Horror Movie Review: Truth or Dare (2012)

Boring…that’s the word that will constantly come to mind while watching this 2012 British horror. Directed by Robert Heath & written by Matthew McGuchan a group of teens go to an isolated cabin in the woods for a night of partying but end up in the hands of a twisted psychopath.

Starring Tom Kane, Liam Boyle, Jack Gordon, Florence Hall & Jennie Jacques. Truth or Dare opens at a party. Here, the nerdy loner Felix is humiliated at the hands of a group of bullies. While taking part in a game of truth or dare, Felix is pressurised into choosing a girl at the party. A girl that, if he was given a free shag card, he would give it too.

Foolishly Felix gives it to a girl with a boyfriend. A boyfriend who just so happens to be sitting next to her at the time. Honestly, it’s one of the dumbest things a person could do & it’s hardly surprising he gets a smack in the face. Maybe think that one through next time, Felix?

Some time later, the same group of teens are off to celebrate Felix’s birthday at his family stately home (he comes from money – that’s important later) in the country. None of the attendees actually like Felix but see free food & booze as a worthwhile trip. So much so that they don’t even consider wondering why Felix would even bother asking them.

When the group arrive they are met by Felix’s ex-army older brother, Justin who tells them that there is no party but they can all come hang out with him at a small cabin. Once there, he reveals his true intentions to the group.

Felix committed suicide after receiving a note reminding him of his humiliation & Justin believes that one of the group is responsible. Someone in the group sent it so he intends to find out & restore his family honour.

Cue a whole lot of Saw/Hostel torture scenes & not a lot else leading to a big reveal at the finale that is at least mildly entertaining & explains quite a bit about Felix.

The problem is this is just another average revenge/torture movie that has so many lulls that it’s near sleep-inducing. The characters, every single one them, are unlikable & while the acting is solid, it’s nothing we’ve not seen so many times before.

The movie tries to create tension with brief ‘spin the bottle’ scenes. However, they inevitable fall short because you just don’t care about what happens to any of them. So what if one of these horrible lot get a mouth full of acid? Sure it will be fun to watch but it’s not tense. Just boring.

The ‘twist’ ending adds a bit more ‘oomph’ to the alleged events surrounding Felix. Though it’s hard to feel sorry for a character who we saw once & doing something incredibly stupid at a party.

Truth or Dare doesn’t offer anything new or interesting in the revenge/torture sub-genre of horror. It’s not unwatchable, it’s just really boring.