Instead of building homes for Habitat, Olivia (Hale) is convinced by her best pal Markie (Beane) to go to Mexico for spring break with Markie's boyfriend Lucas (Posey) and their friends Brad, Penelope and Tyson (Szeto, Ali and Funk). Amid a montage of bars and beaches, Olivia meets the charming Carter (Liboiron), who invites them to a creepy abandoned church to play truth or dare. But after one round, the game gets into their heads, and they realise that violating any of the rules will mean sudden death.

The story structure comes straight from the Final Destination movies, as teens battle fate itself to survive. This variation is much more obvious, as super-smiley hallucinations force these young people to either confess a painful truth or do something ghastly. The screenwriters sketch in the characters in the most basic ways imaginable, as each has a simplistic back-story plus a romantic issue that feeds into whatever it is that pushes the game forward. But they duck away from anything interesting.

There isn't much a more experienced cast could do with this dialog, but these bright young actors give it their best, oozing charm and energy while pretending to take all of this seriously. Aside from the red herrings, there's very little real life humour to be found, which makes the shallow emotional beats ring especially hollow. It also means that, even within this reality, nothing feels remotely authentic. So we aren't terribly bothered when they begin to die.

All of that could have been overcome if director Wadlow had worked a little harder to entertain the audience. Instead he falls back on the usual cliches, mustering unsettling noises but nothing actually frightening. And it's impossible to sympathise with teens whose actions never reflect the fact that their friends are dying. Not to mention the the misplaced crushes, daddy issues, sexuality, parental expectations or addictions that are hinted at but never dealt with. And as the plot unravels in the final act, there's simply nothing left to hold the interest.

themes, language, violence

12.Apr.18