SebastianKult
I had the pleasure of seeing DEADLY DARES at a special midnight screening at the Kentucky Theater this past Halloween (2011). It was cool viewing a TRULY independent horror movie on the big screen with many of the people who played parts or made it attending. I was told this was a first cut and it was a bit rough around the edges and there will be a slightly different version making its way around next year. This one was subtitled the 'Underground Cut.' What can I say? The movie was a blast! I am a fan of the original TRUTH OR DARE trilogy (I really loved the revamped WICKED GAMES SNUFF-seek it out!) and it's astounding that this series is still going strong, 25 years later! Be forewarned, this type of underground flick is an acquired taste- don't expect fast editing, ultra-slick photography, or state-of-the art special effects. It's down home, do-it-all-yourself stuff, George Romero 1968 style.What holds this movie together is the story. Tuner Downing is a downtrodden character that loses his girlfriend and his job on the same day. Distraught, he turns to going out with his buddy Axel Lawless for a night on the town. Returning to Tuner's apartment, Axel turns him onto this website called TruthorDare.com (based around the masked killer in the first trilogy of movies) where one can connect with hot women via webcam. Tuner finds foxy playmate Dara (played by the luscious Jessica Cameron!) and they play a little game of truth or dare to get to know each other with Axel coaxing them on. As Tuner falls for Dara, she begins to control his life, making him do nuttier and nuttier dares, with Axel videoing everything to post on the web. This includes punching his bud Axel in the face, spraying his own eyes with bleach, carving Dara's name in his stomach, and drinking out of the toilet! He also steals a lady's purse and takes all the money to a strip club. Then he beats a bum up with a baseball bat in a brutal scene that I had to turn away from, it was even more intense than the stick beating in RZ's HALLOWEEN spin. I think this scene was excessive but you could feel Tuner building up to it and so excited to accomplish this task for his babe on the web.I became totally engrossed in the story and the plight of Tuner to impress Dara. How far would he go? How was he going to pull off the next dare? Of course she turns things even nastier, "daring" him to kill his girlfriend…his boss…and even break the copper faced nutjob out of the nuthouse in a very suspenseful scene shot with a hand-held camera manned by Axel.I liked how Tuner tried to become a low-rent version of the original killer, painting his face with copper paint (shades of FADE TO BLACK?). I know the budget for this movie was low, but it all works to its advantage. A lot of the footage is of the home-video reality kind and you can totally buy what's happening, the movie makers pull everything off valiantly. The transitions to narrative and reality video are seamless and pulled off well by the director- it all flows perfectly.When Tuner discovers that the whole web community where he's posting his dares has been so inspired by his grisly videos…there's an amazing sequence of crazed murders that has to be seen to be believed! The movie is rolling along kinda like a violent little drama and suddenly it's gore central in your face! While the effects weren't SAW slick they were definitely sick and got the job done, an excellent throwback to the rampage by the copper faced killer in the original film. I had to look away several times. Knivings, electrocutions, stabbings, ax murders, castrations, self-mutilations (look out for the guy who rips his own eyeball out!), chopping, blasting, people run over by trains…I felt the need to grab a towel and wipe the blood off my face it all came so rapid-fire! It does make a statement on how depraved we've becoming in this nation, trying so hard to be the next viral sensation at any cost.The movie does have an INCREDIBLE double twist ending that I did not see coming so HATS OFF FOR THIS TWIST, wow, no one saw it coming in the theater and it sends chills up my spine when I think about it. The entire audience let out a collective *GASP* when it was revealed.And that's the thing- I'm still thinking about this movie much later, it sticks with you, IMPACTING, and I look forward to seeing it again. Not enough movies, big or small, accomplish this with the story today. Good acting, I loved Casey Miracle in the lead part as Tuner, he was perfect. Jessica Cameron shows much future promise with her acting abilities and looks like a movie star! All the other scream queen girls were easy on the eyes and this movie delivers everything that you either love…or loathe…in the TRUTH OR DARE series. I also loved the way this entry tied into all the other movies so perfectly. Great to see in the horror remake climate everywhere- something original and powerful. I can't wait to check it out again.
Matt Hill (jawsfan)
Ah, Deadly Dares... took ages, but it is finally here.Before I begin my review, I must state that it is a very special film to me. Director Tim Ritter has been a friend of mine since I was 14 years old, and is honestly one of the absolute best people that anyone could ever hope to know. He's answered many questions, supplied me with some of his more obscure/impossible to find films (DAY OF THE REAPER, etc.), given me screenplay opportunities and ultimately just been an absolute great guy to talk with. When I was first starting to talk with him, I of course was wanting to see a TRUTH OR DARE IV. At the time, it was pretty much not really a consideration of his, but this all changed sometime in 2008, when he informed me that his screenplay for the film had been written. The filming did not start until 2010, and it is only now that the initial cut (dubbed 'the underground bootleg cut') has been released. In fact, as of this writing, I'm the only person in the world who has an official home copy of this movie, on VHS, and there is an HD cut planned with a different editor and death metal songs on the soundtrack, and it is going to be out of this world! Now, the review.Tuner Downing is a man with a problem - he's lost his job, he's lost his girl, and he's got only his best friend Axel Lawless to support him in his time of need... until he meets Dara, a blonde girl, via web cam. See, he's found this really awesome website, mikeystruthordare.com, filled with people uploading 'truth or dare' videos in honor of the series' slasher, Mike Strauber. He begins to play the deadly game with her, and by the end of it he's sprayed bleach in his eyes, drunk toilet water, and even carved Dara's name into his chest. Dara then decides to up the ante completely by daring him to kill his former boss, with Axel videotaping it, and uploading it to the site. After this deed is done (where we find that Mr. Boss is a rather cold blooded killer himself), she then dares him to take the privacy setting off of all his videos, for the world to see. After spending days in fear that the police will burst through his door at any second, he finally visits the site once more, only to see that his video has had over 1 million views! Along with his video gore, other people have just gone out and murdered others or mutilated themselves in a gruesome fashion, displayed lovingly on the site (e.g., a man rips his own eye out, another person wearing a golden skull mask hacks a poor woman to bits with an axe, and two guys tie a woman down to train tracks right as the train is a'coming...) Thrilled at the morbid masterpieces, Dara has one more dare for him: break Mike Strauber out of the asylum. What will come of this?The story is impossible to be bored with, it's a fun statement on society of today with everybody uploading bizarre events onto video sharing sites, YouTube for instance. Casey Mircale (Tuner) and BIlly Blackwell (Axel) both give fun, honest performances and come off as genuine friends (which they likely are in real life). Jessica Cameron is excellent as the seductress web cam hottie. The directing is no better or worse than Tim's other movies of the last few years.... and, as it happens, I think Tim's directing is just fine the way it is, th man has a real talent of course (and I'm saying this completely unbiased). The film does need a bit of fine tuning from this version, but remember, this is really a 'rough cut' for die-hard fans, who will eat this up anyway, and the new version (which will have a much wider release, we hope) will certainly be a force to be reckoned with! Ultimately, it's more than just a movie for me, I'm just amazed to see this movie finally, after years and years of waiting for it to even be a possibility, and it's just a great feeling watching this movie. It's one that will have a permanent place in my viewing routine.Matt Hill, associate producer of DEADLY DARES: TRUTH OR DARE IV
