The Tripper – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Director

David Arquette

Cast

Thomas Jane Buzz Hall
Jaime King………Samantha
Jason Mewes Joey
Christopher Allen Nelson Gus
Lukas Haas Ivan
Stephen Heath Jack
Paul Reubens………Frank Baker

DVD Release Date: October 23, 2007
Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 97 Minutes

The Movie

Samantha has joined her hippie friends to head up to the America Free Love Festival in the throngs of a Northern California forest. They are looking to help recreate the free lifestyle of the sixties and enjoy a few days of music, love, peace, and most of all…hard drugs. Well not all of them are because Samantha has constant flashbacks to a really bad trip she had that concluded with her abusive ex-boyfriend getting a little too rough. That doesn’t stop the others from doing everything they can get their hands on though.

Upon arriving at the festival, the group finds many other free-loving souls looking to enjoy themselves and just be whoever they want to be. The Mayor is thrilled with all the publicity his town is getting and hoping it draws more money, but he’s got a few party-poopers on his hands. Sheriff Buzz Hall doesn’t mind the kids having a good time, but he’s still going to uphold the law and make sure that things never get carried away.

Samantha and her friends have had no problems so to speak except for a run-in with a few local rednecks that weren’t fond of the “tree huggers” coming into their territory. That’s not to say though they would be the only trouble lurking around the woods. Stories of past festivals that included a few missing hikers and mutilated bodies made their rounds, but no-one really took anything very seriously. It was time for love, music, and drugs to hit the forefront.

Buzz Hall doesn’t have much to do at first but things soon start taking a grotesque turn. A hippie nudist ends up hanging from a tree with his insides dangling from his stomach. First thought is that he got caught in a hunter’s trap and the critters got to him, but the carnage continues. People are dying off one by one and in horrible fashion, but Buzz must figure out who it is before it’s too late. The kids don’t heed the warning because they want the party of music and drugs to continue. Little do they know that the maniac seeking them out wants to deliver a deeper message, “just say no.”

David Arquette and director Adam Green (Hatchet) have breathed life into the horror genre with not only new icons but with interesting stories that are sure to continue creating new franchises. While Green went the way of a brand new icon; Arquette took a famed name and made him do a complete 360. It’s one thing to have a manic killer with an axe on the loose, but to have it be Ronald Reagan? Not to mention that he not only looks like Reagan, but also talks like him and has a dog named Nancy. Genius.

The Tripper has a bit of the feel of Napoleon Dynamite. Now before I start getting stoned via e-mail, let me explain. The film makes you believe that you are literally back in the sixties with the festival, the weed vans, hippies, tree huggers, and just all around aura and look of everything, yet the entire time it is the present day. You just never can quite figure out what decade it is making for a really fun look to the whole film.

After all is said and done, The Tripper isn’t an overly scary film whatsoever. There are no jump scares and it doesn’t quite create the uneasy feeling you may get as suspense fills the air. But it is a good eighties slasher flick that is sure to make gorehounds happy. Plenty of blood and entrails pour onto the screen with nice amounts of comedy thrown in to keep everything at a happy medium. Arquette’s first attempt at directing horror is a successful one and I hope to not only see more from him in that genre, but more of Ronnie as well.

The Video

The film is shown in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and looks very good. Blood is extremely bright here along with all the other crisp colors in the forest and trippy, drug-induced scenes. There were a few moments in the film that seemed a bit gritty, but I can put that blame on the fact that my copy was a screener disc.

The Audio

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and is also heard nicely. Axe chops and blood splatters are heard in all their gory glory while the surrounding sounds of the forest can be heard through every speaker making for a fun experience.

Special Features

Audio Commentary – Director David Arquette is joined by actors Richmond Arquette, Paul Reubens, and Thomas Jane. David Arquette talks the most and gives information virtually about everything seen on screen. Reubens speaks up every now and then with a funny comment or two. Richmond Arquette and Jane only open their mouths very rarely and only to say a small word here and there. Richmond and David do talk about things they know and family friends in the film together. Not a bad commentary to listen to.

Behind The Spleens – Here is your making of featurette that lasts close to eleven minutes. It has the cast and crew talking about the story, the stunts, and how it was working with David Arquette. It’s a fun feature that really showcases the fun everyone had on set with everything. Nothing seems too stressful and it just appears as if it was one big party while filming.

The Making Of Ronald Reagan – Not sure why this was even included considering it was less then one minute long. It shows former make-up artist Christopher Allen Nelson getting his Reagan face painted and put on, and then lets us know that the make-up artist won an Academy Award.

The Missing Finger Incident – The film was shot in the Big Basin Redwoods State Park where supposedly murders are a somewhat common occurrence. Those tales seem to be true as a production assistant actually found a human finger on the set during filming and turned it into the state park where they launched an investigation. Weird.

A Shitty Situation – A short segment showcasing how the fecal element that Reuben’s character was covered in was made.

The Tripper Presidential Campaign Tour – Basically this is a seven minute feature of Arquette going from city to city to promote the film. Radio interviews, meet and greets, horror film fests, test screenings, and even spelling out the name of the film in his own urine on a sidewalk in my hometown are just a few of the things he experience on his journey.

Presidential Campaign Tour Photo Gallery – The version of the DVD viewed by me was a screener copy and for some reason this feature is there but didn’t work. You can kind of guess what it is about anyway.

Deleted Scenes – Six deleted scenes that offer some extended scenes or alternate death scenes but nothing really worth much. There are two scenes involving the old man in the woods though that are both gross in their own ways.

Goodtimes Blooper Reel – Seven and a half minutes of flubbed lines and a lot of cursing. Some funny stuff here that is really worth watching because everyone looks like they were just enjoying the hell out of themselves.

Theatrical Trailer

TrailersWrong Turn 2: Dead End, Lake Placid 2, 28 Weeks Later, Day Watch, Civic Duty, The TV Set, and Blind Dating

The Inside Pulse

If you’re a horror fan then you’re going to want to check out The Tripper. It seems as if the film is aimed more at those that grew up with and loved the Nightmare On Elm Streets and Friday The 13ths, but later on in the franchises when the horror was mixed with more humor. As a whole the DVD doesn’t disappoint either. Close to two hours of special features, not including the enjoyable commentary, makes for almost an entire night of spooky entertainment. Goretastic, full of laughs, and extremely creative while not venturing far off the beaten path makes The Tripper one of the most underrated films of 2007. Don’t miss out on your chance to partake the Presidential campaign that is happening all over again.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for The Tripper
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

8
THE VIDEO

7
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

8
REPLAY VALUE

7
OVERALL
8
(NOT AN AVERAGE)