Truth or Dare Movie Review

This genre-slasher doesn't even work up enough tension or smarts to make us overlook its monumental stupidity.

Truth or Dare
Cast: Tyler Posey, Lucy Hale, Violett Beane, Sophia Taylor, Landon Liboiron, Nolan Gerard Funk
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Rating:

Tell the truth and you die, do a dare and you die- then just why would you bother playing the game in the first place? I can understand that curiosity and boredom can initiate the young, self-centred lot into playing a game that forces them into revealing secrets best buried under piles of remorse.. but why would anybody want to get all bothered about staying alive when death is so much of a surety?

Truth or Dare sets out to get it’s young attractive cast members, enacting college seniors on a spring break, into situations that challenge their pea-brained existence. They play by the rules and are forced to embarrass themselves or hurt somebody close to them – and that’s perfectly legit. It’s when they start turning into brainless twits and begin doing things that they well could have avoided, that they start looking stupid and the premise falls flat on it’s face. If this was not a forcibly haunted version of the game, it would definitely have been far more meaningful and entertaining.

The unviable haunting is what does it in completely. The hormone-fuelled protagonists fail to evoke sympathy towards their plight so when they impale themselves on a pool cue, gouge into an eye with a fountain pen, walk drunk on the edge of a roof or do anything else that kills them off, you just don’t feel the pain. Director Jeff Wadlow ("Kick-Ass 2," "Cry Wolf") and his three credited co-writers fail to provide enough material for us to believe these young people are worth rooting for. Our heroine, Olivia (Lucy Hale), the most reluctant to go on the trip to Mexico and the one who inadvertently involves her friends in the deathly game, her flirty best friend Markie (Violett Beane), Ronnie (Sam Lerner), Brad (Hayden Szeto) and hot guy Lucas (Tyler Posey) are mostly indistinct one-note stock characters who play the game like puppets-on-a-string and their eventual deaths are not amusing enough. This genre-slasher doesn’t even work up enough tension or smarts to make us overlook it’s monumental stupidity.

Watch Truth or Dare Trailer

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!