Truth or Dare (I) (2018) User Reviews (506)

Ruined by terrible storytelling

[halbarad_loire · 5/10 · 7 June 2020]

So, I don't dislike this film. The premise is sound enough, the acting done well, it all just holds up as a decent horror film. At least nearly all. This is let down by downright terrible storytelling.

So the premise is a demon has taken over the game of Truth or Dare and when people are asked, they have to do what they choose. If they don't, they die. This is all going well until quite late in the film the whole premise of the game is downright ruined by the demon actually ignoring the rules of the game, taking control of a body and then stabbing who it admits is the only person that could have stopped the game.

So the whole premise of the film is thrown in the toilet there and then. The point behind the whole film, ruined. Why did it need to play the truth or game? It didn't, the demon could have simply done what it wanted all along. A bad ending can't ruin a film completely, the positives are still there, but it leaves the worst taste and knocks the film down dramatically.

Quality movie with a silly premise.

[sinnfenian · 6/10 · 22 October 2019]

You have to know a horror movie based on a teenage sleepover game has to be viewed with the right frame of mind. Those expecting the tense seriousness of Se7en are going to be disappointed. But viewed in the right light, this movie is actually not too bad.

The basic premise is a group of friends are lured to an old church where a guy they just met suggests they play the game. This traps them into a neverending game of Truth or Dare in which the stakes seem to get higher and higher. The group slowly gets picked off while our main characters try to solve this puzzle.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this movie was the depth of character. There wasnt a load of backstories, but there was enough to flesh these kids out so they were more than butcher meat. You find out pretty fast that Markeys dad committed suicide but the cause of that isnt revealed till much later and it is done in a way that piques the watchers interest. If I had to pic my main negative, it would be the droopy faced snapchat filter that appears over the faces of the people the demon temporarily possesses. I felt this was kind of lazy. It would have been better if they glossed their eyes black or something.

Overall, not a bad movie. I found myself not wanting to walk away towards the end because I wanted to see how it wrapped up.

Unintentionally Hilarious

[Neon_Gold · 4/10 · 19 May 2020]

This movie isn't great but I was entertained for most of it because it was so stupid it was funny. There were parts how ever where I would check how long was left and think 'you are kidding me it feels like iv been watching it for 3 hours'.

I thought it would be worse than it was due to the fact I watched Fantasy Island first and hated it and this movie was both written and directed by the same people so I didn't have much hope. It did however suffer from the same issue as Fantasy Island like bad dialogue. I'm telling you this group of writers write like they are making a sitcom. If you put laugh tracks under some of the one liners that characters says you would have a sitcom. An unfunny sitcom but still. I also feel like they are tone deaf when it comes to like 'young people' today, they just go for archetypal character E.g Nerd, Bro, Good Girl ect and then add like random pop culture buzz words.

The CGI/Snapchat filter that they pasted over people's face in this movie was hilarious but it wasn't meant to be and what confuses me even more is one of the characters literally says "it looks like a Snapchat filter". So this was a conscious choice to make it look like this. Why?? It looks stupid and not scary at all.

Even though I feel like iv been quite harsh to it I would say watch it. Like it's a bad movie but if you like bad movies that you can laugh at then you should watch it, I feel like you'd have a good time.

Final Destination meets Ouija

[vacantskies00 · 5/10 · 18 July 2018]

A group of teens find a supernatural entity that is using a game to kill them off one by one; unless you play by the rules.

Director Jeff Wadlow is no stranger to the genre. The underrated meta-slasher Cry Wolf was a simple, yet intelligent take on PG-13 horror/thrillers. With Truth Or Dare, and Blumhouse in tow, he attempts to capture similar teenage themes of trust, denial, and the fact that your closet friend could be a liar.

What works for this film is its ever evolving sense of menace. The entity really bares down on each characters flaws. Each "kill" has relevant motivation and pushes the rating to the max. The facial effects are decent and creepy.

What works against the film are the characters. Most of them are disposable. Merely there to add death scenes and nothing more. Additionally, several scenes which could've added more to certain character arcs simply cut away to move the story along, but leave possible dramatic elements to rot to get to the "horror." The most notable negative is the cast. While not god awful, they did well considering, it was hard accommodating a bulk of the cast. Half of which were total dicks, the remaining cast holds so many secrets from each other that we wonder how they managed to be friends so long. Oh, long enough to fill an hour and a half.

If you love mostly forgettable characters, twists on familiar games, and twisted rule based supernatural thrillers like Ouija and/or Final Destination; Truth Or Dare is for you. Give it a spin. I dare you...

The movie does not deserve the low reviews

[treebeard-44735 · 6/10 · 29 June 2018]

The movie did not receive the bad amount of comments or opinions it got from other users. Quite frankly, they are wrong in calling Truth or Dare a bad movie, as it is not meant to be a masterpiece but a fun movie to watch in a rainy day scenario.

If you are looking for a movie that you can switch off to and just watch a movie that is mindless entertainment then Truth or Dare is a movie i recommend it if you can look past of the cliche horror tropes.

Overall the movie as some decent young actors in it and is a passable horror movie so i suggest giving Truth or Dare a chance.

Not impressed

[0U · 23 February 2020]

Despite delivering a (very) few admirable moments, Blumhouse fail to conjure up anything other than a dull execution of a story with more than enough potential. Unfortunately for TRUTH OR DARE it's not particularly clever, with a heavy dose of laughable CGI and a bland script completely void of scares or tension.

So Terrible that it's occassionally Funny and Fun

[Jared_Andrews · 2/10 · 14 April 2018]

You know how some movies can be so bad that they're secretly kind of good? Truth or Dare might be one of those movies.

As far as being legitimately good, it's not. It's terrible. It's littered with nonsensical reactions, silly dialogue, and unintentionally hilarious moments. Maybe those weird smiles that every character makes at one point are scary to others, but I found them funny every time.

The movie is pretty straightforward, but I'll give a brief explanation anyway. A group of friends goes to Mexico on spring break. While there, a stranger invites them to play truth or dare in a creepy abandoned church. It turns out that the game is possessed by a demon who follows them and forces them to continue playing the game until every player is dead. Fail a dare, you die. Tell a lie, you die. Refuse to play, you die.

The game and movie are essentially Jumanji crossed with Final Destination. It's PG-13, so it's not nearly as graphic as Final Destination, which I didn't mind.

It all sounds simple enough. But, the filmmakers still changed the rules throughout the movie and also radically changed what we knew about the characters. Maybe these changes were supposed to indicate that the game reveals our true selves and all the previous information was false. But that doesn't totally work because even characters who know nothing about the game change drastically from one scene to the next. This is the sort of thing that makes the movie clearly bad, but also secretly kind of good because you can laugh at the badness.

The other part that partially bothered me and partially made me laugh at its absurdity was how emotionally vacant all the characters were. A friend would die, then they just moved on with a shrug. Specifically, when one guy they know (he's kind of a jerk and not exactly a friend) dies a gruesome death, one character watches the cell phone video multiple times.

A person snaps his neck, and this character just watches the video with an amused look on his face, like he's watching a dog ride a skateboard. It's messed up.

While this character is clearly the worst of the group, none of them are likable. If a movie is going to show a group of people die one at a time, it needs to convince us that we should care about them at least a little bit. Since the characters are unlikable and therefore difficult to sympathize with, I felt apathetic about their deaths (all except one, which I won't spoil). This is another part of the movie that's so bad that it's funny and secretly kind of good.

Anyway, I'm dissecting this movie too much. The problems with the movie mostly play as funny while watching.

If you want to watch and laugh at a bad scary movie with friends, Truth or Dare is fine. Just make sure you go in with low expectations.

Not as bad as people are saying it is!

[davkell · 6/10 · 14 April 2018]

I really was keen on this when I originally saw the trailer, and then had my doubts when the first reviews came in. But it isn't as bad as many are saying it is. Yes, I probably won't ever watch it again, but it certainly kept me interested throughout the entire time.

No spoilers, but the ending is certainly worth the watch. It created a bit of discussion on moral dilemmas between me and my 2 sons (16 & 14).

Mega mind has the same smile

[kdero34 · 3/10 · 18 August 2018]

Seriously, I finished the movie, closed out of in and went to my amazon title menue and there was a pic. of Mega Mind the movie and he has the SAME smile!!! LOL. In all seriousness there were MAGOR plot holes that could have made it so that EVERYONE who was alive could have won... I found the movie to be in decent concept but very immature. To top it off the ending made no sense. Why didn't they make it so EITHER of these 2 could happen: 1: the demon picks truth and the girl asks the demon "how do we kill you" the demon would then HAVE to answer it truthfully otherwise it will die. Or 2: the demon picks truth, since the girl asked the demon to play it HAS to play right? So the girl picks truth, then asks the demon, the demon now HAS to pick dare, then girl says "I dare you to KILL yourself demon and end the game" demon now HAS to kill itsel. There, see? Problem solved!!!

Let's Be Real Here

[asfurd · 7/10 · 14 April 2018]

People who rate this movie anything lower than 5 are obviously not taking their review seriously. They might not like the film personally, but that shouldn't generate a biased low score. Unlike a lot of other horror movies, this one actually had a backstory as to the origins and reasoning for the game--I was surprised with that. I expected it to just be a scary game with no purpose, but I genuinely respect that they added a backstory. Next, this movie is overall just unique and cool. Unlike other cliche horror films where some demon figure is "haunting" the house, this film takes a unique approach by having a group of friends end up being the ones that have to do the "haunting" and "killing"; this concept also played well on friendship and family bonds/truth telling and trusting one another. Lastly, the creepy smiles make for iconic visuals that will stick with you even after you finish watching.

I Expected Bad - And I Got Bad

[neener3707 · 3/10 · 13 April 2018]

One cannot deny the direction mainstream Hollywood "horror" films are going in, not a direction of true horror, but one of teen screams and cheap scares. And even though PG-13 Hollywood horror has created some gems like The Conjuring, for the most part they have disappointed this horror veteran. This film was no different, it just plain old wasn't scary, or thrilling, or suspenseful. To be fair I liked some the kills but other than that I could not find anything redeeming. Its another sad attempt by Hollywood at horror, it just isn't scary. Like many other mainstream horror films, I found myself being bored, waiting for the next scare/kill, only to be disappointed by it. But I suppose if you are a 14 year old girl, like the majority of the theater was, then I suppose it might scare you, but for a man who has been a horror nerd since childhood, this just didn't do it at all for me, I was truly disappointed.

The acting was just so generic it ruined many aspects of the film. Not only did I not relate with these characters, I didn't care if they died or not, which can be an essential aspect of such a horror film as this. Also in the tense moments of suspense, their acting wasn't convincing enough to make the scene actually suspenseful. And another thing I just cant stand is that stupid CGI face-morphing that goes on. Not just in this movie, but in all movies, where the face screams but its mouth is CGI'ed to make it look bigger. Ugh it just sooooooo takes me out of the scare and honestly makes me laugh in embarrassment for whoever thought it looked good. As a horror veteran, these films make me sad, If you are an easily frightened child, go see it, but if you are a horror veteran like myself, this will only disgust you.

One of the BEST ENDINGS EVER

[prayoften · 8/10 · 5 May 2018]

After reading all of the negative reviews, I went into this movie fully expecting it to be a dud. But Regal is offering extra benefits for seeing 4 Universal movies this year (this is one of the 4), so I said what the heck. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised. I really ended up getting into this movie. It's so different, very unique, filled with creative ideas, and entertaining throughout. The movie held my attention and it flew by. But the ending is where this movie will be remembered the most. It is without a doubt one of the most CLEVER ENDING's I've ever seen. The ending alone is worth going to see this movie. I have a strong feeling that too many people went into this movie with a negative bias, thus the reason for all of the negative reviews. It is also clear that most people clearly missed the entire premise of the ending, otherwise there would be more people on here raving about the brilliant ending to this movie. I certainly didn't see it coming. If you are one of the few who actually understand the ending, then you will definitely walk out of this one with a smile on your face.

What you expect

[channy_0130 · 6/10 · 12 April 2018]

If you have seen the trailer, then the movie is exactly what you would expect it to be. It's extremely average and cliched. Not a bad watch if you wanna kill some time, but I wouldn't waste your money on seeing it in the cinema.

No joy in this curse

[justinwfirestone · 4/10 · 23 April 2018]

It is, ahem, Blumhouse's Truth or Dare, not just any-old, plain-old Truth or Dare. It's not the sixth installment of the cult classic Truth or Dare? : A Critical Madness, even though it psychologically draws from the same wells. It's not anything to do with Madonna: Truth or Dare. It is its own self, although sex still kills, college kids love to drink a lot on Spring Break, and if there's a really mysterious curse that seems unstoppable, you can always find some kind of answers through clever Google queries, preferably using Apple products whenever possible.

Be a good friend and don't be a jerk, or else you are going to get far less screen time than your cohorts, and definitely no nooky. The game of Truth or Dare? is no fun when the truth hurts and the dares maim. In fact, that's the biggest problem with Blumhouse's Truth or Dare: it's not fun. Unlike Happy Death Day or The Strangers: Prey at Night, there's almost no self-awareness that this is a pretty bad idea for a movie, no joy in an insipid plot with senseless violence.

You can dare to speak the truth, and you can truthfully respond to a dare, but maybe fate is real and none of us really have any control over our lives, let alone anyone else's. Demons can be sealed in clay pots, but it often requires outwitting the demon and the demon will never forget anything, not even when black-out drunk in Mexico, or probably especially when black-out drunk in Mexico.

Spring Break can be a lot of fun, but it also poses many risks, and you should never trust the cute lonely guy at the bar because he's alone for a reason.

probably the worst horror flick in 2018 and it's only april

[jameszxcvbn · 2/10 · 22 April 2018]

I went to watch this film because the trailer looked promising but what I got was a very ordinary and stupid plot of a film.

The opening started promising yes with an interesting topic of players choosing truth or dare and if they don't do the mission, they die. Interesting plot with interesting build up of character that's showing the douchiness of the friends and a cheater and friends who are dumb enough to cover for that mess.

Why I thought this film was crap was when that blonde chick was revealed to have slept with multiple guys. Okay, fair enough she's a slut but the fact that the main character was covering for that and that blonde friend got mad for revealing the truth. The build up of character is all a mess and where their priority lies is just all over the place. The fact that the blonde chick gets mad when she was the one doing all the cheating and the boyfriend Lucas not even getting 1 single bit mad at this fact. Literally the ONLY sad truth or dare part was when that Asian character had to get his dad to beg for his life. The truth or dare that lies between the blonde, the boyfriend and the main character is just stupid. "Tell the truth that you have feelings for me" "I dare you to sleep with me" "I dare you to tell your friend that your pedophile friend tried to rape me but I told him to kill himself". Did a 7th grader write this plot ? lol what a joke.

Pretty good actually.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 23 October 2018]

Often I watch a horror, and find myself disappointed, reading the reviews I expected very little, but really enjoyed it. It lacks any true originality for me to score it higher then a 7, it feels very much influenced by the likes of Final Destination, bit all in all it's very watchable. I liked the concept of a demon infiltrating a game, that was clever, and the faces of the victims when taken over were menacing, so it did have a degree of originality. The acting was great, production values were spot on, I find the negative reviews a bit unfair, and just plain wrong.

Not bad at all. 7/10

Appalling rubbish

[richardt-51558 · 1/10 · 18 April 2018]

I got a free ticket and still felt ripped off. Absolutely terrible.

Mediocre

[mawhinney · 6/10 · 13 April 2018]

I've seen better, I've seen worse. This will be forgotten in a few weeks.

I just didn't care about any of the characters. I typically enjoy BlumHouse horror films but this just felt lazy.

Just Don't Do It

[michaelrthomson · 1/10 · 13 April 2018]

Is a phrase someone should have said to those who proposed this premise, which of course has been done (better) 100 times already.

It's inane teen fodder, poorly acted by low budget players, poorly written, poorly shot and fundamentally just poorly done.

There are plenty of better horror movies out there to see, even if you fancy teen eye candy (if that is what these teens were meant to be?).

In an era where singers are auto-tuned but still deemed good by the youth of today, it is no surprise that this cast might be deemed good also, it's just a pity no one has yet invented an 'auto-act' machine, or an 'auto-writeascript' machine.

Certainly don't waste money seeing this trash in a cinema, I would guess this will be available online within a matter of days.

Very interesting concept and story

[stangpt-72073 · 7/10 · 10 May 2018]

Agree with the last review I read......Really Good....I do understand that horror or psychological entries reside in hades on movie review sites....That's ok.... But I really thought this was a good movie worth watching.....The super low reviews are completely unsubstantiated.

More of a Comedy than a Horror

[matt_hall-18443 · 3/10 · 14 April 2018]

The film lacks so many qualities, when the trailer was first released I was dubious on what the final product would bring and was right to think like that.

A production from Blumhouse for Horror gave me slight hope after a few creditable low end budget films in the past such as Get Out and Paranormal Activity.

However, Blumhouse have released the latest rock bottom horror film that is one to forget as it contained minimal and predictable jump scares, a poor range of acting throughout however some possible potential from lead character Lucy Hale.

If you're thinking about watching this film, don't spend the money in the cinema because it's just not worth it and will probably be shown on TV or be on Netflix or Amazon Prime within the next year.

Truth or Dare: Undeserving of the criticism

[Platypuschow · 8/10 · 31 March 2019]

I went into Truth or Dare aware that this was listed on many "Worst movies of 2018" lists, but now it's finished I'm unaware of quite why. Especially considering that 2018 was a dire year and therefore there was stiff competition.

It tells the story of a group of friends who find themselves trapped in a supernatural game of truth & dare which has lethal consequences. Fine, it sounds goofy but it's really not.

With an unknown roster I was able to see characters rather than actors and I always appreciate that. They do a great job and the premise is fantastic, one that I'd love to see taken further it's even franchise worthy.

You see it has limitless potential, there are so many possibilities. Did they utilize it well here? Yeah, but they did bring a long of "Teen" angst into it which I felt was one of its biggest flaws.

A clever little horror movie this was unexpectedly good. It's not scary, it's not gory, it's smart and I think that's something that horror has been lacking lately.

My advice is to ignore the unexplained hatred and give this one a go, I really enjoyed it.

The Good:

Incredible concept

Well executed

Interesting finale

The Bad:

Fire the sound guy

"Teen" angst

Great horror.

[pombolton · 7/10 · 18 April 2021]

Ok,i'm rating this movie as a horror. Alot of people are rating this movie like it's Shawshank redemption. But purely as a horror it's great. If you are a horror movie buff then this should be on your list.

Don't waste your time

[cjlove2523 · 2/10 · 15 April 2018]

Paint your house and watch the paint dry for more entertainment and scare yourself in the mirror if you want to be scared. This movie is sick, corny, and just plain stupid. Save your brain cells.

You'll never get the time you spent watching this movie back.

[SmashandNasty · 3/10 · 12 April 2018]

There is no way to really articulate the exact place where this movie went wrong, other than to say that it did.

It lacks the redeeming qualities of some of Blumhouse's other outings: it isn't as charming as Happy Death Day was; it's not a socially aware as Get Out or the Purge franchise; it doesn't have unique techniques the original Paranormal Activity or Unfriended did. While most of those movies have things that are wrong with them (as most movies do), they also had something that made them worth watching. After struggling to find its footing, Truth or Dare had little to nothing redeeming about it. What you're left with is a largely unsatisfying narrative with skewed (and uncharacteristic) character motivations culminating in a fairly predictable climax and then quickly falling from there to a conclusion that - while somewhat elver in its execution - made the film that much more frustrating.

In short: It feels a lot like any other teen slasher flick. They just put a different spin on things and then marketed the hell out of it.

If you're looking for something more than shallow and undeveloped characters finding an interesting way to get themselves into trouble that they can't manage to ever get out of played by B-list stars who couldn't find anything else to do after the end of their TV careers, you will be sorely disappointed. But if you're looking for strained diversity in a cast with zero emotional depth or chemistry, headed by two skinny white women - this is the movie for you. If you want petty relationship drama, alcohol abuse, bullying, scenes on a "college campus", the occasional promise of gore/blood/or anything that might actually be considered scary (followed by the subsequent disappointment in camera angels destined to keep the film PG-13), and jump scares - this movie is for you.

It really isn't for everyone, and while we can respect that there's an audience out there somewhere that might appreciate it for what it is, we know it could've been a lot better and feel justifiably disappointed that they didn't seem to try.

Featuring: Some weird facial contortions that undercut the film even further, if that was even possible.