Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writer: Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, Christopher Roach, Jeff Wadlow (Screenplay)
Starring: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane, Hayden Szeto, Sophia Ali, Nolan Gerard Funk, Landon Liboiron
Plot: A harmless game of Truth or Dare among friends turns deadly when someone — or something — begins to punish those who tell a lie or refuse the dare.
Tagline – Truth, Dare And Die.
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Smart Idea
Story: Truth or Dare starts when college friends Olivia (Hale), Lucas (Posey), Markie (Beane), Brad (Szeto), Penelope (Ali), Tyson (Funk) and Ronnie (Lerner) head to Mexico for Spring Break, when a stranger Carter (Liboiron) takes the friends for a last night party, he passes on a curse of a game of Truth or Dare.
Returning home Olivia starts to see strange thing around, which involves he needing to play a game of Truth or Dare, soon the rest of the friends get visited and must complete their truth or dare or face death, with each dare becoming deadlier.
Thoughts on Truth or Dare
Characters – Olivia is the sweet hardworking college student, she wants to do good in the world, before getting dragged on spring break. She ends up becoming one of the victims of the latest game of truth or dare, being the one that does start to figure out the bigger picture of what is going on. Lucas is the best friend’s boyfriend that Olivia does have a thing for, he becomes torn when Markie’s secret is revealed. Markie is the best friend for life to Olivia, only she has been cheating on her boyfriend that Olivia loves, she makes out that she is the victim which is confusing. Brad is the friend that is gay, he has been keeping this from his father in fear of being disowned. The friends do fit the stereotypes you would expect to see in horror films, but at least this gives us a body count.
Performances – Lucy Hale in the leading role is solid enough in the leading role, it is hard to see the chemistry between any of the cast because of the unrealistic, which doesn’t help any of the performances through the film. Tyler Posey, Violett Beane complete the main cast again not given enough time to do anything in their role.
Story – The story follows a group of college student who find themselves caught in a deadly game of Truth or Dare, where if they don’t play they will kill themselves. Now this story does need to be broken down and looked at because there were certain moments of the story which are interesting. The concept of the game becoming deadly and supernatural does work. Where the story struggles is creating the characters we can actually support because most of them are just idiotic students. The rules and decisions can make sense, but the secrets they are keeping from each other are ridiculous to believe that they are real. The truths and dares can leave you scratching your head because they don’t seem to have racial side to them as they can be sleep with someone or kill someone, it should escalate rather than just jump around.
Horror – The horror side of this film comes from seeing just how the game tricks the people into doing the truth or dare, then what will happen if they don’t. it not scary in the way it could be, but one that could work to keep your attention.
Settings – The film is mostly set around the college after the trip to Mexico, it makes it feel like everyday locations these people would be forced into making their decisions.
Special Effects – The effects are part of the questionable side of the film because they do us the snapchat like filter which just looks bad.
Scene of the Movie – Using certain parts of common sense.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – They are the worst best friends ever
Final Thoughts –This is a horror that I was expecting the worst from, but in the end enjoyed watching to see just what will happen, it has a smart concept even if the outcome isn’t on the levels of the best horrors.
Overall: Smart idea, not as scary as it should be.
Rating
