SyFy Channel’s ‘Truth or Dare’ is a cult classic in the making

For our final cult horror movie review this Halloween season, we take a look at the 2017 SyFy Channel movie “Truth or Dare” (not to be confused with the 2018 theatrical atrocity of the same name). In this film, a group of college students venture into an old cursed house to test if certain legends regarding a cursed spirit, who lost a deadly game of truth or dare in the house, exists. When the team decides to play the game themselves, however, it becomes a struggle to survive as they must force themselves to act upon a series of horrific challenges or risk death by the spirit.

Creative, well-paced and gut-wrenchingly intense, “Truth or Dare” may come as a surprise for those expecting the same level of quality associated with SyFy Channel original movies. For a premise that could have easily come off as laughable, the film does a great job at making the audience take it all seriously. This is thanks to the film constantly raising the stakes throughout, which helps make the danger presented here feel uncomfortably believable.

With that said, this is not, I repeat not, a movie for the squeamish. This TV movie gets away with some pretty heavy content that even a number of big budgeted R rated theatrical releases don’t dare. Even those used to gory movies may be urged to turn away at a few moments. This level of extreme violence, however, does help in giving the film its harrowing tone and make intensity of what’s at stakes feel apparent.

The characters are also a noteworthy highlight. Cassie Scerbo (best known for her role as Nova from the “Sharknado” series), leads this cast as Alex, and exceeds with her typical charisma and energy that demands attention. The rest of the cast all succeed at feeling believable in both personality and their decisions, a rare thing to see in a horror film cast featuring teens or children.

This leads on to another great aspect of the film, which is its high level of creativity with its premise. The movie is paced perfectly so that we can get a sense of the threat at hand and how the characters have to fight it. Without giving away much, the way they must get rid of the curse is beyond riveting to see. It allows for a lot of tension to be built between the characters and the spirit in seeing who will come out on top. The very end remains open, giving the possibility to a follow up, which would actually be a welcome idea.

As for flaws, the film’s overall presentation isn’t anything special. It goes for an intense, grungy look at times à la “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” during the final act that mostly works despite feeling largely artificial, there isn’t much in terms of cinematography, editing, sound design or music that stands out here. Not that anything was done badly and it is understandable to a degree given the likely smaller budget the movie had to work with, but seeing some more effort put into its style could have gone a long way.

“Truth or Dare” is a hard-hitting, fierce film that contains all the elements to make an entertaining horror romp. It knows what it is, but never does it feel the need to be lazy and just make pure schlock. This is prime material for a Halloween movie night with friends who like to get involved in horror movie victims decisions, so don’t miss out on helping make this one a new cult classic.