#104 | Truth Or Dare 2: Double Dare

**Listen to our Truth or Dare episode on:**

What if a classic high school party game… turned deadly? If the premise behind Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The movie shamelessly nabs plot elements from Final Destination, It Follows and countless other horror movies that came before it, as a motley crew of one-dimensional teens accidentally unleash a murderous demon while on a Spring Break bender in Mexico.

So, it probably says a lot for the quality of our current mini-season that Truth or Dare is also easily the most enjoyable of the films based on games that we’ve watched to date. Yes the story is predictable, the acting ranges from bland to wooden and the scares aren’t all that scary. But it’s also short, relatively well paced and agreeably dumb, with some bona fide chuckles to be had at the increasingly ludicrous plot mechanics and deathly dares that mostly stay just on the right side of mean spirited.

The film was predictably – and deservedly – mauled by critics, but audiences still turned out to the tune of around $95 million at the global box office, making a franchise extension seem all but inevitable. In this week’s episode, we argue that the best way to keep this series interesting would be to lean into the seemingly toxic friendship that forms the heart of the original movie. Seriously, they’re far from classic characters, but the way alleged besties for life Markie (Violett Beane) and Olivia (Lucy Hale) consistently lie to, undermine and manipulate each other definitely has potential for further dark comedy.

You can check out this week’s Truth or Dare episode right now on all good podcasting platforms – just follow the link at the top of this blog post, or search for Beyond The Box Set on your preferred podcatcher. If you like the show, please rate, review and recommend to all your friends, and hit subscribe for a new episode every Friday morning.

You can also become a VIP listener on Patreon, where we offer a wide range of bonus incentives including access to our bonus movie review show Beyond BTBS, a regular 30 second ad slot on the main show and the opportunity for you to choose a movie for us to cover on a future episode.

Next week, we’ll be concluding this ill-fated mini series with an episode dedicated to… a genuinely great movie? Sweet Lord, finally! Until then, happy listening, and always, always choose Truth…