Pity poor Kate McKinnon. On the one hand, she's arguably the best thing on Saturday Night Live and has often saved many a sub-par episode from tanking completely on the strength of her talent alone.
She's also the only cast member in history to have won an Emmy for her work on the show twice, and she's been nominated six times in all, with plenty of other accolades along the way, including Entertainer of the Year for USA Today and a Critics' Choice TV award for best comedic actress.
On the other hand, when it comes to her big screen ventures, she's often come up snake eyes. Of her live-action major efforts, practically all of them received mixed reviews, and only a few- Sisters, Ted 2 and Office Christmas Party- were reasonably successful, but she only had minor supporting roles in each of those.
The others, including the highly-divisive reboot of Ghostbusters and the female-driven Rough Night, tanked big-time at the box office. Unfortunately, the two films were also her most high-profile starring roles to date, though she continued to serve in a more supporting capacity, leaving the more demanding leads to her co-stars.
It's actually a pretty smart gambit, if you think about it, as any failures tend to rest more on the films themselves, or, at worst, her fellow leading ladies, rather than herself. In short, she tends to pick roles where the fault for anything that goes wrong tends to land on people other than herself, often leading to her being one of the best things in an admittedly so-so end product.
Given the number of crappy movies some of her fellow SNL cast members have made over the years, who can blame her for taking a safer approach? Of course, it's probably inevitable that she'll eventually take on a lead role, and I do look forward to that. I just hope the project is worthier of her than some of the stuff she's done to date.
Her most recent turn, in the film The Spy Who Dumped Me, marks another step forward in claiming a leading lady role. Here, she plays second fiddle to only one star: Mila Kunis. Though funny in her own right- witness the Bad Moms flicks- Kunis is basically the straight woman to McKinnon's loopy sidekick in the film.
I'm also a huge fan of Kunis from way back, having first discovered her in her role as Jackie on the TV sitcom That 70's Show. I've had a bit of a thing for her ever since, being as how we're around the same age. In weird way, I feel like we've grown up together, and it's been interesting to see her transition from TV to a leading lady in film.
As with McKinnon, there have certainly been some bumps along the way. Her first major movie roles were in admittedly forgettable flicks like the teen comedy Get Over It, the iffy horror sequel American Psycho 2 and the thriller Boot Camp.
Her first big step in the right direction came with the Judd Apatow-produced comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which showed that comedy was clearly the right lane for her overall, a fact solidified with raucous turns in Date Night and Ted.
While her stabs at more serious dramatic films like the sci-fi/fantasy efforts Max Payne, The Book of Eli, Oz The Great and Powerful and Jupiter Ascending have admittedly ended in iffy results, comedy has remained her greatest strength as a performer and the one genre she has almost always landed on solid ground within.
That said, I was a little hesitant to watch this film, somewhat dreading the results, and not exactly encouraged by what I'd heard from critics. But you know what? It's actually not so bad. Sometimes the critics get things wrong. No surprise there. (He said, as a critic himself.)
The Spy Who Dumped Me revolves around Audrey (Kunis), who finds herself dumped, via text message, by her boyfriend, right before her birthday. Her best friend Morgan (McKinnon) convinces her to burn all of his stuff and move on with her life, but when she gives him a heads up, he begs her to hold off until he gets there.
Unbeknownst to Audrey, her ex, Drew Thayer (Justin Theroux, The Leftovers), is, in fact, an undercover spy, and he has left something important hidden in a trophy at their place. Soon after, Audrey is grabbed by a man who claims to be C.I.A. and he tells her about her ex's double life, but she lies and says she hasn't heard from him.
When Drew finally arrives back at their place, a shoot-out ensues, and he confirms what the C.I.A. told her and begs her to deliver the trophy to a certain contact in Vienna if he doesn't make it. Sure enough, Drew is shot and, with an assist from Morgan, Audrey goes on the run, opting to honor Drew's wishes and travel to Vienna to hand off the trophy to his contact.
Perhaps needless to say, things go sideways at nearly every turn, as the girls find danger around every corner as they end up globetrotting around Europe to evade the many people after her, none of which they know if they can trust. As is typical with most spy thrillers, there are a lot of double-crossings and twists along the way.
Also joining in on the fun is a solid supporting cast that includes Sam Heughan (Outlander) as Sebastian, who claims to be a C.I.A agent on their side- but is he really who he says he is?
There's also a game Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) as Wendy, Sebastian's boss; Hasan Minhaj (The Daily Show) as Sebastian's more by-the-numbers partner; and Ivanna Sakhno as the dastardly Nadejda, a trained assassin hunting down the girls.
Also cropping up are McKinnon's fellow SNL vet Jane Curtin as her mom and Paul Reiser (Stranger Things) as her dad, plus a surprise appearance by "Edward Snowden," lol. (Obviously, not really him, but it's a funny bit nonetheless.)
The end result isn't too far removed from Paul Feig's Spy, but a better movie overall than that, IMHO, though I didn't hate that movie, either. Interestingly, it was directed by a woman, Susanna Fogel, with whom McKinnon worked previously on the indie film Life Partners.
Fogel shows herself even more adept at combining action and comedy than Feig, as this film contains some admittedly entertaining action set-pieces that are a lot of fun, even more so than either Spy or Ghostbusters.
The problem with those films is that often the comedic aspects of them ground to a halt when the action took over, while Fogel manages to combine the two in a way that keeps the laughs coming even as the action aspects of the film are happening. This is not the easiest thing in the world to do- just ask Feig- but Fogel pulls it off nicely.
A big help is the inherent chemistry of its stars, who are well-matched here. Both are legitimately funny in their own right, yet their approaches are quite different- meaning that, even if McKinnon's broad farcical approach doesn't work for you, Kunis' much-put-upon straight woman role might just do the trick. The oft-amusing supporting cast doesn't hurt, either.
I mean, is there room for improvement here? Sure. But you could say that about a lot of movies. All I know is that I was reasonably entertained by it, even at the slightly too long near 2 hours running time. While critics may have bashed it, and it didn't exactly light the box office on fire, I really enjoyed it on the whole.
Apparently, I wasn't completely alone, as the film also took home the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, with Kunis also getting a nod for Comedic Actress for the film, so apparently audiences enjoyed the film, even if critics didn't as much. Wouldn't be the first time that happened.
As hit-or-miss as the two leading ladies can be on the big screen in the past, I do look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves next. McKinnon has a role in an upcoming project by acclaimed director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire), alongside Lily James and... Ed Sheeran? Ok. Should be interesting.
McKinnon will also be in the next project by Jay Roach (Game Change, Recount), Fair and Balanced, a drama about FOX News, about the scandals involving Roger Ailes, featuring a first-rate cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Connie Britton and John Lithgow, among others. It will be interesting to see how McKinnon fares in more serious dramatic waters.
Meanwhile, Kunis has a voice-over role in the upcoming animated film Wonder Park and continues her ongoing role as Meg on TV's long-running Family Guy. She doesn't have any other upcoming credits listed, but as she divides her time between being a mom to two kids and Hollywood, that may be by design. Whatever the case, I look forward to seeing what she gets up to next.
The Spy Who Dumped Me isn't perfect, but it's nothing if not watchable, and if you like either or both of the stars, you should like it just fine. I laughed quite a bit, and even when certain jokes didn't land, I was still pretty entertained overall.
The action is solid, and it was a lot of fun seeing McKinnon interact with her real-life idol Anderson, who she famously dressed as for Halloween (as Dana Scully) once upon a time.
Factor in a fun turn by Curtin and Reiser as McKinnon's parents, and just enough twists to keep you guessing and you have a pretty enjoyable film, IMHO.
I say, screw the critics- give this one a shot. It may not be Oscar material, but then again, it's not trying to be. It's just trying to show viewers a good time, and I had one, so there you go.
Check it out!
As you guys/gals may have noticed, I've been off my regular schedule for some time now, and there's a reason for that- it's shifted IRL, so, by extension, it needs to shift here. That means no more Monster Monday, Wayback Wednesday or Flashback Friday- but only in name.
Instead, the days that work best for me now are Tuesdays, Thursdays and either Saturday or Sundays. As much as I hate losing the fun alliteration, circumstance breeds change and I have to do what I have to do- it's either that or not do it at all.
I'll do my best to come up with cute names for everything moving forward- obviously Throwback Tuesday or Thursday is a given, but I'll have to think on the rest. Until then, just know that I haven't abandoned my posts, just shifted them to another day of the week. I'll still be doing old-school horror, sci-fi and cult movie reviews, along with the occasional new review, as per usual.
In the short term, however, I have been watching as much Oscar bait-y stuff as I can, as well as playing catch-up with the stuff I missed over the course of 2018. For the stuff unlikely to make my best of the year lists, I've been doing new reviews- the rest I'll tackle as they come up on my various impending lists.
I know, I know. By now, a lot of you have been all listed out. But I've always felt like, for those of us who don't have access to free movie passes or movie premieres and the like, it's easier said than done getting to see every movie that comes out to theaters. Hell, some of them don't even make it to a theater near me, as the saying goes.
Back when I was in University, I had a job at the college newspaper reviewing movies, where they basically paid for themselves, along with gas fare and concession money. Pretty sweet gig. I no longer have that job, and with it gone, I have to choose my movies wisely.
As such, a lot goes by the wayside, so I'm still playing catch-up. I hope to have the last of the biggies- read: big-ticket award nominees- watched and cataloged for my big list in February. I'm about halfway home at this point, so I'm making good time.
In the meantime, like I said, I'll be reviewing the stuff not likely to make the list, and perhaps the occasional oldie when I have time. Also be on the lookout for my best music and TV of 2018 lists as well, sooner than later.
Thanks for your understanding in advance, and by all means, be sure and drop me a line either here or on social media to let me know what you think I should cover next, including what my next franchise review should be!
Thanks for reading, and look for a new review soon! 😎
Full disclosure: I'm a huge fan of dark rides/ fun-houses/scare-houses, so I tend to enjoy movies that revolve or prominently feature any of the above, particularly of the horror variety, which would also, by design, include movies set in amusement parks, carnivals, and even, to a certain extent, circuses- though I have to take a hard pass on musicals more often than not, so no The Greatest Showman for me, thanks.
Think instead of movies like Freaks, Carnival of Souls, Circus of Horrors, Psycho-Circus, Berserk, Night Screams, Carny, The Funhouse, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and, of course, the immortal The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, among others.
Hell Fest features literally all of the main things I mentioned at the top of the article, which is to say, it has a dark ride, a fun-house, and a scare-house, plus several mazes for good measure. As you might have guessed, it's set at one of those Halloween Horror Nights-type parks, like the ones they do at Universal Studios in L.A. and Orlando every year around October.
In this case, like many TV shows and films as of late, it was shot in Georgia- specifically in Atlanta, giving the production crew access to the Six Flags amusement park, including leftover decorations from their annual Fright Fest, as well as some of the characters and creatures from the near-by Netherworld haunted house, so if some of the stuff you see looks familiar to you, that's probably why.
In addition, in a neat tie-in, several of the Six Flags parks featured a walk-through haunted house attraction inspired by the film, including in their locations in LA, St. Louis and Chicago. I didn't have the pleasure of getting to go to any of them, but I have been to both Six Flags Fright Fest and Netherworld in Georgia, so it was a kick seeing some things I'd seen IRL in a movie.
All of that said, though I basically enjoyed the film, it was essentially just a throwback slasher movie inspired in large part by the Golden Age of Slashers back in the early 80's. This is to say, all the tropes of the sub-genre are in full effect here: a group of disposable young people clueless about what's going on in plain sight all around them until it's too late, a masked killer using whatever he finds in his immediate surroundings to take people out, a variety of gory deaths, lots of fake-outs and jump-scares and a spooky location tied-in to a holiday, in this case, Halloween.
On the plus side, because it takes place in a horror-themed amusement park, it can sometimes be tricky figuring out who the killer is, as he is dressed in a similar fashion as others in the park- which is, of course, the point. We see, at one point, evidence that he's done this sort of thing elsewhere, donning alternate appropriate costumes for his other venues as required.
What's more, because people are being terrorized in general all around our main group, it's both hard to tell when it's "real" or just people doing their jobs. As such, it's hard for the main characters to convince the management that something is going on when they inevitably seek out help after some of the group goes missing.
The plot, such as it is, is simplicity itself, in honored slasher movie tradition. You've got a group of college-age young adults who gather together to attend the titular Hell Fest, a traveling theme park that is in their area for a few days.
In the opening scenes, we see a girl in Cincinnati gets killed and hung up within one of the walk-through haunted houses in plain sight, which goes completely unnoticed at first because people think it's just part of the attraction.
Word of this gets around, of course, and one of the characters mentions it after the group has entered the park, but everyone sort of laughs it off as an urban legend-type thing. Of course, as we saw in the opening, it's not.
The killer, known as "The Other" in the credits, and played by professional stuntman Stephen Conroy (The Walking Dead), is never seen, except from behind in a few brief moments, as he enters the park. No sooner does he enter than he dons a mask, and we soon see that other people in the park have the exact same outfit.
At first, the group dismisses the guy as someone a little too into their job, as he skulks around, stalking some of them, but once he starts directly interacting with them, they change their tune and worry that he might be dangerous.
Sure enough, he later on starts taking out members of the group one by one, as well as a few others within the park, once again, in plain sight of most everyone more often than not, with many thinking it's just an act meant to scare them.
This goes on until the inevitable conclusion, as the last ones standing do their best to stay alive, as the killer closes in on them. Will any of them survive? Will "The Other" live to kill another day?
I'll leave it to you to find out for yourself, but rest assured, it plays out just about how one would expect, if you've seen your fair share of this sort of movie, down to leaving the door open for a potential sequel, but of course.
It's too bad, as there was an opportunity here to have thrown viewers for a loop that the film toys with but never quite commits to, unfortunately. For instance, the first person of the main group to get killed isn't necessarily who one might suspect would go first, and it looks like, for a hot minute that the second one is even more of a shock, before it turns out to be a fake-out.
Had the film followed its instinct to keep audiences guessing to that end, killing the last ones we'd expect, it might have offered up at least a few surprises, but after that first kill, things basically go the way you think they will, more or less, and one of the people you think will be the last one standing is indeed the patented Final Girl, so no shocker there.
Likewise, as I mentioned, after the killer is "killed" by said Final Girl, when the authorities go to retrieve his body, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that, he's not there anymore.
About the only thing that passes for a surprise is the ending, in which we get a sense of who the killer is IRL, which is to say, who he is as a human being under normal circumstances, at least to a certain extent.
I don't think it's really giving anything away to say that he just seems like a regular guy, as opposed to a lone wolf nut-job whose living conditions resemble something off the set of Seven. (Or, if you prefer, Se7en.)
While most horror movies tend to go the latter route, in this one, the killer comes off more as the guy next door who just happens to be a serial killer, not some weirdo loner living in squalor. Perhaps if they do another one, they could mine something unique from that approach, but as it stands, it's just a sort of tossed-in thing at the end.
The cast is made up mostly of unknowns, though Tony "Candyman" Todd does put in a brief appearance as a carnival barker type. Although vocally, his voice appears throughout the film, as the one doing the whole voice-over thing at the park. In other words, he's the one saying things like "Welcome to Hell Fest" and, on the dark ride: "Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times" and the like.
Beyond that, I did recognize Bex Taylor-Klaus, from MTV's adaptation of Scream and the CW's Arrow, as Taylor, the most annoying of the female contingent- and you know what that gets you in a horror movie. I do like her under normal circumstances, but her character leaves something to be desired here, unfortunately.
Other potential victims include: Amy Forsyth (The Path, Channel Zero: No-End House, which also featured a scare-house) as Natalie, the patented "good girl"; the cooly-named Reign Edwards (MacGyver, Snowfall) as Brooke, Natalie's feisty bestie; Christian James (Freefall) as Quinn, Brooke's BF; Matt Mecurio (The Resident, Black Lightning) as Taylor's BF; and Roby Atall (The Long Road Home) as Gavin, the guy Brooke tries to set Natalie up with.
I will say that, Taylor notwithstanding, the characters are reasonably likable for this sort of thing, though we don't get to know much about them beyond Natalie being on fall break from college and in town visiting Brooke, with whom she's lost touch a bit since moving.
The two went to high school with Taylor, so those three go back a ways, but we don't get much about the guys at all. So, basically, they're just placeholders of death across the board, save Natalie, who we have an idea might survive the night because of her "good girl" status.
The writing then, is nothing spectacular, and pretty by the numbers. Remarkably, it took three people to write this thing, and two more to concoct the story in the first place, which is pretty crazy, as we're not exactly dealing with, say, a superhero movie or whatever.
One of the writers is Blair Butler, who some of you might remember from G4's Attack of the Show, while Seth M. Sherwood wrote the Leatherface movie and Akela Cooper has written for American Horror Story, Grimm and Luke Cage.
The director is Gregory Plotkin, who edited Happy Death Day and Get Out and previously directed Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, a series in which he also edited many of the films (2-4 and The Marked Ones).
His work here is perfectly fine, aided and abetted to great effect by cinematographer José David Montero (What Happened to Monday?) and the colorful set design.
The film was produced by the legendary Gale Anne Hurd, best-known for her work with director James Cameron, notably The Terminator (and the first two sequels), Aliens and The Abyss, as well as for producing The Walking Dead and Lore. TWD's resident composer Bear McCreary does the honors on the score as well.
Finally, the film's admittedly creepy mask that the killer wears was designed by Tony Gardner's Alterian, Inc., which some of you may be familiar with as being the same company behind the famed "Ghostface" mask for Scream and the "Babyface" killer mask for Happy Death Day. The mask here is pitched somewhere in between Leatherface and The Wicker Man.
All in all, I'd have to say that Hell Fest is an acceptable enough slasher movie that is a decent time-waster, but not much else. If, like me, you enjoy a good horror flick set in a carnival-type setting with lots of footage of haunted houses, fun-houses and dark rides, then you'll probably enjoy it for the visuals, if nothing else.
But, TBH, it doesn't really add much to the sub-genre beyond the unique setting, and even that I've seen done better in The Funhouse, though I suppose it is a step up from the movie Dark Ride, at least. The fact that the cast is reasonably likable is something to celebrate as well, I suppose.
But beyond that, it's pretty predictable, I'm sad to say. There are some solid kills, and the film did do reasonably well at the box office, grossing over $17 million on a $5.5 million budget, which isn't too bad of a return investment.
Also, the director mentioned some ideas for a sequel that would explore more of Tony Todd's character, as well as the killer's motivations, so that could be interesting. But going by this film alone, it just didn't really bring anything new to the table, beyond the setting itself.
Though it makes good use of its surroundings, the events that transpire are just too predictable to elicit any rave reviews from yours truly, as much as I enjoy a good, silly 80's-style slasher. But why mess with a by-the-numbers new one when you can just re-watch one of the classics?
I suppose Hell Fest does just enough to justify its existence, but if it is lucky enough to score a sequel- which I would admittedly still watch- it's going to have to step things up considerably for the second entry to make it worth my time- or anyone else's, for that matter.
If any of this sounds appealing to you, I suppose the film is worth at least a one-time watch. Just know that there aren't any real surprises here, unfortunately. 😒
Truth or Dare, anyone?
Well, we've had any number of movies about scary board games (Ouija, Jumanji, Zathura), so I suppose a horror movie about parlor games was inevitable. What's next? Spin the Bottle of Poison? Seven Minutes in Hell? Two Truths and a Die? (Alright, Mark, stop it- don't want to give these people ideas...)
I guess if you think about it, making a game of Truth or Dare into a horror movie isn't so far-fetched. After all, depending on what you have to hide, or what lengths you're willing to go to to hide it, it can be a pretty scary game.
Of course, it's not as if you really have to tell the truth about anything or do absolutely anything you're dared to, but for whatever reason, kids and teens have been doing exactly that since time out of mind- according to Wikipedia, the game has been around since at least 1712!
But what if you really did have to, or suffer some decidedly dire consequences- like death? Such is the premise of this film, aka Blumhouse's Truth or Dare? - which is kind of a bizarre title, if you think about it. It makes it sound like the production company themselves are daring you to go see the film, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Blumhouse all but dares you to see this cobbled together excuse for a horror movie, assembled from the parts of much better other movies!
Of course, that isn't far from the truth, is it? Take a little bit of Ouija (or, if you prefer, Witchboard), a dash of It Follows (as in the game "follows" them back home after they play it and there are "rules" to it), toss in a decent helping of Scream (as tends to be the case with most teen/YA-driven horror since that film came out) and an ending that owes more than a little to The Ring and you basically have this movie, a Frankenstein-style assemblage of post-modern horror tropes with little beyond the general premise to set it apart from dozens of other such films that came before it.
I mean, don't get me wrong- it's certainly watchable. Some of the characters are admirably likable, unlike a lot of what passes for horror these days- hell, leading lady Olivia, played by the adorable Lucy Hale, of Pretty Little Liars fame kicks off the film preaching about how she plans to spend her school break doing the Habitat for Humanity thing, and how her viewers should too, wink wink. (This, of course, being said in a vlog online, because, you know, modern times.)
Of course, she ultimately should have practiced what she preaches, as she lets her friends talk her into postponing it for a week or so in favor of a wild trip to Mexico, in exchange for which her friends will all join her on her more worthy excursion to help the helpless afterwards. She begrudgingly agrees and off they go to the somewhat random locale of Rosarito, Mexico.
The crew includes Olivia's longtime bestie, Markie (Violett Beane, The Flash, God Friended Me), who is still reeling from the completely unexpected suicide of her father; Markie's BF, Lucas (Tyler Posey, MTV's Teen Wolf), who Olivia has a crush on, unbeknownst to her friend; the in-the-closet Brad (Hayden Szeto, The Edge of Seventeen), who fears telling his stern cop father of his secret; Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk, Glee, Awkward), who lime-lights as the campus drug dealer on the sly; and Tyson's GF, Penelope (Sophia Taylor Ali, Faking It, Grey's Anatomy), who has a bit of a drinking problem.
Will all of these secrets rise to the surface over the course of the film? Have you seen one of these movies? Duh.
When they arrive, the partying quickly ensues, and Olivia finds herself cornered by the douchey Ronnie (Sam Lerner, The Goldbergs), a classmate who has the hots for her and won't take no for an answer, so we know what that means, eventually.
Intervening on her behalf is another fellow American, Carter (Landon Liboiron, Degrassi, Hemlock Grove), who later invites Olivia and her friends to a "secret" after-hours party spot, which turns out to be an ominous abandoned church on an isolated hill nearby.
Naturally, any sensible person would take a hard pass, but after all the goading from her friends to lighten up and have fun, Olivia insists on going, so they all do. Bad move.
Once there, the drinking continues, and Carter initiates a game of- but of course- Truth or Dare, which everyone agrees to, or we wouldn't have a movie. Little do they know the game is "cursed" by a demon known as Calax, a trickster known for being mischievous, devious... and deadly.
Eventually, the group bails and goes back home, where they presumably follow through on the whole Habitat for Humanity thing. Somewhat inexplicably, the game "waits" for them to settle back in, then resumes, taunting them in the same order in which they played it before.
If anyone refuses to play, they die. If they lie while playing "truth," they die. If they refuse to do a "dare," they die. And, because of the way a previous group played it, no one can say truth more than two times in a row, at which point the next player automatically has to do a "dare."
As one might imagine, the resumed game starts out fairly mildly. For instance, the a-hole Ronnie is dared to show his junk to a crowded bar. He almost does exactly that before an ex taunts him and he chickens out- then he promptly trips and falls and breaks his neck before the horrified crowd. Because, after all, he didn't do the "dare."
Things get progressively freakier, and both "truths" and "dares" get more revealing and dangerous, respectively. Once again, rather than being a continuous thing, with the game happening in rapid succession, as it would under normal circumstances, it instead happens at carefully-timed intervals, for maximum suspense, aka to allow for various plot contrivances, which is, needless to say, a bit of a cheat but whatever.
One of these "cheats" occurs as Olivia and Lucas go in search of a "survivor" of the game, as they travel to Tijuana and back without interruption by the game. Apparently, it's fine with them finding out a way to "defeat" it!
That said, the way to defeat it isn't a walk in the park and is easier said than done, yet once again, the game allows them to get all their ducks in a row before resuming again, albeit at admittedly crucial moments. Basically, the viewer is just expected to go along with all this or the movie wouldn't work. So, in the end, does it?
Well, yes and no. I couldn't help but being annoyed by all the plot contrivances. I get that there are a lot of movies, horror or otherwise, that just wouldn't work if characters didn't do dumb things- much less if the writers behind them didn't write dumb things for them to do. But sometimes, that sort of thing can be a hard pill to swallow and such is the case with this film.
That said, as I mentioned, the film is nothing if not watchable. I didn't dislike a lot of the characters, as can often be the case these days- with horror movies, in particular- so I actually cared about their fates for the most part.
Of course, you can pretty much predict the order in which most will die by virtue of how awful they are, so there's not a lot of surprise in that department, and the film doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions in terms of going fully dark, settling instead for a half-measure: the ending is bleak, but it doesn't quite go for the jugular. After all- you gotta leave room for the inevitable sequel.
As such, the end results are also sort of half-assed. There are some solid deaths and some of the set-ups and pay-offs are admirably dark and suspenseful, i.e. the drink-while-you-walk-on-the-edge-of-the-roof dare in one scene, and the not-so-fast-truth-that-becomes-a-dare (as in a character doesn't want to confess something, so they pick "dare" and the demon says: "I dare you to confess" that thing instead- psych!).
I also didn't find it particularly scary. Of course, I've seen about a zillion horror movies at this point, so your mileage may vary according to how much or less of a neophyte you are. Let's just say I found the film's patented "creepy" CGI-driven smiles more silly than scary, but some have said otherwise.
By the same token, the film went for the dreaded PG-13 rating, so even in its uncut form, which is the version I saw, it's still pretty mild for this sort of thing. Those looking for nudity and/or gory deaths will be sorely disappointed, even in the unrated version.
These may ostensibly be "teen" college students (played by actors exclusively in their 20's, of course), but there's not a whole lot of debauchery going on here that can't be found in any given teen TV show of your choice. In other words, not a lot of this will need to be cut to air on basic cable.
But despite it all, I didn't hate the film. It'll probably be a distant memory in a matter of weeks and I won't remember much of it at all in a month or two, but while I was watching it, I was reasonably entertained. That may sound like faint praise, and I suppose it is, but these days, even being watchable isn't a given in horror movies recently, so I'll take what I can get.
My advice would be to give it a go if you like the idea of the premise or any of the main stars. Hale is solid as a rock as a horror heroine, thanks to years of being terrorized on PLL, and, having seen the TV show God Friended Me, I couldn't help but think of Violett Beane starring in the alternate universe version of that show: Satan Friended Me, anyone? In a way, this is that TV show, only it's a silly horror movie instead. (Although, technically, it would be more like A Demon Friended Me, I suppose.)
Just don't expect too much, keep your expectations low, and be prepared to groan at some of the plot machinations, and you should be fine. It ain't exactly Shakespeare, or even Stephen King- hell, it isn't even Joe King (aka Joe Hill), for that matter.
Nope, it's just big dumb fun, like any number of tossed-off horror movies I could name that capitalized off of better, smarter horror movies from the past. Like the rest of Hollywood, horror movies are hardly above cannibalizing their past. Truth or Dare is certainly no exception.
Check it out... if you dare! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) 😁
