What can be said about the Truth or Dare film that hasn’t already been said about the Mona Lisa, Citizen Kane, or Michelangelo’s David? Even in jest, it feels wrong to put Truth or Dare next to any great works of art. Unfortunately, it is just another lazy horror film that should have been more entertaining giving the premise.
A film doesn’t have to garner a 100% rating to be entertaining, but it absolutely should offer the audience something for their money. Does the film offer a likable cast of characters and develop them in such a way that you care about what happens to them? No, it doesn’t do that. Does Truth or Dare offer horror fans great suspense scenes and capitalizes on them in ways that change the genre? Not even close, and It doesn’t even get the basics of horror films right for that much.
How about the protagonist, is this just another by the book demon movie that at least provides an intimidating looking villain? Once again, we must go with a hard pass. The villain of this film is quite possibly the most laughable in recent memory, manifesting through most of the movie through the “Grinch Smile”. Add to that the villain’s main way of antagonizing our “heroes” (using that word very loosely here) is by having them play a restructured version of Truth or Dare and you have our movie. It’s a very simple premise, just answer the truths honestly or do the dares and you win. Oh, but instead of the regular format, it is now the “Truth, Truth, dare” format, which forces our heroes to at least choose a dare once every two truths.
While the premise is questionable enough to where it sounds like a bad idea, the film isn’t aided by the dialogue the actors were given, which we can assume were just a jumbled mix of horror film clichés. Speaking of clichés, this film is full of them, from jump scares, creepy old men, an abandoned house, an old lady who is mute for some reason, and everyone’s favorite the “splitting up from the group when faced with imminent danger”.
Early on the film does it’s best to try to get the audience to care about the characters in the film, but by the end of it you are just left rooting for the end credits to save you from the movie itself. The more disheartening fact is this movie was produced by Blumhouse, a company that shouldn’t be releasing bad films like Truth or Dare. With the success of last year’s Split and Get out, and the incredible success of franchises like Insidious and Paranormal Activity, we expect more from horror movies from Blumhouse.
Overall, Truth or Dare manages to barely sneak onto the review board, with a lowly 1 out of 4 stars. The truth is, watching this movie is as close as your eyes can get to the feeling of eating Kale and you should only watch it if someone dares you too.
1 out of 4 stars.
