Movies
First ‘Truth or Dare’ Image Lands on Death
First announced back in March was Corona Pictures’ teen horror thriller Truth Or Dare, which we just landed the first ever image from. My guess is our leading lady, who’s about to pop out of her dress, had a bad spin…
Robert Heath, who made the 2010 political drama Sus, directed the thriller “about five teenage friends who are taken hostage by a psychopath and forced to play a deadly spin-the-bottle party game.” The script has been written by Matthew McGuchan.
The cast includes a crop of upcoming young British actors including David Oakes (Pillars of the Earth), Jennie Jacques (Cherry Tree Lane), Liam Boyle (Awaydays), Jack Gordon (Fish Tank) and Alexander Vlahos (The Indian Doctor).
Get the long synopsis inside.
“Five teenage friends are taken hostage by a vengeful psychopath and forced to play a party game with life-or-death consequences.
An end-of-year party for an ‘alpha’ group of first year university students turns nasty when a game of ‘truth or dare’ ends in humiliation for ultra-rich social misfit Felix. For five students at the gathering, this unpleasant but seemingly minor incident will have unexpectedly devastating repercussions.
Some months later, the friends meet again en route to a surprise party for Felix, who has been away traveling. Arriving at the venue – an old hunting lodge – they are met by Justin, Felix’s charismatic older brother, who explains that Felix will be late for the party. He persuades the gang to join him in getting drunk in his sibling’s absence, but psychopathic rage bubbles beneath Justin’s charming exterior, and the real reason for the gathering is revealed: Felix has committed suicide, and Justin is determined to find out why.
Anger explodes into violence as Justin overpowers his guests and a brutal and grueling game of ‘truth or dare’ ensues. Justin’s army training and sociopathic tendencies have equipped him well for the task of torturing his victims until he gets an answer and as the terrified hostages are questioned one by one, cracks appear as the friends turn against each other in desperation.
Their only hope is to work together and turn the tables on their assailant, even if they must risk their lives in the process. The scene is set for a shocking denouement as secrets are revealed on both sides and the tables are turned in a blood-soaked final confrontation…“
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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