Blackjack and horror movies – on paper you wouldn’t think that these two things go together. One is about scaring people straight and the other is about basic arithmetic. While blackjack and other casino card games have made an appearance in some movies, including zombie action movie Resident Evil: Extinction and the Fright Night reboot, it may not be the most overt of pairings.
But when you look below the surface, the two entertainment genres have a lot of similarities. Their shared appeal means that they could learn a lot from each other; let’s explore how.
How Blackjack Keeps the Suspense Levels High
The first thread running from blackjack and horror movies is that both put a significant focus on suspense. In blackjack, the suspense is one of the most exciting aspects of the game. Your heart pounds as you wait for the next card to be placed as you wonder whether the next card will be the one that makes your hand go bust. Or, will your bet turn up good and you win the game with a face card and an Ace? This suspense is famous, to the point where even books about blackjack focus on it, as highlighted in this excellent list of blackjack books. In Glen Wiggy’s 2012 book 1536 Free Waters and Other Blackjack Endeavors, for example, players are kept on the edge of their seats wondering what madcap and ridiculous adventures Wiggy will find himself tackling next. Even the suspense of finding out what the deal is with those 1536 glasses of water is suspense in itself.
Why Horror Movies Should Embrace Originality
In line with the suspense factor, blackjack is also about expecting the unexpected. Card counting is frowned upon by casinos, but part of the fun (and the tactical element of the card game) is trying to expect the unexpected and not be taken off guard. The purpose of shuffling the cards is so that players don’t know what’s coming next! Comparatively, everyone knows the most famous horror movie tropes, including the old-fashioned jump-scare, the lack of cell phone coverage, and the decision to visit creepy, abandoned places. But viewers have seen it all before so, just like blackjack dealers, it’s time for horror movie writers to shuffle the deck and embrace originality.
Blackjack isn’t very scary, but it could provide horror movie fans with some thrills. Meanwhile, horror movies aren’t known for being cerebral, but perhaps the strategic planning of how a victim is going to escape will provide entertainment for blackjack players too.
