12 Terrible Movies That Blew Awesome Concepts
7. Truth Or Dare
The Pitch
What if Truth or Dare was more than a harmless game played by drunken high-schoolers - what if it was governed by a malevolent supernatural force, which kills anyone who either lies or fails to complete their dare?
On paper, it's certainly a neat, easily marketable concept for a fun, R-rated comedy-horror flick in the vein of Final Destination, where irritating teens are brutally killed off in imaginatively gnarly ways by an unseen, murderous entity.
What Went Wrong
So. Many. Things.
Granted, Blumhouse knew exactly what they were doing with Truth or Dare, constructing a stunningly tame PG-13 horror flick which would appeal to the adolescent crowd and pull in easy profits as a result. It ultimately grossed almost $100 million against a mere $3.5 million budget, so it certainly worked out.
Yet this film basically goes in the exact opposite direction that it should have - the tone takes itself way too seriously, there's no self-awareness regarding how irritating the characters are, the PG-13 rating ensures tame, choppy death scenes, and the CGI-assisted, Aphex Twin-style "smile" everyone wears before dying is more laughable than creepy.
The performances suck, the visuals have all the blandness of a forgettable CW teen drama show, and the ending is about as hilariously desperate as sequel-bait finales come.
It might harbour a certain so-bad-it's-good appeal for some, but given how easily this could've become a self-aware, R-rated horror franchise, pretty much every creative decision here feels like the wrong one.