Truth or Dare (2012)

By John Chard

Or would you rather? After a student is publicly humiliated during a truth or dare party game, the assembled tormentors are surprised to be invited to his country retreat for a party… Yep! We are in familiar territory here, a bunch of annoying teenagers go out in the woods today and head for a big surprise. In fact the story twists quite early on and has great potential, landing the narrative in a sort of torture porn revenger universe, but the makers then rely far too heavy on this aspect and the dialogue is only matched in banality quotient by the plot holes. Even the brutality factor quickly gets boring, it’s like covering for inadequacies elsewhere by thrusting the violence to the front to try and save the movie. However, it’s not a total washout. There’s a trio of jumping-bean performances that remain entertaining throughout their respective stays, and a flip-flop device has some worth even if we have absolutely no affinity for any of these people at all. A tough film to recommend to anyone but the staunchest torture porn/revenger fan, because ultimately it’s failings elsewhere are hurtful to the audience’s viewing experience. 4/10