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Film Review: "Truth or Dare"



            Imagine that you could take the concepts of Final Destinationand It Follows, blend them together and then aim the end product at millennials. Make that film PG-13 and you basically get Truth or Dare. Truth or Dareis the latest film to come out of the Blumhouse production company, which is the same company behind last years horror mega-hit, Get Out. While Blumhouse is responsible for giving audiences some of the very best horror films of the decade (Get Out, Hushand Sinister, among others), they have also put out films that are fun even if they aren’t very good. Truth or Darefalls somewhere within the latter. 
            The film sees Lucy Hale as Olivia, a college student who embarks on the final Spring Break of her life as a student and takes a trip down to Mexico to celebrate. Joining her is her best friend, Markie (Violett Beane), Lucas (Tyler Posey), Brad (Hayden Szeto), Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk), Penelope (Sophia Ali) and Ronnie (Sam Lerner). While in Mexico, Olivia meets Carter (Landon Liboiron), who invites Olivia and her friends to an abandoned church where they play a game of truth or dare. When the group returns home, however, they quickly realize that the game has a life of its own and the group must find a way to stop it before the game kills them all.
            Much like how the people in Final Destinationhave to follow the order they were in when they first escaped death, the people in Truth or Daremust keep playing in the same order they were when they were in the church. Like in It Follows, this game follows the group no matter where they are or who they are with. To put it plainly, there is no escaping it. That is one of the elements about this film that actually really works. The mythology behind why the game is possessed is interesting and the way it all unfolds is done in a clever way. Adding on to the stuff that works, the cast actually does a great job in portraying this fun group of friends to follow throughout the film. Although some of the characters are just outright dumb, and the dialogue often comes across as cheesy, they still manage to be believable. 
            Truth or Dareis the kind of B-horror movie that audiences show up to expecting to see fun, creative deaths. On that, the film delivers in spades. Unfortunately, though, there is not a single frame of this film that actually delivers any type of scares. There’s this thing that happens in the film where a character will become “possessed” by the game and this big, creepy smile forms on their face as they ask if the person wants to say a truth or do a dare. This is meant to be scary, but actually ends up looking incredibly goofy and takes away from something that could otherwise scare someone. As if that wasn’t enough, Truth or Dareis highly predictable. It tries to have some twists and turns, which every now and then work. For the most part, though, there isn’t much here that manages to surprise the audience. Even “twist ending” fails to shock its audience. 
            As a whole, Truth or Dareis not a good film, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. This type of film is made for a very specific audience, and that audience will have a fantastic time with it. However, for those looking for a thought-provoking horror film, this will leave you disappointed. Those who are willing to accept this film for what it is should give it a shot. Otherwise, this is one that can be skipped.

My score: 5/10
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