'Truth or Dare' scares with tale of deadly curse and desperation

<h3 class="briefHead">"Truth or Dare" - ★ ★ ½</h3>

The Bible preaches that the truth will set you free. The game-based horror tale "Blumhouse's Truth or Dare" shows us that the truth can keep you alive. But only for so long.

The creepiest moments in this generic "foolish young people grappling with PG-13-level supernatural elements" thriller can be found in its trailers, commercials that reveal who dies and how.

"Truth or Dare" emulates the masterful "It Follows" with a story about desperate young adults who must quickly pass on a deadly curse to other people to stay alive, accompanied by occasional stereophonic echoes of evil laughter that stalk the soundtrack.

It begins with six California college chums on spring break in Mexico where a handsome stranger named Carter (Landon Liboiron) puts the charm on luminous brown-eyed Olivia ("Pretty Little Liars" star Lucy Hale). He persuades her and her buds to sneak into an abandoned mission church for a little drinking and playing a game of Truth or Dare.

When his turn comes, he must answer a question from Penelope (Sophia Ali): What are his intentions for Olivia?

"I needed to find someone with friends I could trick into coming here!" he bluntly blurts. "I'm OK with strangers dying if that means I get to live!"

Oh, oh.

Turns out the game has been cursed by a demon who can transform people into comical Snapchat distortions of Jack Nicholson's Joker from "Batman" with glowing red eyes.

In mirrors, phone texts, computers, even on alley way walls, the demon communicates "Truth or Dare" challenges. If Olivia, her blonde bestie Markie (Violett Beane) and the rest of their friends don't answer questions truthfully, they die. If they fail to carry out a dare, they die.

"We're not playing the game!" Olivia shrieks. "The game is playing us!"

Unlike John Krasinski's critically acclaimed "A Quiet Place" that employs organically effective jump-scares (but avoided the obligatory shocker opening scene), "Truth or Dare" relies on effectively cheesy cheap scares (and opens with a desperate woman setting a convenience store customer on fire because "the game" made her do it).

Nonetheless, director Jeff Wadlow puts his impressively sympathetic actors through some grueling paces in a crisply edited tale that examines the notion that truth may not be all that liberating.

"Truth or Dare" makes a case that little white lies and nondisclosure can be justifiable, even beneficial ways to handle social situations with peers and family members.

As the VHS-based "Ring" horror films demonstrated, supernatural entities must keep up with the times and technology. Here, the resident evil can hack phones and computers, foreshadowing a timely and sinister indictment, however unintentional, of the dangers of omnipresent social media.

Now that's scary.

<b>Starring:</b> Lucy Hale, Violett Beane, Tyler Posey, Hayden Szeto, Landon Liboiron

<b>Directed by:</b> Jeff Wadlow

<b>Other:</b> A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, language. 100 minutes