Truth or Dare

Earlier this year, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ brilliantly explored the idea that filmmakers and audiences seem  oddly compelled to punish attractive teens in the name of fun. Well, here’s yet another example of the trend. A year on from a student party that saw awkward Felix (Tom Kane) humiliated by a group of rich kids who he considered friends, his tormentors are summoned to a party at a woodland retreat. But where’s the birthday boy? And who’s this charismatic ex-military man (David Oakes) with a revolver stuffed in his jeans? Writer Matthew McGuchan and director Robert Heath clearly had a purpose when they made the main characters in this British revenge fantasy so unlikeable – it allows them to score a few solid hits against entitled youth. But it also gives us no one to root for as the deaths stack up – we’re happy to see these little brats get it in the neck. The result is intermittently entertaining but largely unengaging.