MOVIE REVIEW: The Tripper - Sociopolitical Exploration by way of Hatchet Wielding Mayhem

By Brian Abrams

David Arquette’s directorial debut The Tripper tells the story of a mysterious psycho who stalks a bunch of party animals at a music festival in a small backwoods town. But don’t mistake the independent title (opening in select theaters April 20) as just another genre-laden slasher with a marketable jam band soundtrack. There could be more to this indie scare-comedy.

Arquette cleverly uses the serial-killer-thriller formula as a pretext to illustrate the cultural angst between the right and left during George Dubya Bush’s first term in office. The homicidal maniac in question is dressed to the tee like Ronald Reagan, replete with a latex mask smiling from both corners of its mouth.

The fortieth president isn’t spotted right away at this music festival, where he quietly – and enjoyably – slices and dices a throng of shaggy-haired twenty-somethings.
“Kids these days,” the killer mutters in a disapproving tone after driving a dull axe into a fun-loving hippie chick. And while Ronny strings up his victims, most of the carefree kiddos congregate at late night drum circles, suck on Whippits, and dance around like noodles.

Meanwhile, Samantha (Jaime King), apparently the only one not candy-flipping, smells trouble in paradise once her friends begin to disappear. Her rolling boyfriend (Lukas Haas) thinks she’s paranoid, but she suspects that her abusive ex, a right-wing fundamentalist nut, is responsible for the killing spree.

The Tripper touches on America’s house divided with the tensions between the rock n’ roll hippies and the small town rednecks, but the director doesn’t necessarily take sides. Arquette presents Christ-loving conservatives in a human light and, likewise, a couple anti-war lefties less favorably.

A local tree-cutter, whose son might be responsible for the multiple killings, holds a grudge against the enviro-friendly hippies for keeping him from his livelihood. The greedy concert promoter (Paul Reubens), who’s supposed to be as anti-establishment as his concertgoers, could care less when his festival goers get murdered. He’s just as cold-blooded as any cigar-smoking, suspender-wearing Washington lobbyist scumbag.

So is Arquette trying to say that the socio-political conflict is a much larger problem than that of uninformed ignorant “freedom” fighters? Perhaps, or his message might be simply to stay the hell away from anyone in a Reagan mask holding a bloodstained hatchet.