David Arquette tripped into Santa Cruz last night and properly dosed a sold-out crowd at the Santa Cruz Film Festival's opening night premiere of his film, The Tripper. He brought along cast members Thomas Jane, Brad Hunt and the ever lovable Paul Reubens.
Arriving at the theatre donned in a custom jeweled adorned suit reminiscent of Elvis and sporting a fade in his hair that even said "The Tripper", David and his crowd were greeted in proper Santa Cruz style by rocking street performers and a sidewalk full of gyrating dancing revelers.
While his directorial debut has its challenges, it is a campy send-up that pits a Ronald Reagan serial killer against a bunch of peace-loving drug happy hippies who are hoping to attend a music festival in the redwoods.
Yes, you read that correctly. A Ronald Reagan serial killer.
The movie is quite campy. If you happen to have lived in Santa Cruz for the last twenty years and also spent much of your life on tour with the Grateful Dead, well, you can't help but laugh at many moments in this film. Plus, you'll recognize at least two-thirds of all the extras. At least I did. In fact, I kept thinking to myself, where was I when they were filming this and why didn't I go participate?
The Tripper has not gotten distribution from a major studio, so David Arquette is going guerilla and has launched his own My Space page and is even doing his own small tour of movie theatres around the country. It is opening today, 4.20. dude, at 50 theatres nationwide. Not a large opening, but if enough people see it...well, you know how it goes.
If you're at all curious about a campy send up of life as a Santa Cruz peace love and drugs 20-something, you might just want to check out this film.
And here's David in 60 seconds explaining just why his movie is a slasher movie.
So, there you have it. If it's playing near you, go see it. You can think about Nakedjen and Santa Cruz while you do.
BUT ON SECOND THOUGHT...
As you all know, it has never been my policy to edit my posts on Nakedjen. I just write and post. I don't even spell-check or check for grammatical errors. Just let my fingers fly across the keyboard and hit enter.
This post is a prime example of that, I'm afraid. I wrote it very early on Friday morning without the benefit of coffee. More importantly, I wrote it while still being caught up in the excitement of sittingthisclosetodavidarquetteandpaulreubens. And to hearing David speak first-hand so passionately about his film. I was thinking, "Well, okay, perhaps slicing and dicing hippie tree-huggers to make your political point isn't so bad."
Fucking A!
Two days ago I was writing that we have far too much gratuitous violence in our society. And that we should be examining it and perhaps re-thinking what we're ingesting and feeding ourselves. Then I write, "Oh, yeah, go see the slasher film!"
You all are probably wondering what the hell I'm smoking?!
I feel like I lost my head. While I was in the shower yesterday morning, after writing and posting this post, I thought, "Oh god, what did I just say?" However, because I am working the festival, I didn't have time to come and say that until now.
So here is what I'm going to say:
We still have choices in the country. It is one of the things that makes America, America. In fact, those freedoms allow David Arquette to make a movie like "The Tripper". It also allows all of you to make your own choice about whether or not you want to go and see it.
You don't have to listen to me. Which is a beautiful thing, because some mornings I am typing without the benefit of coffee. But really, you don't have to listen to me any way. I'm just one voice. There are a million voices out there. You can choose to listen or not listen to as many of them as you'd like.
The one you really should listen to is your own. Plain and simple. Make your very own choices. About all things. Do what your own voice says.
