 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
TRUTH OR DARE 3: SCREAMING FOR SANITY
Produced and Directed by Tim Ritter
Written by Ron Bonk, Kevin Lindenmuth, and Tim RitterDan Hess – Joel D. Wynkoop
Alicia Layman - Kathy Kay Kurtz
Clive Stanley - Ken BlanckWhat I like most about Tim Ritter’s films is that they are actually about something. He could just give you goods if he wanted, but then that wouldn’t be a Tim Ritter film. DIRTY COP: NO DONUT was a satire about media and reality programming, CREEP was an examination of sexual deviance, and TOD3 is a savage look at our legal system, medical bureaucracy, and our pop-cultures need to capitalize off sensation.
Genre favorite, Joel D. Wynkoop, stars as Dr. Dan Hess, a man tormented by the Copper-masked Truth or Dare Killer, Mike Strauber, from the first entries in the series. With Strauber finally put away in an institution, Hess is left a suicidal mess. His life was destroyed by Strauber, a killer who pushed himself by playing that childhood game.
As Hess tries to put his shattered life back in order, he sees a way to regain his lost soul, catch a copy cat killer. It seems that people who were once profiting off Strauber’s story are turning up butchered. In an attempt to life himself out of the darkness, Hess has to descend into a killer’s madness. All signs point back to the asylum where Hess once worked and Strauber is now held prisoner.
After the first half an hour I was ready to give this film a negative review. There’s some back-story that I would have understood better if I had seen the other films in the series. Fortunately, Ritter helps to remedy this through a series of well-used flashbacks.
Ritter goes to great lengths to prove his points, but is restrained enough to not beat the dead horse. It’s easy to make a political film that belabors its point, but it takes finesse to teeter on that fine line without going over. Ritter has so much going on that there isn’t time to focus on any one topic and in the end, that’s what weighs the film down. There’s too much going on in the middle third of the film that things become slightly confusing. There’s a subplot concerning a woman who’s fallen in love with Strauber via letter writing that just doesn’t fit and could have been removed easily. The scenes slow the pacing.
As usual, Joel Wynkoop is a pleasure to watch. He has a very relaxed acting style. He’s no James Garner or Paul Newman (the most laid back actors on the planet), but he’s convincing and relies on honesty to craft his performance. This is what pushed DIRTY COP over the top.
In the end, I really liked this movie. Everything I’ve seen by Tim Ritter improves upon his last effort. He made this one just before DIRTY COP. You can see the seeds of that film present in this. The desire to devour sensationalism, the need to wallow in self-loathing, and the urge to share one’s pain to bring down those around you. It makes you wonder what kind of childhood Tim actually had….
The Official Twisted Illusions Homepage
Twisted Illusions’ Distributor, Sub Rosa