Psychedelic Psycho-Killer Drama

The Tripper follows the exploits of a group of modern day hippies, tripping their way through a journey to a Woodstock-esque music festival weekend in a van. The quirky bunch of characters is led by Ivan (Lukas Haas) and Joey (Jason Mewes in a great performance, without the need for Silent Bob), and Samantha (Jaime King). After establishing early on that tree-huggers are not very welcome in the neck of the woods where the concert is being held, our hippie friends fall victim to a Ronald Reagan mask toting serial killer in the woods. A local cop Buzz Hall, (Thomas Jane) who doesn’t necessarily like the influx of pot smoking slackers on his watch, just wants to maintain order and prevent any hippies from getting hurt. Pretty soon everything descends into madness, and Buzz saves the day.

Sounds strange enough? Well it was, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This film was odd, and one of the most refreshing horror movies I have seen in years. Shot after shot, this film oozes with bloody originality. I don’t ever recall seeing any horror film with a psychedelic theme before, and at moments I thought I was watching The Trip with Peter Fonda or something.

Even though there is a standard formula behind the film (group of college kids just trying to get laid), the mixture of hallucinogens and Ronald Reagan pushes the film into Lynchian territory. Sometimes there are just moments of pure insanity ‘ random dog attacks, Paul Reubens hiding in a Port-A-Potty, and drug induced delirium confusing your perspective; possibly designed to put the viewer off kilter, and it worked. Another film that comes to mind is Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; scenes of drug use do their best in trying to take you to that other place. The horror factor is heightened by the disorientation of our victims because of their own drug use; not anything that Mr. Reagan is trying to slip them. The Reagan vs. the ‘Environmentalists’ is poked at in fun, but never does it go into any political agenda. This is solid directorial debut by David Arquette, I’d like to see more.