SPOILERS AHEAD!

The immolation scene at the beginning doesn’t come into relevance until later, so we’re going to file that and continue on. Olivia (Lucy Hale) is one of those depressingly eternally do-gooder types, though for a mercy it’s not religious but rather, helping the poor and needy by building houses for Habitat for Humanity. But this spring break is the very last spring break before life will tear Olivia and her bestie foreverz Markie (Violett Beane) apart, as they both repeat all too fanatically, so we’re off to Mexico!

Lucas (Tyler Posey), who is ostensibly Markie’s boyfriend, has been doing the unrequited thing for Olivia for like ever; Brad (Hayden Szeto) still hasn’t come out to the rather conservative police dad; Penelope (Sophia Ali) likes her drinks and her pre-med boyfriend Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk) is taking advantage of his already-made medical connections. But all of that is hidden below the surface, about to come to light in the worst game of Truth or Dare of their lives!

I feel like I’m in a Saved by the Bell episode and Screech just showed up, this time in the form of Ronnie (Sam Lerner), party buzzkill extraordinaire. It’s the very last night of spring break and Olivia isn’t really feeling it, while Markie is feeling way way too much, and everyone else in the gang of friends is doing their own little form of excess, too. A stranger who introduces himself as Carter (Landon Liboiron), befriends Olivia and takes all her friends to a super-creepy abandoned hospital for a game of murderous Truth or Dare, because that’s obviously what one does when partying at spring break in Mexico.

Olivia, like far too many people in these modern times, is obsessed with selfie-ing practically everything she does and everywhere she goes, and that’s actually a good thing, because she has photos of the order in which he friends played the ill-fated game, and also information about the mostly abandoned hospital they played in. That doesn’t much help for the initial follow-up rounds of Truth or Dare, where you follow the rules or you will be punished, but when what’s left of the friends gang bands together to take on the evil spirit, Olivia’s constant snapping may be their only hope!

Truth or Dare can be a fun, wicked parlor game to play with your friends, but one should be prepared for the consequences of long-held-for-good-reasons secrets coming to light, like BFFs-forever Markie and Olivia have to. And while most people use dares to have their reluctant and/or homophobic friends make out with each-other, sometimes dares can get far too dangerous to actually perform, especially when insane vengeful spirits potentially get involved.

The idea that sharing the curse among many others may save whats left of the original gang isn’t very new, Ringu already did it, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. The special effects used for the smiles of the possessed ones are fun and zany, and a good little trick to indicate bad-guy status. The movie is a pretty good original take on the mythos behind the parlor game, and should be tried by all Horror fans at least once.

Choose an action and pay the consequences with Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare, on Netflix now!