Truth or Dare (2018)

Truth or Dare is a 2018 American supernatural horror film directed by Jeff Wadlow and written by Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach, and Wadlow. It stars Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane, Hayden Szeto, and Landon Liboiron, and follows a group of college students who play a game of truth or dare while on vacation in Mexico, only to realize it has deadly consequences if they don't follow through on their tasks.

Plot
Olivia Barron, her best friend Markie Cameron, Markie’s boyfriend Lucas Moreno, along with Penelope Amari and her boyfriend Tyson Curran, and Brad Chang go on a trip to Rosarito, Mexico. In Mexico, Olivia runs into fellow student Ronnie who proceeds to harass her until a man intervenes on her behalf. The man introduces himself as Carter and eventually convinces her and her friends to join him for drinks at the ruins of a mansion. There, Carter initiates a game of Truth or Dare with Olivia and her friends, plus Ronnie, who followed the group. Eventually, the game ends when Carter reveals that he deceived Olivia as a means of tricking her and her friends to the mission to offer them in his place in the supernatural game of Truth or Dare. As Carter leaves, he explains to Olivia that the game will follow them and they must not refuse it.

At a local college bar, sometime after everyone returned from Mexico, Ronnie dies when he fails to complete a dare. Olivia, having become convinced that Carter was telling the truth, gathers her friends and attempts to convince them that the game is real. The game, playing in accordance to the order the group played in Mexico, turns to Markie, having already appeared to Olivia and Lucas, and she is forced to break Olivia's hand. At the hospital, Brad is then forced by the game into revealing to his father, Officer Han Chang, his homosexuality.

The next day, the skeptical Tyson lies when forced to tell a truth and, as a result, dies. Later that night, it's Penelope's turn to play the game. She tries to pick truth but is forced by the game to do a dare. Penelope is dared to drink and finish a full bottle of vodka whilst walking along the edge of the roof of her house. She eventually falls from the roof after finishing the bottle, but is saved by Brad, Markie, and Olivia. The group manage to come into contact with a woman named Giselle, who is also a participant in a separate incarnation of the game, and the group go to meet her.

Giselle reveals that she and her friends played the game and her friend Sam, the only other survivor of her incarnation of the game, was responsible for the game becoming reality in the first place, having wrecked the ruins of the mission. Giselle reveals that a truth can only be chosen twice before the next player is forced to choose dare. Giselle draws a handgun on Olivia and shoots, confessing that she was dared to kill her. However, Penelope jumps in front of Olivia and is shot and killed. Failing to kill Olivia, Giselle fails her dare, causing her to be possessed and shoot herself in the head.

Olivia and Lucas drive to Tijuana and meet with a mute woman and former nun who operated out of the church in which they originally played the game. The woman informs them that they are dealing with a demon she first summoned, who possessed the game of Truth or Dare and can only be stopped if the last person who evoked it sacrifices their tongue into an urn and seals it with wax after an incantation is made in the church.

Later, following Olivia, Lucas, and Markie’s turns in the game, Brad is dared to withdraw his father's gun and make him beg for his life. However, in the act, Brad is shot and killed by an approaching officer. At the precinct, Olivia learns that Carter is Sam Meehan.

Olivia, Markie, and Lucas find Sam and force him at gunpoint back to the ruins of the church in Mexico. There, Sam begins the ritual and is about to sever his tongue when it becomes Lucas' turn to play the game. Lucas is dared to kill either Olivia or Markie, which he refuses. Possessed by the demon controlling the game, Lucas is forced to kill Sam before the latter can complete the ritual to end the game. He then proceeds to slit his throat and die.

Olivia forces the demon to reveal to her whether or not there was a definitive way to end the game with Markie and herself alive. The demon reveals that now that Sam is dead, there is not - but they can draw more people into the game and prolong their turn in it. Olivia hastily records and uploads a video to YouTube, warning of the game and its rules, before challenging the viewer of the video to Truth or Dare, initiating them, effectively involving millions of new Truth or Dare players therefore postponing her and Markie's involvement in the game for a very long time and saving their lives for the time being.

Cast

 * Lucy Hale as Olivia Barron
 * Tyler Posey as Lucas Moreno
 * Violett Beane as Markie Cameron
 * Hayden Szeto as Brad Chang
 * Landon Liboiron as Carter / Sam Meehan
 * Nolan Gerard Funk as Tyson Curran
 * Sophia Taylor Ali as Penelope Amari
 * Sam Lerner as Ronnie
 * Aurora Perrineau as Giselle Hammond
 * Tom Choi as Officer Han Chang
 * Joe Ochman as the voice of Callux
 * Vera Taylor as Inez Reyes
 * Ezmie Garcia as Young Inez
 * Andrew Howard as Randall Himoff

Production
Initially, director Jeff Wadlow explained that he was hired to direct the film after spitballing an opening scene based on the title of the movie in his initial meetings with Blumhouse. Subsequently, he joined with his friend Chris Roach, and his wife, Jill Jacobs, and started thinking of ideas to approach the final concept.