Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness

After reading the other reviews of this film, it seems many people measure quality by the amount of money that went into a production. Go figure... Truth or Dare? - A Critical Madness was indeed made on a shoestring, but writer/director, Tim Ritter displays more imagination in 5 minutes than any of today's big budget horror films can manage in 2 hours. Ignore the naysayers and see this little gem from the 80s. Serious horror fans need only apply.

Truth or Dare is a campy, sadistic, truly warped horror movie. Shot on videotape and transferred to film, it actually benefits from its amateurishness, resulting in a genuinely disturbing experience that really packs a punch. This is one of the very few movies where video photography actually contributes the atmosphere instead of destroying it. It's incredibly gory and shows things that mainstream films wouldn't even imply. Where else are you going to see a baby run over by a car and a little boy chainsawed? And what's really interesting is that you never know where it'll go next. You think it's going to be a standard get-out-of-the-asylum-and-terrorize-the-ex-wife stalker plot, but things take a series of unexpected twists, with the bloodbath getting more and more demented. There are many moments where you don't know whether to laugh, scream, or get sick.

There are the usual bad-movie routines. The acting is variable--Kerry Ellen Walker, as the frizzy-haired hitchhiker chick, seems to have been plucked directly from a high-school production of Bye Bye Birdie. At the climax, the copper mask pulsates when the killer breathes. Still, it's all so numbingly brutal and unsettling that you can suspend disbelief ("hmm...very thin copper, apparently") and get dragged along on the bloody joyride. Kay Reed sings the hyper-dramatic theme song, "A Critical Madness," which is the source of my summary quote. Truly unforgettable, and not for the faint of heart or those concerned with "taste." As if children are immune to death!

Truth or Dare is one of those films that you'll never see anything else like it. Everything is completely over-the-top. The gore, action, comedy - the extremely catchy synth score - Everything is done in a way that's a complete parody within itself, but Ritter doesn't do it in an obvious form. He's poking fun at the film, but does it in a serious way. (Is that a paradox?) Nevertheless, this is an experience you'll likely not forget very soon. I'm sure Ritter was working out some hidden feelings or agenda's during the time this film was released. I had no idea that Ritter was only around 18 or 19 when he made this film - MAking a competent film at 19 - Hitting the top of the video rental chain - All before he was 20. I'm not sure how JR Bookwalter gets all the credit for revolutionizing indy film making. Tim Ritter certainly deserves more credit in regards to the straight to video market that kick started home entertainment.

I'm not saying Truth or Dare is a masterpiece, but what it is is a competently made horror film (now a cult classic) that was virtually written and directed by a teenager! Luck may have had something to do with it, but craftiness (not only in the directing department, but craftiness in the marketing department) has made his name a very welcomed sound to the old school horror fan.

BTW, the old man who played one of the mental patients deserved an award. At times, I'm not so sure Ritter didn't actually have the guy cut off his hand. Of course, I'm an idiot, but after one grasps how young the director was, they'll gain a whole new appreciation for this movie.

I was at the video store with my friend, and while trying to find a third movie, I mentioned this, and she took it from the shelf and said, "We're getting this. Come on."

Ugh, of all the movies....

There are bad horror movies (which I've had my fill of) and there is this. This movie probably could have been disturbing or bizarrely entertaining, but it just sort of came off as tiresome and plodding.

If you've read the other reviews, you've gotten some idea of the plot. I hadn't really understood what the movie was about, but it's as basic as it seems. A guy comes home to find his wife cheating on him with another man. He leaves, and slowly goes insane (well, actually, it's pretty quick) and begins playing these sick Truth or Dare games, first with a hitch-hiker he imagines and goes on a camping trip with, and then in the mental hospital with two inmates after he kills his wife's lover and tries to kill her. He eventually breaks free from the hospital, wearing a weird copper mask, and goes on a senseless, inane killing spree. Throw in two detectives and a return trip to finally kill off the wife, and you've got a movie. Not a very good one, but a movie.

Yes, the film is gory at times. There's gratuitous violence, a few scenes of nudity, and virtually no structured plot. Some people can appreciate that. Yet, somehow, this is a really boring movie! It all gets so routine and actually quite slow that you'll find yourself getting quite tired. It's also quite ridiculous. People are being killed in public, and no one else notices. (ie: the three people at the bus stop) And it's also a bit tasteless. (Come on, running over a mother and baby?)

The one thing I feel almost obliged to note is the song during the closing credits, properly titled "A Critical Madness," sung by some hack and her choir from a church (!) Listen to this song, I dare you, it's almost disturbing. I found it to be the only entertaining part of the movie.

Do I recommend this? What do you think? I guess if you need to see it to see what the deal is with this movie (like I did) sure, see it. But really...you could do better.

My review was written in July 1986 after watching the show on Peerless video cassette.

"Truth or Dare?" (subtitled "A Critical Madness") is a subpar horror film aimed rather crassly at the gore market. Though touted as a feature made expressly for home video, "TOD" features 16mm lensing not much better than video-lensed forerunners in the genre, such as "Copperhead" and "The Ripper". It certainly isn't interesting or professional enough to warrant a theatrical release.

John Brace overacts portraying a man whom we learn via psychological mumbo-jumbo to be suffering from a childhood trauma traceable to the kids' game Truth or Dare? In which he imagines an alternate reality and is given to both self-mutilation and dishing out ultra-violence to other folks. Opening scene of him catching his wife (Mary Fanaro) in bed with another man triggers his craziness.

Film derails quickly via poor continuity and no credibility generated by Tim Ritter's script. Driving away from home angrily, Brace picks up a voluptuous hitchhiker (Kerry Ellen Walker) and improbably decides to go camping with her, tent and all. Around the campfire she insists on a game of Truth or Dare? And dares him to cut off his finger after she has poked out her own eye.

Brace is hospitalized, but typical of the film's sloppiness he has all his fingers undamaged for the rest of the picture. Conversely, when he goes on the rampage at a mental home with a hand grenade, survival knife, chainsaw and even a machine gun, it seems as if these are fantasy items but they turn out to be real. Where'd he get them?

Nonsensical episodes are just an excuse for gore footage, some of it left mercifully off-screen but also incorporating poorly done explicit violence. Filmmaker Yale Wilson botches most key scenes, such as making the simple finale of Brace versus his shrink needlessly confusing. Tech credits and supporting cast are weak, particularly the monotonous synthesized musical score.