Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey Are in Their Element in ‘Truth or Dare’

Blumhouse Productions, the same company that produced “Get Out” in 2017, chose fitting actors for their upcoming film, “Truth or Dare.” The new release adds to Blumhouse’s horror repertoire as it follows a group of college friends who are looped into a deadly game of truth or dare: “Tell the truth, or you die. Do the dare, or you die.” Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, stars of “Pretty Little Liars” and “Teen Wolf,” respectively, play two friends attempting to escape the game and are no strangers to supernatural thrillers and young adult humor.

“‘Pretty Little Liars’ has undertones of the horror and thriller genre within it obviously, and that’s why people love it,” Hale said. “Eight years of that made me way more comfortable within the filming of a movie like this.”

Her character, Olivia Barron, is the film’s protagonist who struggles to reconcile her moral conscience and do what is necessary to save her friends. “What I love about ‘Truth or Dare’ is that there’s a really strong female lead, and I think we need a lot more of those, so I was really excited that for once I got to play that character,” she said.

“I thought Olivia is a badass, and I don’t always feel like that in real life, so I wanted to play one,” she added.

On the other hand, Blumhouse originally cast a different actor for the role of Lucas. But when he was no longer available for the film, Blumhouse called Posey, who immediately accepted. “‘Truth or Dare’ fit right in line with ‘Teen Wolf,’ and [horror] is a genre that I just love,” he said.

Posey was drawn to the many facets of horror. “I love gore,” he said. “I love heightened energy. I love acting. And I love being covered in blood.”

Still, its lead actors say “Truth or Dare” subverts horror movie archetypes by avoiding the “stupid” decisions that often feed their plots. “There aren’t a lot of those moments in this movie where you’re like, ‘What the hell are you doing? Don’t go down that hallway,’” Posey said.

If anything, “Truth or Dare” adds a new element to the horror genre with its take on a demon that rotates through inhabiting each friend, according to its stars. “That doesn’t really happen in most scary movies,” Posey said. “You don’t get to play the antagonist and the good guy at the same time.”

Despite this premise, Hale and Posey said the cast still found ways to lighten the mood while filming. In one scene, for example, they dare their friend to give a lap dance. “One thing we got to have a lot of freedom with is the actual truth or dare game,” Posey said. “When the lap dance was happening, everyone was throwing out ad libs and we just had a lot of fun with that game. It really did feel like we were playing truth or dare because we were ad libbing stuff and trying to one up one another and make each other laugh.”

When asked about embarrassing dares they’ve done, Hale said, “Within the last couple of years I got dared to go skydiving and I did that. I haven’t had anything embarrassing because I usually choose truth."

Posey had a different answer: “Probably to show my butt… I had to do it in the movie too.”

– Staff writer Kaylee S. Kim can be reached at kaylee.kim@thecrimson.com.