''Truth or Dare'' is a 2017 American

supernatural horror Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by Nick Simon and written by Thommy Hutson and Ethan Lawrence. The film stars

Cassie Scerbo Cassandra Lynn Scerbo is an American actress, singer and dancer. She was one of the members of the all-girl pop band Slumber Party Girls in the CBS children's music variety series ''Dance Revolution''. In acting, she starred as Brooke in the f ...

Brytni Sarpy Brytni Melicia Sarpy (born September 21, 1987) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Valerie Spencer on the ABC soap opera ''General Hospital'', and Elena Dawson on the CBS soap ''The Young and the Restless'' Early life Sarpy wa ...

Mason Dye Mason Andrew Dye (born July 15, 1994) is an American actor known for his roles in ''Teen Wolf'', ''Flowers in the Attic'', and in season four of ''Stranger Things''. Early life Mason Dye was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He grew up in Ada, Oklah ...

Harvey Guillen Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

Luke Baines Luke Baines (born 8 June 1990) is an English-born Australian actor. He is best known for playing the serial killer in '' The Girl in the Photographs'', the last film produced by Wes Craven, which opened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Fes ...

Ricardo Hoyos Ricardo Antonio Hoyos, Jr. (born November 27, 1995) is a Canadian actor. He joined the cast of ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' for the Degrassi (season 11), eleventh season as Zig Novak and starred in the sequel series ''Degrassi: Next Class'' ...

, Alexxis Lemire, Christina Masterson as eight teenagers forced to play a deadly game of

truth or dare Truth or dare? is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a "dare". The game is particularly popular among adolescents and children, and is so ...

by a vengeful spirit, and

Heather Langenkamp Heather Elizabeth Langenkamp (born July 17, 1964) is an American actress, director, writer, producer, and disc jockey. Langenkamp is best known for her acting work within the horror genre, as well as television sitcoms. Langenkamp was inducted ...

as a survivor of the game from decades earlier. The film premiered on Syfy on October 8, 2017. It received negative reviews from critics. The plot focuses on a group of eight college students who rent a house on

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

that is said to be haunted after a deadly game of truth or dare many years beforehand. The group decide to play the game and are forced to follow through in answering humiliating truths honestly, act upon increasingly alarming dares asking them to do violent things to themselves or others, or face deadly consequences.

Plot

A group of eight friends – Carter, Maddie, Tyler, Alex, Jessie, Addison, Holt, and Luke – go to a house Carter has rented for a

outing. Carter tells the group that the house became haunted after seven teens played

in 1983. All but one died horribly, and the survivor disappeared. Carter persuades everyone to play the game. Maddie is asked if she had sex with Tyler, Alex's boyfriend, and although she tries to lie, a group text forces her to tell the truth. Tyler is dared to touch a hot stove and is told to 'do the dare or the dare does you'. He attempts to quit, but a chair moves by itself and trips him onto the stove, severely burning his hand. The group accuses Carter of fabricating everything, which he denies. The group is warned they have 48 hours to complete three rounds of the game. Jessie, a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

, is dared to eat Tyler's burnt skin from the stove, and Holt is dared to grab onto exposed wiring. To keep him from getting

electrocuted Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...

, Carter rushes at him with a blanket to push him from the wires. Luke is dared to smash his knee, which Carter does for him. Addison is asked if she's an addict. She lies that she isn't, and then tries to leave the house. A mysterious force shoves her off the porch and onto an exposed pipe, killing her. They go to the police, but are met with skepticism. The next day, Addison's ghost appears in Carter's dorm room and dares him to hang himself for two minutes. Carter tries to leave, but the ghost captures and hangs him. After being sent a

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of the dare, Alex, Maddie, Tyler, and Holt race to Carter's room, but are unable to save him. The four friends see a message that Round Two is beginning. Meanwhile, Alex's research into the history of the house leads her to Donna Boone, the survivor of the 1983 incident. Donna tells them that they will have to finish the game inside the house to survive, and also suggests sharing their dares. In his bedroom, Luke is dared to rob a gas station, and a gun appears on his bed. He attempts the robbery, but the cashier kills Luke with a shotgun. Shocked, Jessie calls Alex to tell her that Luke was shot during the robbery, and Alex tells her to meet back at the house. Once Jessie returns, the group heads inside, and Tyler is dared dare to drink a liquid poison. Sharing the dare, they all first drink soda, then drink the poison and vomit it up. Maddie is dared to remove two teeth; Tyler extracts one from her, and one from himself. Alex is dared to play three rounds of

Russian roulette Russian roulette () is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against the head or body (their opponent's or their own), and pulls the trigger. If the ...

, with Alex surviving the first two and Tyler fatally shooting himself in the head on the third round. Holt is dared to be run over by a car, and confesses to the others that he once paralyzed someone in a hit-and-run accident, but escaped without consequence. Jessie tries to run over Holt's foot, but the car won't start, and when Holt opens the hood to fix the starter, the hood slams on his hand. The driverless car runs him over, crushing him to death. Alex realizes that the game is punishing them for their obsessions and sins. Jessie is dared to chain herself to a pipe in the cellar, but takes too long and is devoured by a swarm of cockroaches. As Round Three begins, Maddie is dared to remove seven living body parts. Sharing the dare, they remove an eyelash, hair, a fingernail, an earlobe, a finger, and a toe. As their last part, Alex chops off Maddie's foot with a

cleaver A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed tomahawk. It is largely used as a kitchen knife, kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slas ...

. After completing the dare, they rush to the hospital, but a message appears on the car's

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

with Alex's final dare – "kill her". Maddie begs Alex to kill her, but Alex refuses, and intentionally crashes the car into a tree. An unknown survivor gasps for air after the screen cuts to black.

Cast

as Alex Colshis *

as Maddie Sotarez *

as Tyler Pemhart *

as Holt Thorne *

as Carter Boyle *

as Luke Wyler * Alexxis Lemire as Jessie Havnell * Christina Masterson as Addison Troy *

as Donna Boone ** Taylor Lyons as young Donna Boone * Jonathan Mercedes as Johnny Milsner

Casting

Scerbo was cast in the role of Alex after several auditions. She described the character as "smart, quick and driven."

Donna Boone

, a longtime friend of the writer Thommy Hutson, was approached to portray the grown version of Donna. Langenkamp's first steps before filming were to get a life cast of her face for Donna's disfigurement, which she found to add a lot of depth to Donna. She later had discussions with Hutson to add further characterization to the character, deciding that she did jigsaw puzzles to deal with her overt loneliness.

Release

The film premiered on Syfy on October 8, 2017. , the film is estimated to have grossed $6,871 from DVD and Blu-ray sales.

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. It has a 0% fresh rating on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on six reviews. Joey Keogh of '' Wicked Horror'' wrote that the film "is too safe to really commit to the darkness and instead leaves one wondering why it really needs to exist in the first place." Timothy Rawles of '' iHorror'' argued that the film shouldn't be dismissed, praising its acting, direction, and special effects. "''Truth or Dare'' is fun as soon as it reels you in and that's pretty much from the get-go," he wrote.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Truth or Dare 2017 horror films 2010s ghost films 2017 independent films 2010s teen horror films American ghost films American independent films American supernatural horror films American haunted house films American teen horror films CineTel Films films Films about games American films about revenge Films set in 1983 Films set in 2017 American horror television films Syfy original films Halloween horror films 2017 films 2017 television films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language horror films English-language independent films