Review of The Tripper (2006) by Mark B — 08 Nov 2007

This film was a quite a bit of a let down. The director's debut for David Arquette had a good cast and a great setting, but sadly there is too much 'tripping' in this film and it ends up a bit of a mess.

A young, drug-taking group of friends all pile into a Scooby-style van and head to a Free Love music festival, deep in a California forest. Paul Reubens is the show promoter, whilst Thomas Jane is the singularly impressive sheriff in charge of keeping things safe and secure.

In amongst all this is a killer. A Ronald Reagan obsessed axe-man who hates hippies and all delinquent style behaviour. He moves freely through forest he was raised, picking off festival goers at will.

Of the young group we follow from the start, Jaime King is our heroine - or the closest thing to it in a mixed up film - whilst there is also an interesting turn from Jason Mewes in a rare step away from Jay.

As said before, the film is mixed up. At points it seems like a student slasher film and a festival documentary spliced together with no real regard for the flow of events and keeping any sympathies with the characters we have been introduced too. There is no tension at all and therefore the whole thing becomes a bit of a bore.

There is some very stylish editing in the film, arguably ambitiously undertaken by a first time director, but even this cannot distract from the films major flaws.

With all the resources it seemed that David Arquette had at his disposal - not to mention the experience in starring in one of the most popular slasher franchises of all time - he really should have done better.