Truth or Dare (2012) Reviews

• Truthfully better than expected

  movieman_kev2013-05-08

  A small group of young adults all gather at what they believe to be the party of a mutual 'friend', the same boy who was humiliated years earlier. When they arrive they find that he isn't there, but his brother suggests that they all party regardless. A game of truth and dare brings out the brother's true agenda. Now the small group of kids are in for the deadliest game of their lives. I thought I was in for yet another in the endless parade of heavily clichéd boring little teen- scream flicks, but I found myself pleasantly surprised when I found a reasonably well- acted tense little yarn that had loftier goals than the average brain-dead teen slashes genre could usually muster. So despite a few plot holes that I found easy to overlook, I was quite content with this viewing experience.

• Truthfully Unpredictable & Daringly Different :)

  manjodude2012-05-12

  Hmm....this is good! I expected this to be yet another run of the mill revenge story but it indeed went beyond that. It's the story with the surprising bends(especially towards the climax) that makes the movie very watchable. The direction could have been better though. Performances, gladly, was top notch from all - another reason why almost all the scenes grab our attention. Jennie Jacques as Eleanor was superb, and rest of the memorable performances include Liam Boyle as Paul(Eleanor's boyfriend), Florence Hall as Emma(Eleanor's pal) and David Oakes as Justin(the psychotic brother of Felix). Although I like the story in general, it could have been more convincing in some places. Justin is a trained British solider but there are moments where he acts clumsy while defending himself against some of the characters who are just ordinary folks. That disappointed me a bit. However, I must say there are some twists in the story that leaves you shocked. It just dares to be different, viewer liking be damned. Lol! Verdict: I still like it because it rivets. Makes for an engaging movie experience.

• Suspenseful riff on the 'one room' thriller genre

  Leofwine_draca2013-01-10

  A surprisingly decent low budget horror/thriller combo. Although the general set-up of the film is based on a SAW-style premise, the film works thanks to an inventive script, some well-drawn characters and top acting. Standing head and shoulders above the other cast members is David Oakes (THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH), playing an ex-soldier determined to find out the truth behind his brother's suicide. To this end, he invites a group of schoolmates to a rural shack to begin a deadly game of truth or dare. This is essentially a 'one room' thriller which keeps you guessing as to the fates of the central characters and indeed has you on the edge of your seat throughout. The story feels fresh and the characters drawn from real life; better still, I was so engaged in what I was watching that I wanted to find out what happened next. In other words, I was hooked. A handful of decent turns by the other actors (Jennie Jacques, Jack Gordon, Florence Hall), some gruesome set-pieces that don't go over the top with depictions of torture, and a twist ending that works are all features that help make this a film that rises above genre standards to offer suspenseful, thrilling entertainment.

• Revenge for the Fittest

  adam-18942012-09-04

  When the movie began, I wondered if I was watching a British version of the 1987 classic "Slaughter High." A teenage prank goes wrong and a year or two later the tormentors are all invited to a "reunion." They arrive only to discover they're the only ones present. To make things stranger, our antagonists are forced to walk through a muddy path that leads to an old cabin despite the fact that the manor was clearly deserted. However as soon as they meet the brother of the one they victimized and begin playing the same game used to humiliate him (a mix of Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle) This is when the feeling of dread begins to mount and it doesn't let up until the end. Overall, it was suspenseful, yet a few illogical inconsistencies require a fair amount of willing suspension of disbelief. My Rating C +

• Not a bad British teen revenge horror.

  Michael-Hallows-Eve2012-08-20

  This movie was actually a nice little surprise for me. I started watching it thinking, "here we go, another teen revenge horror". But once it got going it went well. The "spin the bottle/truth or dare" thing actually worked for me. The movie had a couple of surprises and there was a bit of a plot twist near the end. The characters were actually played well as they were annoying, but in a good way as I was waiting for things to happen to them, but intrigued to see how they would react. And at the end the film doesn't end the way you would think, as it didn't have the usual ending that a lot of these kind of teen horror movies have, and that was a good thing as I wasn't expecting it. So I give this film a 7 out of 10.