The Ending Of Truth Or Dare 2017 Explained

The phrase "twin films" refers to any two movies that share pretty much the same plot and typically come out within a year or two of one another. Some famous pairings include "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," "Friends With Benefits" and "No Strings Attached," and "First Daughter" and "Chasing Liberty." However, it's not very often you get two films with the same plot released close to one another that also happen to share the same title, but that's precisely what happened with two movies called, "Truth or Dare."

The version of the film most people are probably familiar with is the 2018 one starring Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, and Violett Beane, which follows a group of college students playing a game of truth or dare, only for a spirit to unleash deadly consequences if they fail to perform a task or reveal a dark secret. A Syfy original film actually beat the Blumhouse production to the punch first, though — and the 2017 made-for-television "Truth or Dare," as it happens, also follows a group of college students playing a game of truth or dare ... only for a spirit to unleash deadly consequences if they fail to perform a task or reveal a dark secret. 

Horror movies aren't exactly known for having the most clear-cut endings, so after you watch the 2017 one on Netflix or Syfy (if you have cable), you may have some questions. Here's what we can discern from the ending of "Truth or Dare" from 2017. 

Eight friends begin the game, but only two are alive by the end. Alex (Cassie Scerbo) and Maddie (Brytni Sarpy) attempt to go to a hospital to tend to their wounds from the second-to-last dare requiring them to cut off various body parts. They may think they're in the clear, but the GPS in the car reveals Alex's final dare. The message reads, "Kill her," so it's apparent the spirit wants Maddie dead. It's a tense moment, especially considering earlier in the film Maddie's forced to reveal the fact that she slept with Alex's boyfriend. To her surprise, Alex refuses to outright murder her. 

There's a running idea through the film that people can make it out alive by "sharing the dare." This is seen when Tyler receives a dare to drink poison, but everyone drinks a little bit before promptly vomiting it up, making it safer. 

At the end, for one last time, the friends share a dare, resulting in Alex driving the car into a tree. The screen promptly cuts to black, but if you watch the movie with subtitles on, you'll discover that both women are gasping for air. That means they both survived the crash and avoided a horrendous fate.

Fortunately, that's the end of the third round, so Alex and Maddie both get the distinction of becoming the final girls, most likely never to play truth or dare ever again. They'll join the ranks of Donna Boone (Heather Langenkamp), who survived one of these twisted games back in the 1980s. It just goes to show how it's always better to be honest with your friends than hold secrets that will threaten to tear you apart.