QUEEN OF SPADES is a horror movie with quite a lot of potential. It’s low-budget but that’s hardly a problem if you have a good story. In the case of this movie, the plot doesn’t exactly feel new or fresh. The cast is pretty good, however. Read our full Queen of Spades movie review here!

QUEEN OF SPADES is a horror movie with a supernatural story. It’s not exactly a new story, though. In fact, it feels like the “Bloody Mary” story featured in Paranormal Activity 3 or maybe even CandymanAlso, this movie ends up changing direction quite a bit during its 91-minute runtime.

This could be a cool thing, but it just isn’t really. Instead, it makes the movie feel longer and ends up being a remix of several popular horror tropes. There is definite potential there, but the final result is just too heavy-handed.

Continue reading our Queen of Spades movie review below.

Just a boring supernatural villain

I know this is a low-budget movie, but hey, so was the first Paranormal Activity movie and that turned into a huge franchise. As long as the story is good, you can get away with having a very small budget. The big problem with this horror movie is the fact that this “Queen of Spades” character is just boring.

I never get any real feel for her and so I don’t find her scary. At all.

However, I will say that the cast does everything possible to lift his movie. It’s just an impossible task when the movie as a whole is ultimately quite boring. Even the subgenre switch (of sorts) isn’t enough to get me excited about watching the Queen of Spades ending.

It’s a damn shame because this movie had potential at first. A short film would probably have resulted in a stronger result!

Queen of Spades (2021) – Horror Movie Review

Check out Queen of Spades in select theaters or On-Demand

Patrick White is the director of Queen of Spades with a screenplay by John Ainslie and based on an original story by Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy. This is the first feature film from Patrick White who, prior to directing this, had only made a short film back in 2014 which was also written by John Ainslie.

Other writing credits for Ainslie include The Sublet from 2015 which he also directed. I hate to say it, but not much about this movie works for me. Even the plot on IMDb is over-selling this story with the whole:

According to legend, an ominous entity known as the Queen of Spades can be summoned by performing an ancient ritual.

You basically say her name three times in the mirror and do a few other things. I mean, calling that “an ancient ritual” is a bit much. We do end up with a 2 out of 5 rating due to the cast and the potential at first. The ending of Queen of Spades just didn’t really do much for me. As such, I end up feeling very lackluster about the whole experience. Unfortunately.

Queen of Spades is out In Select Theaters on June 11, On Demand on June 15 & Blu-Ray on June 29, 2021.

Details

Director: Patrick White
Writers: John Ainslie, Patrick White
Original Story by: Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy
Stars: Ava Preston, Daniel Kash, Kaelen Ohm, Eric Osborne, Jamie Bloch, Nabil Rajo, Krista Marchand

Plot

According to legend, an ominous entity known as the Queen of Spades can be summoned by performing an ancient ritual. Those brave enough draw a door and a staircase on a mirror, in darkness, and say her name three times. What happens next must be experienced to be believed. Four teenagers decide to summon the Queen of Spades as a joke. But they could never imagine the horrors this innocent prank has condemned them and their loved ones to. The evil entity won’t stop until she gets their souls.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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