THE TRIPPER

A group of young people arrive in the Redwood forest, a location where the new edition of the Free Love Festival will take place, a sort of small Woodstock that brings together hippies from all over America. Amidst rivers of drugs, alcohol, and sex, a serial killer also unleashes himself, wearing a mask that reproduces the features of former president Ronald Reagan, and seems particularly motivated to exterminate those who preach free love and use drugs excessively. After playing agent Linus/Dewey in the "Scream" trilogy, David Arquette must have taken a liking to slasher horror films and thus, for his directorial debut, he decides to dedicate himself to a "Scream"-style slasher. Unfortunately, the likable actor is not Wes Craven, and despite the laudable intentions and the original basic idea, the film does not convince at all. Every good horror fan should now know the rules that underlie a slasher; after all, "Scream" itself explained and clearly illustrated them: anyone who has sex, drinks alcohol, or uses drugs in a horror film is the killer's preferred victim. This leads us to think that the slasher is the most subconsciously "anti-liberal" genre in the horror landscape, where those who transgress common conservative morality to embrace (often prematurely) the ideals of the left-wing youth of the period in which this genre was born are punished. Arquette and co-screenwriter Joe Harris had the brilliant idea of materializing this metaphorical assumption in the most direct way possible: the liberal and libertine victims are neo-hippies, and the conservative killer is former Republican president Ronald Reagan. A simple yet brilliant idea! The entire film, however, limits itself to this idea, and it seems that the director, after the lightbulb moment, deliberately turned off the power, deciding to repeatedly focus on the usual slasher clichés without much imagination, instead showing himself to be clumsy and "green" in many respects. The biggest flaw of "The Tripper" is the pacing; indeed, the film takes far too long to get to the heart of the story (about 50 minutes out of a total runtime of just under 90 minutes), proving to be excessively repetitive and even boring in the first part. We are introduced to the usual characters that we all expect from a post-"Friday the 13th" slasher movie, with a particular predilection for the "stoned guy" stereotype — and given the context, one couldn't ask for anything else. However, it's fine; for a grotesque horror film mixed with comedy and citation, one can't really expect "novelty" in character portrayal. The film, however, struggles to move forward, appearing deliberately diluted in boring skits that feature the usual jokes about drugs and being "high." This way, the viewer is distracted, and time is stolen from the most appetizing part of the buffet, namely the Reagan killer. Fortunately, when the peculiar assassin enters the scene, the situation improves, and whether it's due to the strange appearance or the antithesis of the context, the choice to include the former president as the boogeyman proves to be really spot-on. After all, in one of his famous quotes (which also opens the film), Reagan said that hippies "look like Tartan, walk like Jane, and smell like Cita," thus showing how the respectable figure of the actor who became President of the United States fits perfectly as the grotesque nemesis of the free youth that proliferated in the USA starting in the 1960s. Praiseworthy is the final massacre at the concert and the high level of gore and splatter, although there is no imagination in the staging of the murders, all of which are carried out with simple blows from the weapon of the moment (preferably a lumberjack's axe). Arquette's performance behind the camera is not entirely convincing, and starting from a somewhat too poverty-stricken staging for a product of this kind, one notices an innate anonymity that attempts here and there some flashes of experimentation, especially with the insertion of decidedly clumsy lysergic scenes. The corrosive and ironic mockery of the political system (especially the right-wing one) does not amuse much and, in some points, seems out of place or exploited in the most banal way (in the end, only the name "W. Bush" on the pig's fence makes one smile). The cast features some famous faces, including Arquette himself in the role of a hick, Courtney Cox Arquette in a cameo, and, in more important roles, Lukas Haas ("Mars Attacks!" "Long Time Dead"), Jaime King ("The Spirit"; "San Valentino di Sangue"), Jason Mewes (Jay of the "Jay and Silent Bob" duo), and Tom Jane ("The Punisher"; "The Mist"). In short, a beautiful basic idea used only minimally to create an ironic slasher that struggles to take off. A missed cult potential.