Welcome back to Rotten Ink. As you can see, we are at another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update, and for this one we will be heading out to a concert in the woods and instead of enjoying the music we will have to watch out not only for the fumes of pot that will be filling the air but also a crazy man wearing a Ronald Reagan mask that wants to ruin a good time as he has an axe to grind! This film was the brainchild of actor David Arquette and would also get the comic book treatment thanks to Image Comics! The film is called The Tripper and is an often over looked comedy slasher film that mixes laughs, bloody murders and drug humor into a blender to deliver one strange watch. So if you are ready, let’s put on our best tie dyed shirts and head into the woods and party like it’s 2006 and pretend that Reaganomics is still running wild and Nancy Reagan is still telling all of us to just say NO!

Let’s first take a look at Gus Riggs aka Ronnie, the masked axe murdering killer who wanders the woods looking for hippies as they ruined his and family’s life. Ronnie is a suit wearing, Ronald Regan mask wearing and voice personating, 40^th President loving psychopath whose appearance and voice scares the hell out of his victims as he comes calling for them. Ronnie truly enjoys killing and has no issues slaughtering and massacring both women and men and their deaths truly bring him joy. Ronnie has many tools that he uses to kill his victims as he is very skilled with even using his bare hands as he can snap necks with one twist. He also has a pack of German Shepherd Dogs with the main one being called Nancy that will attack on his command and protect his barn hideout in the woods. He will use a knife to slash and stab his victims as he is very fast with one and can take your life in seconds. Ronnie is also known to use a chainsaw to cut a person in half. His main tool is a double-sided axe that he swings to take off heads, body parts as well as cause major damage to those that are chopped with it. He also is a good hunter as he can track down his victims that try and run away through his woods; he also sets traps in the woods like bear traps and snares that cause lots of pain. Ronnie is also a psycho as he at times thinks he truly is Ronald Regan and sees reality very differently. Ronnie also can take a beating as well as even be shot and is able to survive and get away to kill another day. But Ronnie really is just a man, and therefore he can be hurt and killed like any normal person so that means shot, stabbing, crushed, burnt, drowned and other ways a life can end will work on him. Also his craziness can also cause him to be too much on a rampage and leave himself open for attacks as well as make mistakes. Over all Gus Riggs aka Ronnie is a masked killer that loves to kill and is a pretty deadly and dangerous slasher.

Now that we have talked about Ronnie, the crazed axe murderer we should now take a look that he is from and that’s the indie film called The Tripper! Like always, I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will be writing about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on it. So if you are ready, let’s get a little deeper in these woods and see what terrors await us.

The Tripper (2006)

“A Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer targets a bunch of hippies who are heading to a weekend-long concert.”

Actor David Arquette was a fan of the films of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper and wanted to make his own slasher film that was a horror comedy and would pay respect to the genre that he was a fan of. Arquette was known for his role in the Scream series as he played Dewey Riley, and this helped get this film some attention before it was even released or in production. David Arquette would write the screenplay alongside Joe Harris, and Arquette would also star in the film as Muff, produce the film along with a few others including his then wife Courtney Cox and would also direct the film. The film’s plot would be based on a group of hippies heading to Woodstock in order to do drugs and drink and are stalked by a masked killer who looks like President Ronald Reagan that cares an axe. The film had a small but decent budget for an indie horror film and when casting Arquette was able to get some pretty well-known names to star in it that includes such actors as Thomas Jane, Paul Reubens, Jamie King, Jason Mewes, Marsha Thomason and Wes Craven even in a cameo. When filming the location selected was a state park in Santa Cruz, California as it was the perfect location for his vision of the film. David has always said that he came up with the idea for the film while at a concert in the woods and growing up witnessing the odd choices of then President Ronald Reagan did when it came to cutting funds for mental health. The filming had some odd moments like it rained a lot and at one point a real human finger was found in the woods near filming. Once the film was done, it was scored by Jimmy Haun and David Wittman with it being released for festival and small screenings on October 13, 2006. The film after release was met with mixed reviews from fans and critics and over the years thanks to home media would gain a cult following. In 2007 the film also had a lawsuit that was later thrown out from film producer Fritz Junker, who claimed the film was a rip off of a short film he was involved in called “The Truth About Beef Jerky” that was released in 2001. The film did have some similarities, but it was clear that there were not the same. The film in 2007 was released along side such other Horror Films as Slither, See No Evil, Turistas, Black Sheep, Snakes On A Plane, Final Destination 3, The Breed, Marty Jenkins And The Vampire Bitches, The Hills Have Eyes, Silent Hill, Stay Alive, Halloween Night, Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, The Woods and Black Christmas, to name a few. While not a household name, The Tripper is a strange horror comedy slasher film that is sure to please some of you readers who enjoy a little trippy-ness with their scares and splatter.

The Tripper is a film that I got on DVD around its release on home media and was one that I can remember watching when I was not feeling all that well and spent the day in bed watching horror movies. I can remember that I thought the film was just ok as all the tripping out scenes got on my nerves as I am not a fan of drug humor in my horror films if it’s too over done. I re-watched the film in 2023 when working on this update, and the film was way better than I remember it being. While it is still no masterpiece of horror comedy, it was an enjoyable slasher flick with some laughs, cool kills and a hidden message on just how some of Reagan’s choices messed things up, mostly when it came to mental health help and asylums. The film has its fair share of splatter and kills as Ronnie goes on a rampage and makes many hippies dead in the woods, and while the Regan mask is a little jolting and weird at first…it kind of is really creepy looking and adds to the over all oddness of the film. The effects for the budget level of the film are well done and lots of blood is sprayed around. The film also is well cast with Thomas Jane as the hero sheriff and Paul Rubens who is best known for being Pee-Wee Herman as the shady, cussing and goofy concert promoter stealing the film. The leading ladies are all great actresses and are beautiful with them being Jamie King, Marsha Thomason and Paz de la Huerta being those actresses. Plus this is a movie that I think Jason Mewes does a great job in, as I am not a fan of the Kevin Smith stuff, but here he shows some acting chops. It’s also very odd just how forgotten this film is as I talked to several of my friends who are into horror films and only very small amount knew that this film existed, and that’s shocking given who made it as well as some of the stars that were in it, let alone the subject matter in the political time we live in. If you have not seen this film, used copies of the DVD can be found at second hand stores as well as on Ebay or Amazon.

So now that we have talked about The Tripper and the film’s killer Ronnie we should now take a look at the comic adaptation that was released by Image Comics! And again I have to say that it is really cool that an indie horror film like this got the comic book treatment as it does make for a good comic adaptation. I would like to thank an Amazon Seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, let’s travel even deeper into the woods as I think I hear the band Fishbone playing…but I also hear someone eating jellybeans!

The Tripper # 1  ***
Released in 2007     Cover Price $5.99     Image Comics    # 1 of 1

The year is 1967, and a young kid who has a sick dying mother goes to work with his father who is a lumber man. The site is being protested by hippies who want to save the trees and one even attacks the boy’s father who in turn is arrested when he pulls a gun, but the young boy attacks the hippie with a chainsaw and is taken away and locked up in a asylum. Now in present day Samantha is on a trip with her boyfriend Ivan and friends Linda, Joey, Jade and Jack as they are on their way to a music festival taking place in the middle of the woods and being put on by Frank Baker. This is Samantha’s time to have fun as she is away from her abusive asshole boyfriend Jimmy now. But while taking a rest break at the side of the road, Samantha and her friends watch in horror as a truck drives by and a hillbilly throws a bottle at Ivan splitting his head open, and worse now at the festival they are threatened by Dylan Riggs, the father from 1967! Meanwhile Frank Baker meets Sheriff Buzz Hall who points out that many of Frank’s concerts have reported deaths…and the two are clearly at odds. A masked killer wearing a Ronald Regan mask and armed with an axe has appeared in the woods and kills a nudist as well as an old man that lives in a cave, and Sheriff Hall after finding the body of the nudist wants to block off the roads as well as stop the concert as he thinks an animal is on the loose…but the Mayor is not having it. So Sheriff Hall goes and talks to Dylan Riggs about the traps set in the woods as Joey and Linda are attacked by the hillbillies who are shooting paint balls at them! Things get terrible for everyone when Ronnie attacks and kills Joey, Linda and the three hillbilly rednecks and sets his sights on all the concertgoers even leaving bodies for the Sheriff to find so that he can try and clear out the panic driven crowd away. Ronnie continues his killing spree even chopping up Samantha’s friends Jack, Jade, Ivan, her ex-boyfriend Jimmy (who came to stalk her) and takes the Mayor Hostage all the while trying to chase down and murder Samantha and kills anyone in his way. But Ronnie’s rampage is stopped by Sheriff Hall’s gun and a hammer being swung by Samantha…and once unmasked Ronnie is shown to be Gus Riggs, the young child who killed a hippie protester in 1967 with a chainsaw! But when they go to get the body of Gus, he is gone and is alive as he uses a chainsaw to kill concert promoter Frank Baker.

A very strange slasher comedy film makes a very strange slasher comic book is how I have to start off this review as this adaptation downplays the humor and amps up the splatter and makes for a entertaining read. The core of the plot is still here in this adaptation as we follow Samantha, a young woman who just got out of a terrible relationship who is going to a big outdoor festival with her friends, but things turn very bloody when a released mental patient who is obsessed with President Ronald Regan armed with an axe starts killing everyone he thinks is a hippie on drugs. Samantha is out main “hero” as she is a woman who has went through so much and is looking for a fun weekend away with friends and her new boyfriend, and when she is pushed too far and all her friends are dead she takes action with a hammer and bashes the killer down into the ground. Sheriff Buzz Hall is also a hero as he tries to save as many lives as she can by warning the concert goers, but he also has lots of obstacles in his way from a mayor who is only looking at money being brought in to a old time lumber worker who hates hippies and who’s son is really the masked killer setting traps in the woods. But good old Buzz and his gun helps bring down Ronnie for a short time. Speaking of Ronnie who is really Gus, he is a total crazy person who thinks he is Ronald Reagan and is taking the war on drugs a little too far as he has way to much fun chopping up bodies. And in his mind his pet dog is Nancy and Samantha is his daughter Betty who he thinks is taking drugs. This comic adaptation does a really good job of keeping the pace of the story going and remove many moments from the film that would bog it down and that is many of the tripping out moments between the friends in the woods, but I do feel that the redneck hillbilly’s clashing and fighting with Samantha and her friends in a small gas station store as well as Samantha’s bad acid trip that affected her mentally and made her even more fearful of her ex-boyfriend Jimmy should have been left in the comic as they added character development. The comic is pretty bloody and does have some gore as well making it pleasing for those comic readers who enjoy the red stuff. The cover is very cool and shows Ronnie in the shadows with an axe in one hand and a human head in the other while Nancy the dog is snarling. The interior art is done by Nat Jones and is really great stuff as he has always been a great artist when it comes to horror comics. Plus the way he draws Ronnie and the violence is sure to please horror fans. Over all this is a solid and entertaining adaptation that while removes and changes a few things still delivers a spooky read that still has that odd charm of the film. Check out the artwork below to see what artist Nat Jones did for this adaptation.

The Tripper really is one of those 2000’s slasher film that has been lost in the shuffle over the years as is the comic adaptation, but I feel that over time as the political climate of America keeps changing this film will be re-discovered and I feel will end up getting a bigger cult following…well or if Joe Bob Briggs ever hosts in on The Last Drive-In on Shudder. Before we go, I also think that I should say that the comic does cut down the part of concert promoter Frank Baker as him being very sleazy, trying toe get away with all the money and hiding in a port a potty buried in poop in order to escape the massacre of Ronnie only later to die should have been left in as all we have in the comic is him getting killed at the end with the money in hand. But with that let’s get out of the woods and head to the big city as we spend some time with Patrick Bateman the American Psycho, as we talk about the film as well as the Sumrian Comics adaptation of it. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next time for a crazy good time, and who knows maybe Patrick will end up playing us some Huey Lewis And The News.