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REVIEW: Don’t Dismiss Syfy’s ‘Truth or Dare’

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A party game gets nasty when a supernatural force takes its turn in the effective and partly unsettling Truth or Dare which will air on Syfy, yes Syfy on October 8.

Don’t be quick to dismiss this little film because of the venue, there’s plenty to like in its just under 90-minute runtime.

At first you’ll notice some character tropes being pursued but are never fleshed-out, filmmakers seemingly know you have met these characters before so why bother?

But this is a good thing because the movie wastes no time in getting to the good stuff.

Here’s the setup: A group of eight college students rent a house rumored to be haunted. The token soothsayer tells the group they are there to see if things “really go bump in the night” because the ghost that haunts the house was the loser of an evil game of truth or dare in the late 80’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoP0QokQNH0​

Drinking alcohol from red Solo cups and gathered in the parlor, the group decides to repeat history and play the game on their own. Because how cool would that be?

At first, girls are dared to kiss, which they do, but things turn frighteningly awkward when one of the questions reveals a secret. The player initially lies which sets off a phantom text to everyone’s cellphone calling her out.

Distraught they look through the rest of cards, now written with an incorporeal hand to discover dares asking them to do violent things to themselves or each other, or face the consequences.

“Do the dare or the dare does you” it reads.

That is immediately put into play when one unlucky friend is tasked to put his hands on a red-hot stovetop.

He ignores it, but supernatural forces create circumstances in which he lands palm-first on the active surface element, causing his hand to peel away like taffy.

Another card asks that one of the girls then eat the burnt flesh left behind on the stove. Repulsed the girl refuses but the house eventually gets its way by shutting them in and blocking their cellphone signals. Even windows are impervious to their attempts at breaking out.

Everyone gets a turn, each request more dangerous, an added time limit gets things claustrophobic.

There aren’t just dares to do, truths are also a part of the game, with a disclaimer: “you lie you die”

A player learns this the hard way, the sacrifice finally allows the group outside the house, but the game isn’t over yet.

Truth or Dare is fun as soon as it reels you in and that’s pretty much from the get-go. I appreciated the brevity in some of the character development, the actors doing fine without a complicated backstory.

The accidents aren’t as serendipitous as in Final Destination, but some get really brutal as the movie goes on.

Original Nightmare on Elm Street alumna Heather Langenkamp makes an appearance, this time it is she who is facially scarred. Her purpose is to give exposition on what needs to happen to beat the ghost at its own game.

Her cameo left me yearning to see this understated actress in other projects.

Bloody, cringeworthy and fast-paced and body parts as collateral, the final 30-minutes of Truth or Dare is not for the squeamish. Director Nick Simon knows how to trigger viewers to watch with their eyes-through-their-fingers, and let’s just say novices to the genre are going to have a rough time in the final bloody reel.

Double-dipping into past genre storylines with characters to spare, Truth or Dare still satisfies thanks to good acting, piano wire tension and the conscious desire to find out how it all ends.

No spoilers here, but the finale is unusually intelligent for this type of genre, leaving open the wonderful possibility of a sequel or hopefully a successful franchise.

Truth or Dare is set to premiere on SyFy, October 8th 9 pm/8 pm central.

Truth or Dare stars  Cassandra ScerboBrytni SarpyMason Dye, Harvey Guillen, Alexxis Lemire, Luke Baines, Ricardo Hoyos, Christina Masterson and Heather Langenkamp.

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New Windswept Action Trailer for ‘Twisters’ Will Blow You Away

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The summer movie blockbuster game came in soft with The Fall Guy, but the new trailer for Twisters is bringing back the magic with an intense trailer full of action and suspense. Steven Spielberg’s production company, Amblin, is behind this newest disaster film just like its 1996 predecessor.

This time Daisy Edgar-Jones plays the female lead named Kate Cooper, “a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better. As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.”

Twisters cast includes Nope’s Brandon Perea, Sasha Lane (American Honey), Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders), Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Nik Dodani (Atypical) and Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney (Beautiful Boy).

Twisters is directed by Lee Isaac Chung and hits theaters on July 19.

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Travis Kelce Joins Cast on Ryan Murphy’s ‘Grotesquerie’

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travis-kelce-grotesquerie

Football star Travis Kelce is going Hollywood. At least that is what Dahmer Emmy award-winning star Niecy Nash-Betts announced on her Instagram page yesterday. She posted a video of herself on set of the new Ryan Murphy FX series Grotesquerie.

“This is what happens when WINNERS link up‼️ @killatrav Welcome to Grostequerie[sic]!” she wrote.

Standing just out of frame is Kelce who suddenly steps in to say, “Jumping into new territory with Niecy!” Nash-Betts appears to be in a hospital gown while Kelce is dressed as an orderly.

Not much is known about Grotesquerie, other than in literary terms it means a work filled with both science fiction and extreme horror elements. Think H.P. Lovecraft.

Back in February Murphy released an audio teaser for Grotesquerie on social media. In it, Nash-Betts says in part, “I don’t know when it started, I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s different now. There’s been a shift, like something’s opening up in the world — a kind of hole that descends into a nothingness…”

There hasn’t been an official synopsis released regarding Grotesquerie, but keep checking back to iHorror for further details.

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’47 Meters Down’ Getting Third Movie Called ‘The Wreck’

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Deadline is reporting that a new 47 Meters Down installment is heading into production, making the shark series a trilogy. 

“Series creator Johannes Roberts, and screenwriter Ernest Riera, who wrote the first two films, have co-written the third installment: 47 Meters Down: The Wreck.” Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) will direct.

The first two films were a moderate success, released in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The second film is titled 47 Meters Down: Uncaged

47 Meters Down

The plot for The Wreck is detailed by Deadline. They write that it involves a father and daughter trying to repair their relationship by spending time together scuba diving into a sunken ship, “But soon after their descent, their master diver has an accident leaving them alone and unprotected inside the labyrinth of the wreck. As tensions rise and oxygen dwindles, the pair must use their newfound bond to escape the wreck and the relentless barrage of bloodthirsty great white sharks.”

The filmmakers are hoping to present the pitch to the Cannes market with production starting in the fall. 

47 Meters Down: The Wreck is the perfect continuation of our shark-filled franchise,” said Byron Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “This film will once again have moviegoers terrified and on the edge of their seats.”

Johannes Roberts adds, “We can’t wait for audiences to be trapped underwater with us again. 47 Meters Down: The Wreck is going to be the biggest, most-intense film of this franchise.”

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