Perseguição Assassina

...because based on the evidence of "The Tripper" he's an average-at-best director and a distinctly second- or even third-string screenwriter, though no doubt hamstrung by the scripting contributions of Joe "Darkness Falls" Harris. I'm sorry, I admire good intentions as well as the next guy, but only when they rise above mundane infernal construction projects, if you catch my drift. "The Tripper" is essentially a vanity project, and suffers accordingly.

The production values are alright for a relatively low-budget affair, especially the at-times lovely DP work from Bobby "Arlington Road" Bukowski, and the acting varies from earnestly professional (particularly leads Lukas "Mars Attacks" Haas and Jaime "Sin City" King) to egregiously self-conscious (most notably the ever-moronic-but-somehow-likable Jason "I owe Kevin Smith everything" Mewes and Paul "I AM Pee-Wee!" Reubens), with various shades in-between, including a slumming Thomas "The Mist" Jane as a local sheriff doing his best to keep a straight face. No one, though, collectively or individually, is able to redeem the sophomoric script.

I won't bore my gentle reader with yet another synopsis; you can find that in profusion elsewhere. "The Tripper" is, at best, a slasher film pseudo-parody that plays things too seriously to be genuinely funny, and too tongue-in-cheek to be remotely scary. Arquette should have gone for one or the other, not both. It's a watch-once film that I'm quite relieved I found at the library instead of wasting money buying or renting it.

Well you have to at least give "The Tripper" an "A" for originality...

A strange little tale of the hippie culture being massacred by a Ronald Reagan-Masked killer during a music festival in the country. Very odd and at times quite annoying, but there are a few moments of grandeur... Written and directed by David Arquette "The Tripper" sells the scenario short with silly child-like humor and over the top performances by it's A-List walk on cameos. The main characters are unlikable, which leaves the viewer not caring about their well being at all. Jason Mewes acts even more ridiculous then his "Jay" character (if you can believe that), to the point where you just can't wait to see him killed, just to shut him up... I'm not sure if the film was aiming to, but it makes the hippie culture look even dumber and less human then the woodland creatures they try to protect. Pee Wee does a great job as the foul-mouthed concert promoter, but Thomas Jane looks stupid as the sheriff. The inconsistencies in character development makes this confusing movie even that much harder to watch, and by the end of the film you feel more baked then the idiots on screen...But alas, there are some decent gore scenes and the cinematography looks fantastic. If you are in the mood for mindless comedy / horror dribble, then this might work for you. If you are looking for a good hallucinogenic horror film, try renting "Shrooms" (the movie) instead...

Not having to face the facts, this movie is beyond weird. The tripper wears a Ronald Reagan mask while he butchers unsuspecting hippies. David Arquette took this movie and ran away with it, ax in hand. The plot seems kind of violent, i mean c'mon, Hippies? Who is going after hippies, but hey? This movie will trip out even the most hardened horror movie trippers. David Arquette's did a good job at directing, writing and acting in it. The Ronald Reagan mask is real 1980's cahuenga pass. It reminds me of the Max Headroom days when all we saw was cold war, berlin war and Ronald Reagan on t.v. This will probably get some hippies scared of a walking Ronald Reagan.

In the 80's, after seeing his father and lumberjack foreman being hit by a protester against the deforesting and arrested by the police, the boy Gus kills the protester with a chainsaw. In the present days, Samantha (Jamie King), who is traumatized after being abused by her former boyfriend Jimmy (Balthazar Getty), travels with her pothead friends in a van to the American Free Love Festival, a rock-and-roll concert in the woods. Near the location, they are assaulted by three local hillbillies, but they succeed to arrive in the festival. Meanwhile, Mayor Hal Burton (Rick Overton) and Deputy Buzz Hall (Thomas Jane) try to give a minimum of organization to the event. However, a deranged psychopath serial-killer wearing a mask of Ronald Reagan uses an ax to kill the pacific stoned hippies.

The slasher "The Tripper" is a great disappointment. David Arquette certainly had the intention of making a cult-movie and was supported by a good cast (probably his friends) including a cameo appearance of his wife and a great cinematography and lightening, but unfortunately the story never works. Jason Mewes is comfortable performing his traditional role of pothead; the sexy Jaime King has a good performance in the role of Samantha but the good actor Thomas Jane is displaced in his silly role. Further, the political anti-war jokes and speeches of the Republicans and Ronald Reagan are boring. In a cheap manipulation, the Brazilian DVD highlights the name of Courtney Cox-Arquette in the movie, misleading her fans. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Perseguição Assassina" ("Assassin Pursue")

OK now this movie wasn't completely horrible because the whole idea of a psychopath obsessing himself with Ronald Reagan and then dressing up like him to go kill hippies actually worked and was pretty frightening. But the gore was really fake looking and the characters were just completely dumb because they were really high the whole movie and didn't pay attention to anything that could have saved their lives. I like David Arquette, but I think he needed to rewrite this one a little before he made it and make the gore a little more realistic as well. Overall I give it a 6 out of 10 because it had a good storyline, but it kind of failed as the movie continued on. I would only recommend this to those who like brainless horror films with dumb characters and fake gore.