Lucy Hale's 100-Minute Horror Movie Is One Of HBO Max's Biggest Streaming Hits

Produced for a mere $3.5 million, Jeff Wadlow's 2018 horror film "Truth or Dare" — which was marketed as "Blumhouse's Truth or Dare" — was a bonanza with wiggly late-night horror fans, earning $95.3 million at the box office. Now, it's cracked the top 10 movies streaming on HBO Max (per FlixPatrol) as folks prepare for Halloween.

"Truth or Dare" followed the popular Blumhouse model of keeping budgets low and concepts high, often leading to gigantic financial success. This was the studio, after all, that turned the micro-budgeted "Paranormal Activity" into the most profitable horror movie of all time. Over the decade that followed, Blumhouse just kept on churning out one inexpensive smash-hit after another, be it "Insidious," "Ouija," or "Happy Death Day." Not to mention, it was one of the forces behind "Obsession," the singular most impressive success story of 2026. Just make the film for cheap and ensure that it has an interesting premise. More studios could learn that lesson.

The setup for 2018's "Truth or Dare," however, is ... odd. Rather than focusing on, say, a haunted object, the movie is about a haunted game of Truth or Dare. Its main character, Olivia (played by Lucy Hale), is a college student who, along with several friends, is invited by a stranger to play a Truth or Dare game in an abandoned church while celebrating Spring Break in Mexico. You can probably guess what Olivia and her companions do, but a word of advice: don't play Truth or Dare with strangers in abandoned churches.

Sure enough, the stranger (Landon Liboiron) reveals that the game is supernatural. As such, players have to perform the dares, or tell the truths, or the game itself will possess them and force them to harm themselves. Scary.

Oh, and there are some odd rules. The game never ends, for one. Also, players hallucinate their friends as grinning demons that force them to keep on playing. The game wants people to commit acts of cruelty, like when one character is "dared" to break Olivia's hand. In another instance, Olivia and her friend Lucas (Tyler Posey) are dared to sleep together even though Lucas is dating Olivia's bestie Markie (Violett Bean). At other times, the living game aims to force uncomfortable truths out of people, like when it makes Olivia's buddy Brad (Hayden Szeto) come out to his homophobic father.

It's eventually revealed that the haunted Truth or Dare game is actually the doing of Calux (voiced by Joe Ochman), a demon who was summoned by a beleaguered nun years before. I don't think it's made very clear why Calux likes to play Truth or Dare specifically, but at least the movie gives some kind of an explanation.

I saw "Truth or Dare" in theaters, and I heard more chuckles than screams during my screening. The demonic face mostly looks like a weird Snapchat filter (something Olivia even points out in dialogue). By the time the film got to its climax, some audience members were outright hooting and throwing popcorn. So, while that's likely not the reaction the film's creatives intended, it certainly makes for a fun Friday night at the movie theater. And as mentioned, it attracted a sizable audience. It was the right blend of horror, character, and silliness.

There's probably a reason Blumhouse ultimately abandoned a planned "Truth or Dare" sequel, though.

Critics, it should be noted, haaaaaated "Truth or Dare." The film currently holds a meager 16% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 157 reviews, and even the positive reviews tend to rate it about a 6/10, with most of the praise going to its peculiar conceit and handful of wicked kills. For the most part, though, critics were more closely aligned with Kevin Maher, who gave the film a zero in a writeup for The Times, describing it as "an execrable mess." Writing for RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams was a little more charitable, awarding it two stars out of four and calling it "the 'Showgirls' of post-'Scream' slasher movies." Even then, he noted that the movie is at war with itself, unable to decide if audiences should be horrified by the plight of its protagonist or amused by the campiness of its premise. He added:

"In this mixed-up, none-too-bright context, a sentient game of Truth or Dare is a messed-up parenting tool. These bright young things are gonna learn to be truthful to themselves, doggone it, even if it means hurting themselves or others during the learning process. Because apparently, stabbing yourself in the eye when you fail to come clean in a job interview is a fitting punishment."

It's also worth noting that "Truth or Dare" is rated PG-13, meaning the deaths are boringly bloodless and the sex is brief and nudity-free. Even those with base, prurient interests aren't being catered to. As /Film's own "Truth or Dare" review observed upon the movie's initial release, it was easily one of the worst films Blumhouse had ever made up to that point.

And yet, people are streaming it in 2026. Whatever its magical alchemy, "Truth or Dare" is hitting a nerve.