REVIEW: “Truth or Dare” becomes a deadly affair

By Christine Kim,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Thriller and horror film “Truth or Dare” is bad enough to be funny while being decently good to not be terrible.

The entire film seems like a longer 100 minute version of the trailer. Although it features many well-known cast members, including Olivia (Lucy Hale from TV show Pretty Little Liars) and Lucas (Tyler Posey from TV series Teen Wolf), the overall cast was weak. The absence of chemistry among the characters and nonexistence of horror made this movie plain and predictable.

This film, directed by Jeff Wadlow, also directed thriller “Kick-Ass 2” in 2013. The film was produced by Blumhouse’s Jason Blum. Blumhouse Productions is responsible for numerous low-budget horror films including “Happy Death Day”, “Get Out” and “Split”.

An innocent game of ‘truth or dare’ among a group of friends turns violent once they start receiving consequences for lying, refusing to play by the rules or backing out.

In the movie, the initial rule of the game of ‘truth or dare’ is that the player will have to tell the truth or die, perform the dare or die, or die if they refuse to play. Once two players in a group choose truth in a row, the next player is required to pick dare.

The game becomes cursed after Carter (Landon Liboiron) breaks a pot containing the demon Calax at the Rosarito Mission Church in Mexico. Calax posses the game of truth or dare and follows the group of teenagers to their homes in Southern California, continuing to haunt them and forcing them to continue the game.

Once the audience watches one round of the game play out, they are left waiting for the same process to take place, with the same characters and the same “scary” consequences.

The overall plot is cliche, as the main threat to the characters is that they will face death if they refuse to follow the orders of the demon. In addition, the frequent appearance of the demon (in the form of the words “truth or dare”) on the walls and skins of the characters grows tedious towards the middle of the film.