It's true, everyone that saw The Tripper at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, CA, last night (4-10-07) had a great time. It was a sold out show of around 500 people, David Arquette and other members of the cast/crew were there, and lots of local folks showed up to support their friends and family members cast as extras (it was shot locally here in town). The event made it seem waaaay better than it really was. There's truly something special about seeing a movie, even a bad one, with a full house of excited people.
However, I missed the show last night. Rather, I heard all about it from several of my friends that were there. But since I was curious, and I wanted to see what the quirky D.A. would produce as a filmmaker, I checked it out at another venue earlier tonight, one with a modest crowd and no fanfare. What a difference a milieu makes.
While slasher flicks aren't my favorite genre, I do like good ones, e.g., Scream, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original, of course). But The Tripper was bad, and not even "bad" in an enjoyable way. I could tell that everyone gave it their best shot -- the makeup effects and acting were pretty good -- but the story was weak, the humor fell flat, the political subtext was sophomoric, and the characters were all unappealing (except for the lovely and underrated Jaimie King). How this didn't end up straight to video I'll never know.
However, I missed the show last night. Rather, I heard all about it from several of my friends that were there. But since I was curious, and I wanted to see what the quirky D.A. would produce as a filmmaker, I checked it out at another venue earlier tonight, one with a modest crowd and no fanfare. What a difference a milieu makes.
While slasher flicks aren't my favorite genre, I do like good ones, e.g., Scream, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original, of course). But The Tripper was bad, and not even "bad" in an enjoyable way. I could tell that everyone gave it their best shot -- the makeup effects and acting were pretty good -- but the story was weak, the humor fell flat, the political subtext was sophomoric, and the characters were all unappealing (except for the lovely and underrated Jaimie King). How this didn't end up straight to video I'll never know.