Truth or Dare (2018) - Um, yeah, it's sort of a thing

Hmm, yeah, what can I say.  It's a 'horror' movie.  Only there's not an awful lot that's horrific.  Take your usual amount of twenty-somethings who are cast as high-school teenagers and present them with a supernatural threat which slowly whittles down their numbers one by one.  A group of friends play a drunken game of 'Truth or Dare' while on holiday in Mexico, only to find that the game continues even when they get home - naturally, with fatal consequences.  Think you know the story?  If you've seen even a few movies of the same genre then you probably do.

And that's where 'Truth or Dare' falls down.  It's not inherently bad.  It just doesn't really offer anything any vaguely seasoned horror movie fan hasn't seen a hundred times before - and done better.

I know there are only so many different ways film-makers have of presenting - yet another - creepy tale, but some go someway to stand out.  I'm a big fan of the 'Scream' franchise (yes, even the later - not as well-received ones), simply because, although they may not be anything different (narratively speaking), but at least the writers inject some 'meta-humour' into the script to poke fun at the cliches associated with the genre.

Sadly, 'Truth or Dare' doesn't really offer anything even nearly new.  The characters are bland and you won't really remember any of them after the credits have rolled.  If you're looking for gore then there's a little bit here which isn't so bad, but - again - nothing you haven't seen done better.

Like I say, it's not a terrible film, but I doubt anyone with an interest in horror will really get much out of it.  The ending was nice (I literally mean the final scene!), but - again - the US remake of 'The Ring' had kind of already done something similar.  It's an okay enough experience to have on in the background if you find it on a streaming service and you don't have to pay full price to watch it.

5/10