[yasr_overall_rating]
A harmless game of Truth or Dare among friends turns deadly when someone – or something – begins to punish those who tell a lie or refuse the dare.
I will begin by saying that the trailer for “Truth or Dare” did not inspire much confidence on my part. The creepy Joker smiles by the possessed characters seemed to be overdone and threatened to overwhelm the movie. To my relief, that was not the case.
For starters, the mystery aspect of the narrative was more engaging than expected. Once the rules of the game are explained and the backstory is sketched, the players must try to solve the conundrum, while at the same time dodging the nefarious choices within the ongoing game of truth or dare in which they have unwittingly been engaged. In many scenes, the film exhibited shades of “The Exorcist” and “The Ring.”
The cast is comprised of a group of up-and-comers from various television roles. Most of the players are credible and empathetic – the two main requirements for a commendable horror film. Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane, Sophia Ali and many others comport themselves suitably well in this attempt to inject life into a well-worn formula that audiences can’t seem to get enough of.
Perhaps the most discussion-worthy aspect of the film is the moral conundrum that underpins the drama, known as the Trolley Problem. The trolley dilemma or problem has been explored often in film – essentially asking the question: would you kill one person to save five?
In essence, a runaway trolley can be diverted in one of two directions, and a switchman is forced to make a choice. In the first direction, one person would be killed. In the other, five. This moral dilemma was first introduced in 1967 by Philippa Foot and has been the topic of extensive ethical discussion since. However, the earliest version of the problem has a twist – it is the switchman’s child on the track with the single person. The five people on the other track are strangers. Now it’s personal – what then?
It is this earlier variant of the Trolley Dilemma that is posed in “Truth or Dare.” So, the context becomes one of tribe or family versus the larger community. In the present era, it is interesting, if not altogether surprising to see what choice the protagonists decide to make.
Recent events in real life can be instructive in this regard. While it is fashionable for the press to highlight cases of heroism or selfless action in the face of dire predicaments, my own reading of the world in this day and age often suggests otherwise. During one regional event a couple of years ago, for example, a city’s water source was briefly contaminated by backflow from a nearby petrochemical plant. Local residents descended on grocery stores, filling their shopping carts with cases of bottled water – far more than their immediate need, and utterly oblivious to the impact on the greater community.
In another example, a gasoline shortage resulting from a natural disaster temporarily interrupted supply chains. In response, many area customers were photographed filling up 275-gallon IBC tanks (and anything else that would hold liquid) in the beds of pickup trucks, and in front of long lines that quickly caused complete outages of gasoline stocks.
True, the above examples were socially manufactured, temporary and not a serious long-term threat to anyone – which is precisely the point. Such behavior begs the question: How much uglier would human nature become if the situation were, in fact, life or death? The film ties up this question forthrightly – and we might not like the answer.
“Truth or Dare” is yet another entry in the seemingly endless parade of horror genre pictures, this time from the prolific Blumhouse Productions, helmed by Jason Blum. Scary movies are a hot commodity right now – as perhaps they have always been. The dare for filmmakers will be to find new ground to explore in order to keep them fresh. “Truth or Dare” manages to rise to the challenge, but just barely.
In theaters Friday, April 13th
