Las Vegas, casinos, and gambling usually aren’t associated too much with anything horrific. However, if you get the right director and cast of actors to make a horror movie about them, you get the perfect backdrop for a terrifying experience.
This is a list of the five best horror movies with a gambling theme or backdrop. We looked into the history of the movie industry to find movies that would appeal best to the fans of gambling who want to have a little scare, and these are the films we came up with.
1. The Haunted Casino
Released in 2007, The Haunted Casino was first filmed under the working title “Dead Man’s Hand”, which is a reference to Wild Bill Hickok’s aces and eights hand that apparently cost him his life. The movie was renamed for the launch to one that reflects the actual action in a better way.
The Haunted Casino is a story of a man inheriting an old and forgotten casino on the outskirts of Sin City. When he and his friends go to visit the casino and see what kind of shape it’s in, they quickly realize that the place is haunted by the ghosts of the mobsters who used to run the place back in the 40s.
2. Spirits of the Dead
A somewhat older series of films from back in 1969, Spirits of the Dead depicts stories of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the best horror writers of all times. The second story of the series, which features the likes of Bridgette Bardot and Alain Delon talks about an Austrian officer who was stationed in Italy back in the 19th century.
The story includes some amazing gambling scenes, with nosebleed stakes and tense action between the main protagonists of the film. The originally Italian film was also released in the USA and UK and received mixed critics back in its day despite the star-studded cast.
3. Leprechaun 3
The third part of the horror series that first appeared on screens in the early 1990s, Leprechaun 3 was filmed in 1995. While there were 8 films made in total, the third one will be the most interesting to fans of gambling as it is set in Las Vegas itself, with casinos and gambling heavily featured in the backdrop.
The amazing Warwick Davis stars as the Leprechaun in this and five other parts of the series and does a fantastic job depicting the sinister character. Despite his incredible acting, the film’s popularity didn’t last too long, but it was the most successful movie that was released for video only in 1995.
4. Fright Night
Fright Night is probably one of the best horror movies set in Las Vegas, but the fact it doesn’t include too many actual gambling scenes is what made us not put it on the top of the list. If you want actual gambling, head over to Casinoble or another gambling-related site to find out where you can enjoy it, but as for Horror Movies, Fright Night is a must-watch.
The film tells a story of a teenage fan of horror movies who realizes his neighbor is a vampire and is ultimately forced to fight the beast on his own with family and friends not buying his story. Fright Night mixes horror with comedy and features amazing performances by the likes of Colin Farrell and David Tennant.
5. Remains
To be honest, remains ranks quite low on the list of the best horror movies of all times, as it’s just another zombie flick that was made based on a Steve Niles novel. The film was released in 2011 and the reason it made its way to our list is that it happens entirely inside a Reno casino. The film’s premise is somewhat silly, with an accidental nuclear apocalypse turning most of the population into zombies and leaving only a group of the Reno casino employees alive to fight for their lives.
