El reflejo del diablo

This is just a run of the mill possession story.

What? This is actually a rehash of the Russian horror movie El rito oscuro de la Reina de espadas (2015) (aka "Pikovaya dama. Chyornyy obryad"). This version does not require subtitles.

This is not as good as most or more original of the genre. It is kids playing with a summoning spell that of course summons. Naturally, they must all die. Will they take it in their stride or try to undo what they have done?

There is nothing exceptional so people that like this stuff will either praise the movie for following the standard formula or diss the movie as nothing unique including the acting and storyline.

The actors are not known except for a few contemporary movies that you may have watched. The main queen Ava Preston does have 30+ credits to her name.

Fun fact to start off: using a mythology/theme or whatever you want to call it, that other movie(s) have used, does not make this a remake of said movie(s). But I get if you feel there are similarities. They are kind of obvious or come with the territory.

That being said, this is another horror movie that starts off quite interesting and then continues with characters doing something they just shouldn't be doing. But then again, if we didn't have those scene that are extremely cringe worthy ... well the movie(s) wouldn't happen ... so either cut this some slack and go with the flow or don't watch it at all.

Of course there are more flaws ahead and this does not have the best actors (although for horror movie standards they are not so bad either) or the biggest budget. But it works with what it has, the shock effects are working most of the time and the twists are nicely put along the way.

Granted, I haven't had the opportunity to watch the 2015 Russian horror movie "Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite" (aka "Pikovaya dama. Chyornyy obryad"), upon which this 2021 horror movie "Queen of Spades" apparently is based. So I have no idea how much of this 2021 movie is a copy-paste job or if they actually changed the storyline in some way.

Regardless, as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch this 2021 horror movie from writers John Ainslie and Patrick White, of course I did so, as it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. However, being unfamiliar with this movie and both the 2015 movie, then I had no idea what I was in for here. So I had no expectations to "Queen of Spades" as I sat down to watch it.

Sure, this movie's cover was actually interesting enough, but sadly the cover turned out to be the best feature of the entire movie. Yeah, trust me, "Queen of Spades" was that boring and that uneventful. So it was quite the ordeal to sit through this snoozefest of a movie.

"Queen of Spades" utterly failed to interest me, much less entertain me. And as for this being a horror movie, well that was stretching the term horror. Sure, if you are fresh off the boat and "Queen of Spades" is your first horror movie ever, I am sure there is something scary here. But if you have seen just a handful of horror movies ever, then "Queen of Spades" falls terribly short of being scary or even entertaining.

The acting in the movie was lukewarm, just as the storyline was, so you will not be finding yourself in for a grandiose treat in terms of acting performances here. But I doubt it was the actors and actresses that put on these rigid and wooden performances. I am sure that they were effectively held back by an inferior and subpar script, dialogue and a total lack of proper character development.

The character gallery in the movie was every bit as interesting and layered as a glass of water. Talk about having a collection of pointless characters with horrible dialogue. And that sort of stuff just doesn't make for proper or good entertainment. It amazes me that stuff like this actually happens in movies. Doesn't someone read through the scripts before filming and raises a hand or a voice?

Then there was the Queen of Spades herself. Yeah, let's just leave that alone. It was that bad.

If you enjoy horror movies, you need to skip on "Queen of Spades", because this movie simply isn't worth the time, money or effort.

My rating of director Patrick White's 2021 horror movie "Queen of Spades" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

Look in the mirror and say her name three times. Not his name this time, Candyman has been and gone.

The theme of this film will be familiar to horror fans. It begins with four teens witnessing a suicide; the victim jumps off a building and takes a while to die. Then there are three teens, then two - both of the guys are gone. But who can save the day? Not the one who discovered Smirnov - an irresistible if dated cultural reference - that was the second guy to die. Enter Smirnov! This film doesn't really have anything to recommend it until the climax, when we are in "Exorcist" territory with an interesting twist, and this is where it scores.

But did they really exorcise the Queen Of Spades - what do you think?

I stuck with it as long as I could but ultimately couldn't finish the movie.

The entire cast acted like they all took some Benadryl before filming. No chemistry. Low key acting. Nothing particularly scary happens. Done up right it might have been a fun watch.