Review of The Tripper (2006) by Patrick D — 11 Dec 2007

This hippie slasher movie from director David Arquette is a mildly amusing satire on other slasher movies that does nothing new with the genre but is entirely watchable. The opening sequence has news footage of nameless war dead, inhumanely thrown together like so much butcher meat.

A voice-over says how there is nothing glamorous about war. The image is uncomfortably mirrored later in scenes of carnage and mass-murder. No shortage of gore, but it is the political overtones that make the movie stand out and also invite forgiveness for the appreciably low budget.

The story follows a bunch of hippies having a love festival in the woods, much to the annoyance of local hicks. They are stalked by a psychopath in a realistic Ronald Reagan mask who starts chopping them up.

There is some brief nudity and a lot of swearing and drug usage, but it's not shocking or even particularly interesting. It fits into the story line, so it's not gratuitous. There are some gratuitous gross out moments involving gore and fecal matter, but they are the kind you would expect in this genre.