Truth be told, it’s not worth the dare

Johnson Thomas

Imagine a childhood game hexed by a voodoo curse- that’s what this slasher movie is all about. Designed as a largely bloodless statement about the corruptibility and dim-wittedness of Gen X, Truth or Dare has a group of pretty young co-eds go out on an impromptu pre-college spring-break holiday to Mexico. From thereon they conveniently get hooked-up to the ancient curse connected to a nun and her ability to summon the demon. This perversity involves the throwing of a life-affirming gauntlet that challenges their very existence. 

Olivia (Lucy Hale), the smart and cute one, has a secret crush on designated hunk Lucas (Tyler Posey) who happens to be in a hot relationship with her flirty best friend Markie (Violett Beane). Of course there are other far more life-threatening reveals waiting to happen in the course of the game which also has Ronnie (Sam Lerner), Brad (Hayden Szeto), Penelope (Sophia Taylor Ali), Carter(Landon Liboiron)  and Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk) involved. 

It’s really difficult to like these self-centered brainless twits who go out of their way to endanger themselves –all in the name of fun and games. And the director Jeff Wadlow, fails to build up a reasonable level of interest in the gimmicky attempt to shore-up on slash-happy thrills. This is neither a well-imagined construct nor a smartly treated one. The demon plays on the minds of the youngsters to get them to do his bidding but unfortunately the potential victims did not seem like they had any mind to play with. The character build-up is abysmal and the writing is so hazy that you would find it difficult to relate to any one of them. The campy premise might have worked better if this was presented as a razor sharp psychological thriller but the lack of a significant theme and the largely confused treatment refuse to evoke any interest or emotion. There’s precious little here even for the die-hard horror fans.

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