Movie Review ~ Tarot

Great Britain’s Aidan Heslop is the latest gold medalist in high diving at the World Aquatics Championship held in Doha, Qatar, this past February.  On the other side of the world, Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo are the reigning champions of the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest (he can eat 62, she can down 39.5 in 10 minutes).  All three perfected their skill level over time and reached the top by working toward a goal and easing into their comfort level, not rushing blindly into the unknown.  Learning, applying, and modifying your habits and palate takes time to become well-rounded wherever you place your passion.

In a similar way (bear with me, I am going somewhere), Tarot can be seen as a fine little primer for budding horror fans who are too old to watch Casper for the hundredth time but too young to move into the R-rated aisle where Freddy, Jason, Pinhead, Jigsaw, and Michael Myers live.  Bloody brutality has its time, place, and intended audience, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping it safe and simple at the outset while they learn where they like to find their fear.  While seasoned scare chasers are likely to walk away terribly unfulfilled, consider the next (or next next) generation of #horrorfans coming up that might watch Tarot and enjoy its lo-burn chills.

I’m of the era that fondly remembers the suspenseful novels of Lois Duncan and the haunting tales of Caroline B. Cooney.  With their creepy covers promising fearsome happenings, most were of the standard angsty high school variety with more ‘accidents’ than actual murders. Still, occasionally, one would come around that would force you to keep the nightlight on.   So, it’s interesting to find that Tarot is based on the 1992 novel Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams but given a modern twist by directors Spenser Coen and Anna Hallberg.

A birthday weekend in the Catskills for a group of college friends goes south when they venture into the off-limits basement of their rented home.  Retrieving an ornate deck of tarot cards stashed away on a shelf, birthday girl Elise (Larsen Thompson) asks Haley (Harriet Slater, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) to read her fortune, and the others follow suit.  Begging off the task at first because she’s aware that using a stranger’s deck is taboo, her friends, including Paige (Avantika, Mean Girls), Madeline (Humberly González, great name), and Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz, even better name) prod her into flipping the cards to tell them what their future holds.  

None of them realize at the time that the deck once belonged to The Astrologer (Sunčica Milanović), an 18th-century mystic for a nobleman punished horrifically for her readings.  Cursing her deck so that anyone who dares to use it will meet an untimely demise, it has made its way through the centuries, leaving destruction in its wake.  When Haley and her friends toyed with it for fun, they set off a chain of Final Destination-style fatal events that align eerily with their fortunes, forcing them to solve the mystery of the cards if they hope to survive its relentless attack.

While adaptations of YA horror novels are less common these days (hold the presses, did I just read that a reboot of Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer is in the works for Summer 2025??), Tarot manages to capture the, ahem, spirit of its source material and distinguish itself with performances that rise above the norm.  Slater makes for a compassionate lead, intelligent enough to know she’s crossed a line but not so clever as to avoid letting her friends get picked off rapidly. 

I’m not sure if Jacob Batalon’s (Lift) comic relief worked as well as he thinks it did or if Adain Bradley’s (Wrong Turn) love interest character would ever have added much, but these are necessary stock characters in these set-ups.  Despite her limited screen time, Olwen Fouéré (Sea Fever) makes a significant impression as an occult expert with a personal history with the destructive deck.  Throw in a few clever plot twists and a kind of junior detective air of sleuthin’, and you have a passable diversion that parents can put on during a teenager sleepover without having to monitor for content.

While Tarot stays safely within its PG-13 rating, this limitation can be a double-edged sword.  It restricts the film from delving into the darker, more mature themes that its storyline could potentially explore, not to mention removing any bloody business entirely.  Gore hounds should take note; this is not your jam. Consequently, the reliance on conventional jump scares over psychological depth leaves the narrative somewhat constrained.  In fact, Joseph Bishara’s (Malignant) score relies heavily on sudden crescendos to amplify its ‘gotcha’ frights, which detracts from the subtler, more effective tension-building Coen (Moonfall) and Hallberg attempt through a few disturbing visuals.

As part of an introductory lesson to the terror teens of tomorrow, Tarot serves as a middle-of-the-road entry into the not-so-crowded-anymore YA horror genre.  While I wanted it to have a bit more bite and less reliance on jump scares, it stands out for its engaging performances and visually striking sequences. However, it is held back by a curious obedience to clichés under its conservative rating.  Taken in the proper context, it can be a decent respite from the tortured violence that’s become more mainstream, making its reliance on thrills less hard-edged almost refreshingly uncomplicated.