THERE MAY BE A BOXED GAME that is similar but I have not seen one. I remember the first time I played Truth or Dare; it was during 7^thor 8^thgrade if I am not mistaken. A group of us were hanging out in the park near the school on a Saturday afternoon. There was a ride that was like a merry-go-round without the wooden horses, just a circle of individual handrails or banisters; to make it go you would have to spin it yourself. I do not remember who suggested the game, but I was not the only one who had never heard of it. The directions were rather simple; either accept to tell the truth, no matter what is asked of you, or take the dare and do whatever the person tells you to do. It is funny, I remember accepting the truth questions mostly because I did not want to hang upside down on the jungle gym for 2 minutes or be spun on the merry-go-round as fast as everyone could spin it; which I had already witnessed from the players before my turn. The idea of telling the truth was no big deal for me; I did not have any deep dark secrets to reveal.      FROM THAT VERY FIRST TIME I had no idea that the Truth or Dare game was a rite of passage for adolescents. No really, it along with the game Spin the Bottle were some of the first games that lent themselves to having a sexual overtone depending on the players. I remember how the game changed once all of us were in high school. At one point it became a triumph to the initiator of the game when they could include someone unfamiliar to the rules. I think it was to embarrass the innocent students for laughs. Someone unsuspecting could find themselves in a predicament if they were suddenly asked to kiss someone or perform some stupid stunt in front of everyone. Imagine the possibilities; I do not think one could ever run out of dare stunts. In writing this review I tried seeking out information about the history of this game, but there was nothing concrete I could find. One web page stated 53% of boys versus 42% of girls take the dare; in turn, injuries have increased which may be partially due to social media. If you want to see how dangerous playing the game could be then you might want to watch this horror thriller.      WHILE ON VACATION A GROUP of friends begin a game of Truth or Dare, where breaking the rules have a serious consequence. Starring Lucy Hale (Scream 4, Pretty Little Liars-TV) as Olivia Barron, Tyler Posey (Maid in Manhattan, Teen Wolf-TV) as Lucas Moreno, Violett Beane (The Flash-TV, The Leftovers-TV) as Markie Cameron, Sophia Ali (Grey’s Anatomy-TV, Everybody Wants Some!) as Penelope Amari and Nolan Gerard Funk (Roddick, Awkward-TV) as Tyson Curran; this story took no time in sinking down to an utter mess. I thought the acting was paltry and the script was basic and generic. There was little in the sense of horror except for the lethal dare results. Like any game I do not approve of changing the rules halfway into playing the game and this story was not following the rules. At one point while I was sitting through this picture I thought maybe it was a generational thing that I was bored; however, the full theater of teenagers groaning told me they were not getting into the story either. The groans were loudest at the end of the film. All I can say about this movie is that it would be a tough dare for a game player to do, if the dare was being forced to sit through this picture while staying awake.

1 ½ stars