My friend Robin and I have interesting film choices. We often have movie nights with films that no one has heard of or quirky film choices. I strong choice of ours is small budget horror films with plenty of gore in it. After watching the infamous Serbian Film I have been on the hunt for more.
Strolling youtube trailers I came across Truth or Die, which, it would seem is a horror film based around the popular party game. Being a horror movie it needs to be full of skimpy girls and a gory tale with a twist at the end (admit it, all good horror films need a twist, especially the British ones).
At first I expected the film to be rubbish, slow and boring. But was taken aback by the stylized used of the camera. Slow motion and speed up moments to match with the mood of drinking on a night out of partying. This would have been more believable though if the students didn't go from drunk to sober in one sentence. The film then becomes boring the second the first game sets in, with the cliche hint of "revenge" being the sole plot device of the film.
One thing I find hard to get around is the idea that the game being used is Truth or Dare in the form of spin the bottle to select victims. The last time I played this game I was 16 maybe 17. The game in the film is being played by a group of people who are supposed to be around the same age but who actually look like they are in their late 20s. I thought this was a cliche of American films but was shocked that the same thing happened with a British film. They need to take a note out of The Tormented which cast those in their early twenties as GCSE students. That was almost believable.
But the film soon disappointed me with taking nearly forever to get the rest of the plot going. But the typical horror movie rules were broken as usual because people in these films are just the stupidest on the planet. After years of being a horror film nut I find the people in these films more annoying at times than those off TOWIE, and these guys were no exception. Who the hell goes to the party of some guy they haven't seen in months who they met only ONCE and to the middle of nowhere for that matter?? Then doesn't question the motives when they are the only ones to turn up and the birthday boy is nowhere to be seen? Oh wait there's free booze from a guy who is slightly attractive. That must make it okay then. The game itself is boring and slow but the twist in the end somewhat near end is enough to satisfy me after waiting around for some excitement. At first the twist in the film was a surprise to me but after seeing the evidence and re-watching the events that happened earlier on in the film I was surprised I hadn't pieced it together in the first place.
All in all, a film that was different but still a cliche horror film. Slightly more twisted for being a British film but centred around a childhood game, even better. Overall a good watch but still slightly disappointing in my books.
