One Star Classics : Truth or Die

Truth or Die

Nov 05, 2014 / Thriller

Sometimes, Netflix will, in what I can only assume is a rage of xenophobia, present a foreign movie like it is kind of a guilty pleasure; one to watch while laughing in a detached ironic fashion.

I somehow doubt that was what the (many) production companies had set out to unleash on the UK with Truth or Die. Yes, this is a British movie, and it was probably released as a pretty standard horror flick over there, which, any way you look at it, it is.

It’s not a bad movie, nor is it a good movie. It is probably one best enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon in the daze of a light hangover. You don’t need to pay too much attention, yet it still holds your attention. Sort of.

The plot consists of preciously little: A group of friends drunkenly humiliates some poor freak during a game of truth or dare, and when they six months later are invited to his birthday party, they soon learn that he actually had killed himself after receiving a postcard saying… surprise, surprise… “truth or dare.”

I bet you can’t guess what kind of game the poor guy’s brother puts on for those who were invited to the party, one of which he suspects of being the sender of the postcard.

That’s one thing to remember if you’re in a horror movie: If you’re invited to a party at a huge mansion, and there only are two cars there… Turn around and leave.

But yes, as you well can see, this gets very predictable, and it’s hard to get too creeped out by the “game master”. I mean, you can be as much of a bad-ass ex-soldier as you want, but if you have the mustache of a 13-year old, you’re kind of DOA as far as creepiness goes.

Truth or Die is left as a plain movie, one that could have been so much more. It lacks the playfulness of Would You Rather, while never being ballsy enough to go particularly far on the freak-out scale. Stuck in the middle, it’s just bland, though I will admit it ended up being less predictable than I had feared.

And! There is a great drinking game in there! Take a shot every time someone says “truth or dare”. Take an additional shot if it’s suffixed with “bitch”. You’ll be blasted after half an hour.

The movie, in the end, is just kind of ridiculous. Who sent the card, why it was sent, the relationship between the brothers, how all of this came to be… I’m as big of fan of All My Children as most, but Truth or Die is actually more of a soap opera than anything I can ever remember watching. Fair is fair though: The soundtrack is rocking.

By Remi, Nov 05, 2014

Letterboxd summary: A group of friends are lured to an isolated cabin by a promise of heavy partying, only to find themselves in a nightmarish game of truth or dare.