We recently took a
chance on a 2012 movie called Truth or Dare. (Not to be
confused with the 2018 film of the same name.) There was no trailer available
on Prime, which is usually an instant pass for us, but the ratings were quite
high (4.3/5) and we didn’t have anything else to watch so why not?
The first
thing that struck me as interesting about Truth or Dare was the
production quality, which was surprisingly good for (no offense) a British
horror movie. By the end, I was also surprised that we somehow hadn’t seen it.
And for over a decade. With the way we watch horror, it’s always a shock when
one manages to slip under the radar.
Especially
one as brutal as Truth or Dare.
The movie starts
with an end-of-term party where awkward teen, Felix (played by Tom Kane,) is humiliated
by the boyfriend of the girl he has a crush on (Florence Hall’s Gemma.) Move on
a year and the same group of kids are headed to another party, this one being
thrown by Felix himself. Except… nothing is quite what it seems.
For
starters, Felix isn’t at his house… er, mansion… when his “friends”
arrive. No one is. The house is closed up, but the groundskeeper who (fortuitously?)
appears at just the right time to direct them to the party – at a cabin deep in
the nearby woods. Strangely determined to attend the birthday party of a guy they
don’t particularly like, they tromp off through the woods on foot to the cabin.
Truth
or Dare is a game
of twists and turns that starts when Felix’s older brother (David Oakes’s
Justin) tells the partygoers that Felix is out of the country – but suggests that
they can stay and party with him if they want.
I mean… if
you’re dumb enough to stay at that point, you get everything that’s coming to
you, right?
Well, it
turns out that Felix isn’t out of the country. He’s (as far as we know)
dead and Justin wants to know why. No one’s eager to talk, even after Justin
starts using the special interrogation skills (ie: torture) he learned in the military
to wrangle the info out of them.
He turns
their torture into a wickedly devious game that mimics the one played the year
before that led to his brother’s humiliation and wow. Some of the techniques
Justin employs are just… shudder. It’s nasty but not gory, which I
appreciate. (I prefer my horror without unnecessary blood & guts.) And,
honestly, you’re kind of with him…
Until you’re
not.
The twists
keep Truth or Dare, which is essentially a simple premise: bullied boy’s
suicide drives his brother to seek revenge, interesting. Because, of course, it’s
not that simple. Nothing happens exactly the way you expect it to and
nothing you know is quite what you know.
Truth
or Dare is engaging
enough to keep you hooked, even though the “victims” are so, so unlikeable.
They’re all entitled rich kids so you can’t be too sorry if one or two buy it –
but they’re also determined so you have to applaud their tenacity in getting what
they want. Even if you kind of hate them as much as you hate their tormentor.
Which I
did.
I hated
pretty much the whole cast but loved Truth or Dare. It’s hard not to
enjoy a movie as twisted as this one. Truth or Dare isn’t groundbreaking
or anything, but it’s fun and does what it sets out to do. Definitely worth a
watch.
