Tags:
Film: Truth or Dare
Year: 2018
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writer: Jillian Jacobs, Michael Reisz, Christopher Roach and Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey and Violett Beane
Review:
This is another effort from Blumhouse Productions as they venture more into the PG-13 horror films. The synopsis of this film is a harmless game of Truth or Dare among friends turns deadly when someone, or something, begins to punish those who tell a lie or refuse the dare.
I was nervous coming into this film. I knew the rating and I had seen Happy Death Day, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. I will say that this film isn’t good, but it isn’t bad either. It does some good things as well as others that are not so much. Some aspects of the story I really enjoyed. I do not mind making a normal game that you play as a teenager into something deadly like this film does. I even like that the characters even question it, because that comes off as realistic. Finding out the history of why the game turns deadly is also good. The ending is a little bit clinched, but I will give the film a pass on that. I actually didn’t mind it though because at least it is happy with a twist. I don’t think it would be able to be played out like it did though.
There were some bad aspects to the writing of the film. It relies a little too heavy on the teen love angle. Our main character Olivia Barron (Lucy Hale) is cute. It establishes that she is very nice, to the point where she is kind of a push-over. She is out to do good in the world, so we immediately like her. I did really like her in the film and thought that her performance was good. Her best friend is Markie Cameron (Violett Beane) who is not such a good person. She bullies Olivia to come on this trip and we see early on that has issues with being faithful to her boyfriend. I also found her to be cute. What I hated about this though was they are trying to find a way to stay alive, but they are letting petty relationship things get in the way. They know the game is messing with them, but they still fall victim. I get we are doing this for the film, but I thought it could be more creative in that department.
The film does well in revealing things slowly to build up the suspense of what we need. The problem though was that I really didn’t care about most of the characters and their reactions to things really hindered it for me. The film is actually edited well to keep things progressing.
There are some good effects in this film, but being the rated the film went with, they are subdued. When a character breaks his neck, which we see in the trailer, it looked pretty real. I think for a film like this, it would have benefited from giving us more. I do think that the smile which is what this film is also known for was done with effects. I thought they looked good on some people. It was creepy for sure.
Now with that said, this film despite its flaws was entertaining; it just wasn’t my cup of tea. This is definitely a gateway horror film. It did do some good things for sure. I don’t mind the idea of taking a children’s game and turning it deadly like they did. The back-story introduced about the mission and how this all came about was good. Focusing too much on the love-triangle aspect I think hinders the film. Hale and Beane were good in their roles. I also didn’t even mind Tyler Posey, but I think the decision they took and the writing were more of an issue. The score of the film really didn’t stand out. The editing was fine for what they needed to do. I found Happy Death Day to be more fun than this one though. For the budget this film was made with, I think it isn’t bad. It is slightly above average in my book.
My Rating: 6 out of 10