Curse and Ending Explained

Summary The cursed game of Truth or Dare forces players to keep playing or face death.

The demon Calax, tied to the game, possesses players and limits options to break the curse.

In the bleak ending, the protagonist sacrifices millions to save only herself and a friend.

The Truth or Dare ending explores the origin of the cursed game and how the players attempt to break the curse. The movie comes from Blumhouse Productions, the horror movie juggernaut company behind hit franchises like Paranormal Activity and standalone hits like The Black Phone. 2018's Truth or Dare follows a group of college students on spring break who get roped into a dangerous version of the titular game by a stranger. When they return home, the friends realize the game won't let them stop playing — and if they don't, they die.

Olivia (Lucy Hale) and her friends must figure out a way to break the curse while continuing to play. Throughout Truth or Dare, the mystery of the cursed game reveals itself. Not only are the basic but deadly rules of the game explained, but Olivia discovers the source of the curse and how to break it. However, the ending of Truth or Dare goes somewhat unexpectedly, changing everything viewers thought they knew about the main characters and their possible fates.

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The Truth Or Dare Curse Explained

The Players Have To Play Correctly Or Die

Character Cause Of Death Ronnie Broken neck Tyson Jamming a pen in his eye Penelope Amari Shot by Giselle Giselle Shoots herself in the head Brad Shot by police Sam Stabbed by Lucas Lucas Slits his own throat

The game's rules are established early in the movie, with Carter explaining to Olivia that a person dies if they refuse to tell the truth, accept a dare, or refuse to play. However, one other rule comes later — if two people in a row choose truth, the next person has to choose dare. This rule comes from the group that initially started playing the game. It turns out that Carter's real name is Sam, and he and his friends were the group who started playing Truth or Dare after stumbling upon the Rosarito Mission Church in Mexico.

This group's Truth or Dare game is cursed after Sam trashes the church and breaks a pot that contains a trickster demon named Calax. In the movie's mythology, demons can possess people, places, objects, or ideas. In this case, Calax possesses the game. When Sam's group of friends all die until it is just him and a girl named Giselle (Aurora Perrineau), he's dared to bring new people into the game. He finds Olivia and her friends. Sam, claiming his name is Carter, brings them to the church and inducts them into the game.

Related Jeff Wadlow Interview: Truth or Dare We interview Truth or Dare director Jeff Wadlow about how the film's concept came to be and his experience working with Blumhouse.

Once they each take a turn, they're in. Even after they leave the church, the game follows them, forcing them to continue to play in the same order as in the church. Old players stay in the game, although it's unclear when Sam takes his turn since he disappears until the ending.

The demonic entity that possessed the game is intelligent, and Olivia quickly realizes there's no way to outsmart Calax. Plus, the game forces each of its players to take their turn using torturous visions. Olivia sees "Truth or Dare?" written in various places, but it escalates to Lucas (Tyler Posey) seeing the question burned into his arm. Calax also sends messages through electronic devices. Giselle receives a dare in the film's opening when the cashier at a rest stop answers the phone. The fact that the game can pass through electronics is key to understanding the ending.

The Origin of Calax Explained

A Girl Summoned The Demon To Stop An Abuser

In her search to find a way to break the curse on the Truth or Dare game, Olivia tracks Calax back to a massacre at the Rosarito Mission Church two generations ago. Olivia and Lucas track down Inez Reyes, a grandmother who was a survivor of the massacre. Inez reveals to Olivia and Lucas that the church was a convent where she and other girls lived. They liked to play games such as Hide and Seek, but the priest at the church played, too, and the girl he found was subjected to his own game.

After the priest's death, Calax didn't want to stop playing.

So, one girl used a spell to summon a demon, who turned out to be Calax. Calax possessed the girl and played his own game, cutting the priest up into pieces that he hid around the church in a twisted spin on Hide and Seek. However, after the priest's death, Calax didn't want to stop playing. He forced the girls to continue playing a dangerous game where most ended up dead. The girl who summoned Calax traps him by repeating a spell seven times and sealing a sacrifice into a pot with wax.

Inez reveals she was the girl who summoned and trapped Calax, and to complete the binding spell, she had to cut out her tongue as a sacrifice. As Inez tells Olivia, only the one who broke the pot that set Calax free can trap him again. Since Sam was the person who broke the pot when he trashed the church before he and his friends played their game of Truth or Dare, he's the only one capable of ending the game. However, Olivia's scheme to get Sam to break the curse doesn't go as planned.

What Happens In The Truth Or Dare Ending

Olivia Fails To Stop Calax

Olivia, Lucas, and Markie bring Sam back to the Rosarito Mission Church to end the game by trapping Calax. However, Lucas has to take his turn while Sam is reciting the spell. He's dared to kill Olivia or Markie. When he refuses, Calax possesses him and forces him to kill Sam before he can complete the ritual, and then Calax forces Lucas to kill himself. Sam had begun to cut out his tongue as a sacrifice, but he died before finishing. Since Sam must be the one to trap Calax, no one can complete the ritual.

Markie refuses her turn, so Calax possesses her. However, this was a tick, as Olivia uses Markie's turn as a truth and forces Calax to tell her how to finish the game. Calax reveals there is no way to end it now. Olivia realizes the only way for Truth or Dare to end is for Olivia and Markie to die without bringing anyone new into it. Instead of killing themselves, Olivia and Markie upload a video online explaining the curse of the Truth or Dare game. She ends the video by asking, "Truth or Dare?"

Because Calax has used the Internet before to continue the game, once a person is asked into the game, they are now part of it; anyone who watches the video to the end has joined the cursed game without a choice. Essentially, Olivia sacrifices millions of people to save her best friend.

Related Why Blumhouse Cancelled Truth Or Dare 2 Explained By Director Truth or Dare director Jeff Wadlow explains why Blumhouse cancelled the sequel film, despite him having a good idea for the horror project.

The Real Meaning Of The Truth Or Dare Ending

Olivia Chooses Her Life Over The World

Olivia's introduction in Truth or Dare shows that she always puts others above herself. She had plans to build houses with Habitat for Humanity over spring break, but Markie convinced her to take a fun trip instead, which doomed them both. While slightly selfish, this choice led to the big ending where Olivia did something even worse. While Olivia claimed she wanted to help the world, she always chose her friend Markie over anyone else, which is what she did in the end.

Olivia and Markie choose themselves over the world..

This decision also shows her hypocrisy. Earlier in the movie, Olivia is asked if she would save her friends or sacrifice them to save the world from an alien invasion. She says she would sacrifice the few to save the world, which she believes is true. At the end of Truth or Dare, Olivia proves it was a lie, extending her and Markie's lives by forcing the entire world to die in the game. Olivia and Markie choose themselves over the world, even though their turns will come back around eventually.

The Ending Was A Highlight Of Truth Or Dare

Some Critics & Audiences Felt It Was Better Than A Happy Ending

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There are a lot of people who hate the ending of Truth or Dare, but there are also many fans who feel it is the best part of an otherwise lackluster movie. The movie has poor reviews, sitting at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes for critics and 23% for the audience score. In the Toronto Star review, critic Bruce DeMara gave it a two out of four and believes the ending will leave "audiences divided" while admitting that Truth or Dare has a "twisted charm." Benjamin Lee of The Guardian feels the movie's ending helps its status:

"Hale is a committed lead and it all builds to an audaciously nutty climax. There’s something oddly charming about the film’s dogged, goofy attempt to earnestly write the rules of a franchise that will clearly be haunting cinemas, or sleepovers, for years to come."

On the other hand, audiences were divided. An entire Reddit thread was devoted to the ending, with the OP feeling that Truth or Dare should have had a happier ending. Another Redditor felt the ending was what they liked about it. "The protagonist fails to do the moral thing. At the end of the day, she chooses her own life and the life of her friends than the rest of the world," they wrote. "That's a deeper commentary about human nature than the naive and simplistic ending of the "good girl doing the good thing."