Truth or Dare (2017)

I thought I was watching the Blulmhouse film until I got to the last twenty minutes and thought, where are those fun-house mirror faces you see in the trailer? But this version came out in 2017 and is a Syfy movie, and it is surprisingly well made with professional believable actors and a smart script containing creative dares. What turned me off was the amount of gore near the end when the types of dares become rather gruesome. As a redeeming trait, the characters genuinely care about each other and the film emphasizes that with each deadly and near-deadly occurrences.

Another complaint? The ending. Huh? What? Really?

Character Development: Well done. The progression of events intensifies the friends' feelings of care. Where the story could have easily left characters shallow and transparent, the writers instead increase their levels of humanity; for instance, when one character goes through with a dare, the others are extremely empathetic, crying for them or helping them through it in other ways.

Writing Quality/Pacing: Aside from the abrupt ending and the few sexual innuendos at the beginning, the plot dashes forward at incredible speeds. There is not time to be bored here. These writers have quite the imagination too, providing unpredictability with each move of the "game".

Values: The values are evidenced in a situation where a couple of characters lie when asked to tell the 'truth' during the game. The response of the friends indicates how much they don't value the lies, and they push until that one person confronts the truth s/he tried to hide. Also, the dares are such that other characters offer to act them out themselves, showing their willingness to sacrifice themselves for others. The cast of characters are quite selfless overall.

Content (sex, language & violence): A kissing scene on a dare between two best friends (girls), though it is a closed kiss, quickly shown. No sex, but mild references to it. Some language. Violence: some of the dares are quite disturbing and intense.

Scare factor: None. This isn't a jump scare movie, but one that continues to quickly unravel itself from one dare to the next.

I appreciated the movie for the most part, but the last quarter of it became excessively disturbing with the types of dares presented. And I'm not sure what to make of that ending.

#TruthorDareFilmReview