Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Truth or Dare?

Original title: Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness
  • 1986
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
5.0/10
845
YOUR RATING
Truth or Dare? (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!
Play trailer5:01
1 Video
15 Photos
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
    845
    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

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 11
    View Poster

    Top cast45

    Edit
    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

    5.0845
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    joeyramone78

    I dare YOU to remove your face!!

    This film is truly one the crown jewels in the kingdom of So Bad It's Funny. This charmer was shot in the mid 80's and it follows the exploits of Mike Strauber, a schmuck who has the worst luck with women. Upon returning home from work he finds his big-breasted hottie wife doing the nasty with their best friend, he obliges them with a hilarious dramatic reaction before taking off in his gold Firebird to, uh, drive around for a long, long time. As the story unfolds, we see poor Mike suffer a nervous breakdown that results in hallucinations and self-mutilation. It's all the more tragic because this poor slob can't even get an IMAGINARY girl to score with him! Anyway, we spend the rest of the movie finding a masked, disfigured, murderous Mike out to exact revenge upon his good-for-nothing cheating wife with the great tits. Of course along the way he manages to kill a number of innocents including: a group of old people at a Bus Stop, a little leaguer, some cops, a couple of "punk rockers" and even a baby in carriage using a number of weapons including a submachine gun and a battle mace! "Truth Or Dare" showcases some of the worst acting, wrting, and music ever committed to film, and believe me, it all works in this film's favor! If you're looking for 90 minutes of sick, jaw-droppingly bad horror hilarity, this is the film for you!
    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
    8shiftyrc5

    HOW CAN WE GET THERE AGAIN?

    This was a masterpiece in film making. Well, not really. For all of our self indulgent films of crap then we should all take notes from this film. This is a "horror" movie that takes says that it is not. It is funny, clever, gruesome, and bad, but its badness makes it what it was. The over acting, extremely bloody death scenes, and the gratuitius nudity, make it an entertaining film. Nothing now can hold its own weight because they take themselves too seriously. This was, is, the true film that make made horror movies, not Scream or I Know What You Did when you were trying to scare me, fun. Attention all horror movies of our time, either do something that no one else has, or be creative and make us laugh. If you can't do that, then release this movie, as bad as it was.
    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!
    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.

    More like this

    Killing Spree
    4.9
    Killing Spree
    Funeral Home
    5.1
    Funeral Home
    Nightmare City
    5.6
    Nightmare City
    Happy Birthday to Me
    6.0
    Happy Birthday to Me
    Mother's Day
    5.3
    Mother's Day
    Eaten Alive!
    5.1
    Eaten Alive!
    Motel Hell
    6.0
    Motel Hell
    Silent Night, Deadly Night
    5.8
    Silent Night, Deadly Night
    Hell Night
    5.6
    Hell Night
    C.H.U.D.
    5.6
    C.H.U.D.
    Manhattan Baby
    4.8
    Manhattan Baby
    The Boogey Man
    4.7
    The Boogey Man

    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

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ14

    • How long is Truth or Dare??Powered by Alexa

    Details

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

    Box office

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

    Tech specs

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

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.