The Wasteland Reviewer

Tarot (2024) Written Review

Do you have that person in your life who is all about astrology and every decision you make and every trait you possess is all about your sign? Or…are you that person? We have all met them…or married them (like in my case) but there are plenty of people out there that put a lot of stock in astrology, horoscopes, and tarot readings. There is no surprise then that a horror film found its way to cinemas that lean directly into that demographic. An evil spirit possesses a deck of tarot cards and those whose horoscopes are read will be dead. 

That sounds like fun, right? Well…it could have been. There are very limited positives that arise from this film. The basic idea of six friends each being taken out by the face cards of their tarot readings have potential. The main two positives of this film come from that idea. Jacob Batalon (of Spider-Man in the MCU fame) is the comic relief character and is stalked by The Fool. This sequence has a decent sense of humor and a unique looking entity to haunt Batalon. Then there is The Magician sequence which has some unique camera choices (peeking through a keyhole) as well as character designs and music that create this vintage magic show feel right out of something like The Prestige…except demented. But unfortunately…that is about it. 

Why do we care? The answer is…we don’t. Each character is a stereotypical representation of their Zodiac sign. There is no characterization outside of a checklist of traits to align them with their sign. At least Batalon’s Paxton can be funny (except it is quite inconsistent due to horrible dialogue). The script is full of lazy storytelling through its dialogue and all their thoughts and motivations are so lazily and bluntly spewed out. 90% of what they talk about is tarot and astrology, so we really don’t get to see these characters as real people. The performances are quite inconsistent with one of the leads being incredibly flat and uncharismatic.

Is the film even scary? Not really. The directors, Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, focus all their energy on auditory jump scares and it is at the detriment to the film.  The sounds are way too loud and get obnoxious after the first ten times they do it in the film. There are few fresh scares in the film especially when some of the entities turn out to be so bland and forgettable. There are also some serious issues with the lighting and editing. Your eyes might hurt by the end of the film because they chop up the editing so aggressively. There are also whole sections of “tension building” that are a moot point because you cannot see a thing anyway. 

How does Tarot stand out in a crowded world of horror films? The biggest flaw of the film is its overreliance on all stereotypical tropes in horror storytelling. There are so many moments of tipping hands with “someone not being shown to die” to “spelling out every detail of a kill in the dialogue earlier”. You have an overly familiar structure of the group being singled out one-by-one and being taken out. Then you have the group randomly looking information up on cheap looking websites and finding and an expert who happens to be and older woman who tries to help them. The worst part is the exposition dump from the expert that gives the whole backstory of the spirit which turns out to be a more interesting story than the one you are watching. 

Are you ready to get your cards ready at the cinema this weekend? You will probably want to skip this one. This is an inconsistently made and clunkily told horror film that is barely scary. Horror fans will be left incredibly disappointed, and this will not get the attention of non-fans. This high concept idea of haunted tarot cards never rises above just an idea. Tarot will make you want to get a second opinion on your horoscope today.