A Look Back at “Dead Man’s Hand”
They took a gamble, but they lost
James Bond makes us think that casinos are glitzy and glamorous, and just about the only thing with a slight element of horror that you could ever experience from a casino’s gaming floor is the empty wallet you almost always end up walking out of the room with. Dead Man’s Hand, a movie from 2007, however, tries to show us that there’s more scares to be had in casinos.
Dead Man’s Hand – also (sadly) known as The Haunted Casino – is a movie about a group of friends who decide to visit a derelict casino that one of them has just inherited from a diseased uncle. Of course, the movie follows a trope that we’ve all seen before: protagonist inherits something that turns out to be haunted, and protagonist must somehow save himself and his friends/family from dying because of this haunted inheritance. It’s the same stuff we see in Th13en Ghosts and even in a Futurama episode where Bender inherits a mansion from his Uncle Vladimir.
The said casino is apparently haunted by the ghosts of a Las Vegas mobster, Roy “The Word” Donahue, and his men, and the group of friends must somehow find a way to live through the night in the decrepit gaming hall. The movie itself is dull, and there’s no action until the end of the movie, and Dead Man’s Hand turns out to be 75 minutes of people dying by contrived methods. There’s nothing new – it’s just a movie about someone inheriting something that promises wealth, but results in death.
Dead Man’s Hand had a lot of potential – it took a trope and added the twist of seeing it placed in a setting we don’t see too often. It’s a trend we’re seeing more of, not just in movies but in casino games themselves. Just as Spin Genie adds action adventure elements to the classic slot machine, Bally Technologies also creates slot machines built with elements of a rhythm game, which are now some of the most popular games in Vegas. The ability to twist something that’s become so overwrought is one that’s treasured in all movies, especially those from the horror genre, and the unexpected is always appreciated. We look at movies like The Cabin in the Woods, which had great plot twists that didn’t take away from the horror of the film, but added to it.
Sadly, the execution was obviously not well thought out. There was so much more that they could have done to turn that casino horror movie into something all of us can relate to today. For instance, casinos today now offer so many promotions to loyal players and high rollers, and this is something they could have used to their advantage. Internet gaming has been giving land-based casinos a run for their money, resulting in casino hosts offering unrealistic comps to their guests just to get them to play more.
These comps can sometimes include whole suites and week-long stays at high-end casinos. What if a guest was comped a room that turned out to eat people alive, like the infamous room in 1408 or in Silent Hill 4: The Room? It also turns out that casino staff go through a wealth of bizarre experiences – why not shift the view a little and focus on a dealer or a security guard who witnesses strange sightings in a casino for once?
Casinos don’t get a lot of attention in horror movies, and movies like Dead Man’s Hand are probably the reason. With poorly executed films like these, audiences become averse to watching anything that promises horror, but has its story set in a casino.
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