In case you missed it … ‘The Tripper’

Many of you may know that former President Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood studio actor before becoming the “leader of the free world” but how many of you knew that he had a short stint as a serial axe murderer long after his term ended in the White House? OK, so it’s not REALLY Reagan who’s cutting heads instead of taxes in ‘The Tripper’ but it is sort of a quirky twist to the slasher flick genre.

‘The Tripper’ (2006) was written and directed by David Arquette, an actor-turned-director who’s work has been loved and hated, but mostly been pushed to the side. Arquette also appears in the film as one of the group of stoners who travel out to the sticks to experience a Woodstock-like rock concert. Along the way and while there, the group of pot-heads are constantly stoned and tripping on you name it… which is crucial to part of the film’s fun. As it turns out, the “hippies” are seen as the “bad guys” in this story about a man who believes he’s been wronged in the past when hippies were protesting his small company’s development into a wooded area. The old man attempted to reason with the environmentalist hippies, but their leader would not back down and actually got physically violent (odd) leading to a confrontation that would get the old man arrested. Seeing this happen, the old man’s son makes a sudden attack on the hippie leader with a chainsaw that was lying on the ground nearby.

Flash forward… the tripping road trippers arrive at their destination and soon find themselves being picked off, one by one, at the hands of Ronald Reagan. Their fear, as well as our viewing enjoyment, is chemically enhanced making for the perception of a “supernatural” killer. Along the vein of early ‘Friday the 13th’ movies, the masked axe-wielding serial killer pops up unexpected, seems to move at inhuman speeds unseen, you know… the typical slasher film motif that makes these movies so much fun. Courtney Cox also stars in the film as does Paul Ruebens (Pee Wee Herman) as the concert’s promoter who is getting nothing but half-assed effort and resistance from the local authorities. Lukas Haas, Thomas Jane and Jason Mewes also appear as enjoyable roles amidst the chaos.