TRUTH OR DARE ■ TRUTH: Don’t see this
One of my pet peeves is movies that don’t live up to the promise of their pitch. Case in point, TRUTH OR DARE. On paper, TRUTH OR DARE is an interesting enough horror premise. Even the trailers show a movie that could go one of two ways. On one hand, TRUTH OR DARE could be the next IT FOLLOWS or THE RING, given its similar pay-it-forward cursed premise. On the other hand, the trailers also show a movie that has the potential to be a trashy teen horror flick.
The truth is, TRUTH OR DARE is so much more the negative latter than the hopeful former. It hits all of the right beats of a horror movie, but it hits them in awkward and cliché ways, with a cast of forgettable teens who you want to see die more than you hope they’ll live. Thankfully, it doesn’t waste a whole lot of time before it starts killing them off, after the group of fractured friends inadvertently stumble on a cursed game of truth or dare.
One of the bigger setups for the most compelling truth of the group has a pay-off that’s off screen. The other truths are a whole lot less interesting. As for the dares, well, they start off relatively tame, but then take a sharp turn towards ‘kill this person’ before too long. Outside of the lacklustre deaths, cringe-worthy dialogue, and bland characters, the biggest sin of TRUTH OR DARE is that it consistently breaks the rules it sets down.
The ending, at least, is somewhat interesting, but the fact its gunning so hard for an obvious sequel in a movie that doesn’t deserve one takes away a lot of its oomph. Given TRUTH OR DARE was quite clearly made on a budget with a cast of nobodies, hopefully the filmmakers can have a better crack at more interesting characters and exploration of an idea that, on the surface, legitimately sounds pretty damn harrowing… when that inevitable sequel rolls around.