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Eliminator

Original title: Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness
  • 1986
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
5.0/10
840
YOUR RATING
Eliminator (1986)
Mike Strauber goes mad when finding his wife Sharon in bed with his best friend Jerry. He retreats into an imaginary world of 'truth or dare', as he did when he was a deranged child, where hallucinatory friends 'dare' him into horrid acts of self-mutilation. Institutionalized, Mike continues to play truth or dare and manages to maul his face, covering it with a homemade copper mask. He escapes from the institution and goes on one of the most bizarre road rampages ever committed to celluloid (including a drive-by chainsawing!) that has to be seen to be believed, culminating in a bizarre confrontation with his wife. This is the 1986 cult classic horror film that helped jumpstart the entire "made directly for video" craze and was voted "One Of The Top 13 Slasher Films Of All Time" on TheTop13.com in 2009!
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Slasher HorrorHorror

Mike Strauber catches his wife Sharon in bed with his best friend Jerry. He gets mad and takes off to embark on an adventure of murder and self-mutilation in demented games of truth or dare.Mike Strauber catches his wife Sharon in bed with his best friend Jerry. He gets mad and takes off to embark on an adventure of murder and self-mutilation in demented games of truth or dare.Mike Strauber catches his wife Sharon in bed with his best friend Jerry. He gets mad and takes off to embark on an adventure of murder and self-mutilation in demented games of truth or dare.

  • Directors
    • Tim Ritter
    • Yale Wilson
  • Writer
    • Tim Ritter
  • Stars
    • John Brace
    • Mary Fanaro
    • Bruce Gold
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.0/10
    840
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Tim Ritter
      • Yale Wilson
    • Writer
      • Tim Ritter
    • Stars
      • John Brace
      • Mary Fanaro
      • Bruce Gold
    • 39User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Truth Or Dare? A Critical Madness
    Trailer 5:01
    Truth Or Dare? A Critical Madness

    Photos15

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    Top cast45

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    John Brace
    • Mike Strauber
    Mary Fanaro
    • Sharon Strauber
    Bruce Gold
    • Jerry Powers
    A.J. McLean
    A.J. McLean
    • Little Mike
    • (as Alexander J. McLean)
    Christopher Bontempo
    • Playmate
    Jon Creamer
    • Playmate
    Christine Duff
    • Playmate
    Jennifer Duff
    • Playmate
    Priscilla Duff
    • Mike's Mother
    Kerry Ellen Walker
    • Hitch-Hiker
    D.C. 'Dash' Goff
    • Park Ranger
    • (as Dash Goff)
    Rick Paige
    • Dr. Thorne
    Mona Jones
    • Dr. Evans
    Bruce Paquette
    • Garage Attendent
    Edward L. Elliott II
    • Man-Next-Door
    Therese C. Elliott
    • Woman-Next-Door
    Raymond Carbone
    • Detective Rosenberg
    Geoffrey Miller
    • Wes
    • Directors
      • Tim Ritter
      • Yale Wilson
    • Writer
      • Tim Ritter
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews39

    5.0840
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    Featured reviews

    6EVOL666

    Possibly The Most Flawed Film I've Ever Seen...

    WOW.....I knew this was a low-budget trash film, but going into it, I had no idea just how completely inept TRUTH OR DARE? A CRITICAL MADNESS would turn out to be in every possible way. Claiming to be one of the first films ever produced strictly for the video market (big accomplishment there guys...so you're basically saying that you knew right off the top that no one would pay to see this mess in a theater, right?...) - TRUTH OR DARE? has more problems, plot holes, inconsistencies, horrible acting, atrocious music, juvenile Special FX (except for the few explosion scenes - those are cool...), and all around poor overall execution than any single film I've ever seen. Writer/Director Tim Ritter attributes many of these issues to personal problems between himself and the financiers and 2nd Unit Directors - who he claims all failed to film or support whole sections of the plot that should have made the final product make more sense. But unfortunately, that's pretty much the same as me saying that I set out to paint the Mona Lisa - but due to personal problems, all I came up with was a stick-figure. As the Writer/Director of this mess, I hold Ritter responsible for his work and can only review the final product - not his unfulfilled "vision". Now that all being said - TRUTH OR DARE? does have a strange charm and entertainment value for such a fundamentally flawed feature, that does keep it from being a TOTAL waste of time. It's relatively fast-paced and there are some pretty amusing moments...

    Mike Strauber is a guy who's had it pretty rough. He was picked on as a kid, had a nervous breakdown as an adult, and just when things start to look up for him - he catches his wife boning some joker in his bed. This causes Mike to crack, and he goes on a nice little drive to clear his head. Along the way he meets an imaginary hooker that he takes camping (!?!). She talks him into playing truth-or-dare, and cutting his finger off and pulling his tongue out (?!?!). this lands mike in the loony bin for a while - but he's released 13 months later (with tongue and finger mysteriously intact...). He immediately goes and kills his ex-wife's lover, and attempts but fails to kill her too...which lands him back in the psych ward. Somehow, Mike sneaks in two knives and a hand-grenade (???) and plays a hilarious and bloody game of truth-or-dare with two wackadoos that he's locked up with - culminating in some gory but goofy self-mutilation and head explosion. Mike manages to escape the facility, steals a car, and "magically" has access to assault weapons - all while wearing a retarded looking bronze mask that he made in machine class at the psych facility (as I'm sure that most respected psychiatric treatment facilities offer top-notch machining classes which gives mentally disturbed patients the opportunity to play with heavy and dangerous machinery...). On the loose - Mike goes on a rampage: running down a baby, chainsawing a kid, machine-gunning innocent bystanders - basically being an all-around nuisance - all while avoiding the "best" efforts of the local cops to catch him. One such attempt results in one of the brighter cops mistakenly immolating an innocent man, and is immediately allowed back on the street by his superior to join in the investigation (????????). Eventually the police chief sets Mike up and brings his violent spree to an end...

    Unbelievably, this film actually spawned two sequels which I haven't yet seen, but judging from the trailers, would venture to bet that they're equally, if not more lacking (if that's possible) than this entry. But again - with all the ridiculousness that goes on in this film - TRUTH OR DARE? A CRITICAL MADNESS is still pretty entertaining and may be worth a look to low-budget 80's-style horror fans. If the director is to be believed from his commentary - this film seems to have a pretty big "cult" following - and may even be able to be classified in the "so bad it's good" category of films. I can't say that I enjoyed this one that much due to the glaringly obvious problems that seeped their way into every pore of this work's production - but I'll settle on a 6/10 for what it tries (and often fails miserably) to accomplish...6/10
    Vince-5

    "His energy's gone in the wrong direction..."

    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!
    lor_

    Screwy gore video

    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.
    psavery54

    Shoot Me Now!!!!

    A million dollars... A million dollars... I could have made a better slasher flick with the Blair Witch budget! I was having a pretty peachy day when I found out that my favorite bad movie cost approximately one million dollars to make. What kind of idiot gave this guy a million dollars? And to make thing worst he made two sequels. It is the best worst movie of all time, but it was a lot better when I thought an amateur adult film director made this flick with about the same amount of money his past projects cost. Sorry if I have insulted anyone, but after all my pick for the worst film of all time is not even on a single list.
    WritnGuy-2

    One Hell of a Bad 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.

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    Related interests

    Roger Jackson in Scream (1996)
    Slasher Horror
    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      On the 4 September 2013 episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005), Elijah Wood said that he was five years old when he watched his first horror movie - Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness (1986), which was a then-newly released. He said that it was what made him fall in love with horror films, that it remains one his all-time favorite horror movies, and that he has introduced it to several of his friends over the years.
    • Goofs
      During the campfire scene, Mike Strauber is dared to rip out his tongue. Later, he is able to talk frequently. This is explained in the film as being through speech therapy, however, this would not help a man lacking a tongue.
    • Alternate versions
      The wide-screen DVD from Sub Rosa features a redone version of the opening credits in a different font (the title graphic, however, remains the same) giving Tim Ritter back his directing credit (producer Yale Wilson took it on the previous VHS release).
    • Connections
      Featured in Arbeitslos (2005)
    • Soundtracks
      Critical Madness
      Written by Johnny Britt and Ken Karlson

      Performed by Kay Reed with the Church Of Our Savior Choir

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    FAQ14

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 1, 1986 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Truth or Dare?
    • Filming locations
      • Palm Beach, Florida, USA
    • Production companies
      • Peerless Films
      • Twisted Illusions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $250,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 30m(90 min)
    • Color
      • Color

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