NERVE – Rated PG-13

NERVE – Rated PG-13 – I hr. 36 min.

Starring Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade and Miles Heizer

The “Paranormal Activity boys” – Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman – who have directed both films 3 & 4 of that scary little franchise, have decided to jump into directing a more real-life, modern day story this time around, as we embark on playing an internet truth or dare game that turns out to be much scarier to view than any apparition I can think of…this is NERVE!!!

Going through her last year in High School as the sensible one of her group of friends, we meet Venus “Vee” (Emma Roberts), focusing on getting into the art school of her dreams. When BFF Sydney (Emily Meade) decides to start playing an Internet game called NERVE, she insists that Vee become one of her many Watchers. As an anonymous group of watchers follow the players of this game from dare to dare, it appears that these “dares” seem to get more intense with each completion…

Tired of being the “sensible one”, Vee decides that she too will play this crazy Internet sensation, and shortly into her game, crosses paths with the madly attractive and intense Ian (Dave Franco), who is apparently player of NERVE too.

As the watchers follow Vee and Dave, they decide that they should hook-up and take on their dares together, making for one scary date night dare after another…meanwhile – back at the big party happening for watchers, Sydney is none to happy to find that her meek little friend is stealing all her limelight, as Vee makes her way about the city on the arm of the newest “boy toy” in these games. Will these players be able to finish the game the started, or will their watchers give them things to accomplish that might just take their lives in the end???

I give NERVE a rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN and WAIT AND CATCH IT ON DVD ~ Can you say INTENSE!!!~ As that is what every other 5 minutes of this film turns out to be. Roberts and Franco are awesome together, and Meade is electrifying to watch too, as they play this outrageous game, just to appease the irrational watchers, who apparently enjoy seeing others almost die!!! And the scariest part for me, besides being afraid of heights and watching numerous scenes that include heights of epic proportions, was how easily everyone was drawn into playing this game, and how easily everyone’s common sense went right out the window, which felt not too far from the honest truth of how our society reacts to anything on the internet these days. I would hope that we are all smarter and objective, so that we could make better rational decisions than the youngsters in this film, but NERVE does bring to light how easily everyone can get sucked in to this world of altered reality, in search of gratification and acceptance from our peers, but inevitably, at our own expense.

Kathy Kaiser