‘Dare You to Death’ (2025) Netflix Series Review - Unremarkable

The first episode of Dare You to Death has a runtime of 47 minutes, most of which seems to be spent introducing Khamin (Natachai Boonprasert) in slow motion. There he is, in his car, blocking Jade (Archen Aydin) from overtaking him. Did I mention that Jade is a police officer? No? Well, anyway, Jade gets frustrated, signals Khamin to pull over to the side, and knocks on his car window to teach him a lesson.

What do you know—Jade looks at Khamin and is immediately smitten. It's love at first sight, and since Jade is a cop, he flirts with Khamin using the strict, authoritative tone of an inspector. He asks him if he doesn't know how to drive before handing him a ticket. Khamin, however, isn't intimidated by the man in uniform. Throughout the scene, he remains calm. Of course, then, he couldn't be an ordinary person.

Who is he, you ask? Well, if you're asking that question, you've definitely not watched the first episode, because the answer is painfully obvious. No wonder I rolled my eyes when Khamin turned out to be the new "foreign-educated" inspector. What's interesting, though, is that Jade isn't particularly affected by this revelation. If Khamin was composed during their earlier encounter, Jade now wears the same impassive expression during this, um, confrontation.

I suppose "confrontation" is the right word for Jade and Khamin's interactions. They don't converse; they spar—verbally attacking one another with teasing remarks, like lovers pulling each other's legs in a long game of seduction. I wish these flirty exchanges had yielded passionate rewards. Instead, thanks to wooden acting and awkward pauses, Dare You to Death comes across as a chintzy production where the actors seem to be rehearsing their lines on autopilot.

It's almost painful to watch Khamin and Jade woo each other when, instead of chemistry, there's only dead air between them. After a while, you start wondering whether you can get whatever the college students drank to knock themselves unconscious. The problem extends to the show at large. Dare You to Death is a made-for-TV series, so brace yourself for sound cues that underline whether a scene is dramatic or humorous. The camera merely records the action, and the actors regurgitate whatever the script feeds them. Perhaps, instead of looking for the murderer, Jade and Khamin—and the rest of the cast—should try to find the actor within themselves, or, better yet, search for a competent filmmaker.

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times