If anyone is qualified to make a slasher flick, it's David Arquette. Why? He spent years observing horror master Wes Craven as the two worked on the Scream trilogy. Plus, David has loved scary movies ever since he was a kid. "I've always been a big Stephen King fan and felt drawn to the quiet creepiness of The Shining," he says. "I also remember being scared silly by Halloween!"

So what was it like for David to hop behind the camera for The Tripper? "I think there were certain things that came naturally to me, like keeping the dialogue and timing moving quickly," he says. "But I never would have guessed how awkward it would be to explain to my actress, 'Ok, you're the sexy character, so audiences expect...'" For the first timer, there was also additional personal pressure to get the political film in theaters while the current President was still in office.

"There's a lot of bad stuff going down in the world right now, and it doesn't make sense how leaders are dealing with things," he explains. "While I don't think I have a place to talk about it as an actor, as an artist, I can express my more liberal viewpoint." And what should we make of the fact that the killer dons a Reagan mask? "Some of his political policies had an adverse effect on the world around me, but I did like him as a person."

With director's credit on an episode of Medium, and a project that he describes as "similar to Braveheart" in the works, we're sure to see a lot less of David in the future, as he does more behind the camera work for Coquette Productions, the company he co-owns with wife, Courtney Cox (who produced this movie). "We highlight each other's strengths and work really well together as a team," he says.

So what's his advice for young filmmakers without a perfect (and famous) better half, hoping to land in his position one day? "Set a goal and compromise as little as you have to in order to make it happen. That said, you need to always remember to be flexible—you never know when you're going to have to cut and run!"

The Tripper opens in theaters nationwide on April 20th.

RANDOM TANGENT:
David's character "Dewey" was supposed to die in Scream, but test audiences loved him so much that they changed the script!

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