not as if, given the knee-jerk reaction to the Bush administration and the President’s steady 33% popularity rating, ample ammunition wasn’t available for the taking in respect to greater reinforcement of the film’s contemporary allusions, to say nothing of tome upon tome of back catalogues about Reagan’s mishaps.
Instead of closing with the note that Paul Reubens, playing an exploitive entrepreneur in hippie garb, couldn’t manage to save David Arquette’s film, I’ll let The Tripper’s tagline sum up the production: “Move over Jason, look Out Freddie. HEEERE’S RONNIE!” Um, you misspelled Mr. Kruger’s name . . . .
Conversation piece: Kevin Smith allowed Jason Mewes to play in Clerks II only if he agreed to kick his drug habit. So what does David Arquette do? He gives ol’ Jay a role as a druggie. Smooth move Dave.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
