If not for a shaky, weak ending that’s just a bit confusing, TRIPPIN’ could have been the stoner comedy meets horror it was trying to be. Getting the biggest problem out of the way first, it isn’t that the ending leaves questions, per se, it’s just that the big surprise ending is handled in a way that makes you have to rewind and watch again, scratch your head a couple times and say, “Oh, that’s what happened, I guess.” Let’s just say the story could have been wrapped up in much more satisfying fashion. Beyond that, there’s the fact that, most of the time, this is only a “stoner” comedy in that there are shenanigans afoot – mostly not vastly different than you’d find in any insert-young-people-in-the-woods-and-wait-for-mayhem flick – and that drugs are being consumed while said shenanigans are afoot. There is one revelatory scene in which Zed, stoner extraordinaire, regales another character with a drug-addled trip tale that explains one of the film’s final reel mysteries. Now, lest this review seem like nothing but a bitch session, here’s the caveat: On the whole, I did enjoy the film, and for a number of reasons. The acting is pretty good for a low-budget indie flick and the gore effects, if infrequent, are also convincingly handled on the whole. And the story, which leads us down what SEEMS to be familiar slasher territory but actually ambushes us with a totally different scenario (which still ends in death, mayhem and such), is some kind of genius. But the execution of said story – i.e. the screenplay – leaves something to be desired. The mayhem could have started a little earlier in the film or, if this was going to be part stoner comedy, then the comedic portion that led up to the mostly 11th-hour violence should have been more specifically “stoner comedy” rather than just a bunch of party people partying. The marijuana, other than some conversations that happen about the drugs – thanks to the introduction of a prudish character whom you start out hating and end up liking – is mostly incidental. It’s just part of the partying. Except for the single extravagant live action meets puppetry meets animation sequence (one of the film’s highlights), this mostly isn’t really a stoner comedy – at least it lacks that flavor. Now, all that said, TRIPPIN’ is still a creative turning-on-the-head of the slasher genre and even horror-comedy.
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