Disclaimer: May contain spoilers.
The movie Truth or Dare came out on April 13 of 2018. It’s an American supernatural horror film directed by Jeff Wadlow and written by Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach, and Wadlow. It stars Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane, Hayden Szeto, and Landon Liboiron. Before starting the honest review, here’s a brief synopsis of the film.
A group of college students has the best spring break of their lives by going to Mexico. On their last day of vacation, Olivia (played by Lucy Hale from the series Pretty Little Liars), a student and a blogger, meets a man named Carter (played by Landon Liboiron. He invites Olivia and her friends to hang out in an abandoned church (to me, this is clearly a red flag). Then, Carter suggests a game of truth or dare. The game goes well until Carter’s turn. Carter chooses truth and confesses that he has lied to everyone so that they can play the game. He makes it clear that he doesn’t care if everyone dies. Olivia confronts Carter privately and Carter warns her about the game, saying that no matter where you are or what the dares consist of, you must play or you die. They have to play in the same order as the night in Mexico. The movie follows Olivia’s friends as they struggle to handle the game and its consequences.
My first impression without having watched the trailer is that it sounded like a typical-teenager-having-a-good-time kind of movie. However, after seeing the trailer, it was not what I expected. I had some hope regarding how the movie was going to turn out in terms of production since it was produced by the same producer of Get Out, The Purge, and Happy Death Day. Surprisingly, not only Lucy Hale stars in the film, but Tyler Posey (from the series Teen Wolf), who plays as Lucas, does as well.
Like most horror films, there are suspenseful moments where we know a jump-scare will appear due to the music and the actions of the character. So, naturally, yes, I jumped during those scenes of the film. What I found quite strange, yet funny, is the faces the characters make when they are being possessed. Don’t they look like disturbing Snapchat filters?
However, the scene where I was caught off guard was the final scene.
Spoiler ahead:
Olivia, as previously mentioned, is a blogger, who used the power of the internet to save her friend Markie (played by Violett Beane) and herself by warning her viewers of the danger of the game but also dragging them into it. The fact that Olivia had to involve many people around the world in the game was kind of unexpected, so that was quite a nice touch to the film. By the end of the credits, there was a deep and creepy voice saying: “Truth or dare?”, so instantly, my reaction was:
Blumhouse Productions’ Truth or Dare is not the best horror film compared to other successful films such as Split (2016), Paranormal Activity (2009), The Purge (2013), Insidious (2011), and more. However, the concept of the film was quite enjoyable, and I had a good time watching it.
So my question to you, the reader, is: