If there's one thing horror films are good at, it's taking harmless games and turning them into nightmarish, life-or-death contests. Truth or dare can be risky as it is, depending on the players and the amount of alcohol involved, but in Blumhouse's latest, the party game takes on a truly lethal complexion. Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars fame and Teen Wolf's Tyler Posey lead the cast of Truth or Dare, where death continues to prove that he loves playing with his food and he absolutely, above all else, hates teenagers. If you find creepy smiles unsettling, steel yourself and then check out the trailer for Truth or Dare, below.
Knowing nothing about the film beyond the title, for the first 30 seconds or so of this trailer I thought this was going to go the slasher route. But when Lucy Hale's Olivia turns to see an empty room and then a flash of creepy smiles, I knew that this was going to be a supernatural force picking off this group one by one a la Final Destination. Basing a horror movie around the game of truth or dare opens this film up to have a lot of fun and interesting scenarios. The dares are where this movie will really have some freedom to play with dares both silly and wince-inducing. When Olivia is telling Markie to break her hand with a hammer, yeesh. But based on the trailer, the truths will produce the best characters moments that create conflict among the group and threaten their ability to make it out of this game alive.
Watching this trailer I couldn't help but think that part of the casting process was to have the actors showcase their best creepy and unnatural smiles. Good grief, smash my hand with a hammer if you must, but please change your face -- I'd like to sleep again someday. Overall, this was a pretty fun trailer that should bring in the horror crowd as well as any Pretty Little Liars and Teen Wolf fans eager to see their favorite actors on the big screen after the conclusion of those two series. But being a Blumhouse Productions film, Truth or Dare deserves an extra bit of attention.
Low-budget horror has been part of the genre for ages, but Blumhouse has been flipping the script more recently, producing quality horror films on low-budgets that are both profitable and critically well received. As horror continued its resurgence last year, the studio found itself with two of the most talked about films in Split and Get Out, both of which garnered critical acclaim and blew away their budgets at the box office. With Blumhouse's batting average of late, Truth or Dare is one worth paying attention to.
Truth or Dare is directed by Jeff Wadlow and hits theaters on April 27, 2018. Before then you can catch Blumhouse's Insidious: The Last Key in theaters this weekend.
