A group of 7 college friends get together together for the weekend, renting a remote mansion in the Catskills to celebrate one of their birthdays. After lots of drinking by a campfire, they realize they’re out of alcohol and start rummaging through the house looking for more booze. In the basement, they come across an old tarot deck. Haley (Harriet Slater, Belgravia: The Next Chapter, Pennyworth), a strong believer in astrological things, reluctantly decides to use the cards to read everyone’s horoscopes, starting with birthday girl Elise (Larsen Thompson, The Midnight Club) and her girlfriend Paige (Avantika, Mean Girls). She then goes around the room telling the rest of the folks their fates—technology addict Madeline (Humberly González, Ginny & Georgia), joker and true crime podcast addict Paxton (Jacob Batalon, Reginald the Vampire, Spider-Man franchise), sensitive romantic Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser), skeptic Grant (Adain Bradley, The Bold and the Beautiful), who just recently broke up with Haley, and finally her own. Most of them are happy and intrigued by their fortunes, but laugh it off as an amusing party trick. Though to the viewer of this horror film, they all sound very ominous and forboding.
The next day, they head back home, and that’s when the terror begins. The friends start to die off, one by one, in what appear to be simple accidents. However, it is the figures from the Tarot cards that are coming to life and making dark and horrific interpretations of the victims’ horoscopes come true. Once the remaining, terrified survivors identify the pattern, they band together, consulting odd astrology expert Alma (Olwen Fouéré, The Watchers), who is all too familiar with their story. She warns them that their readings came from a cursed tarot deck that was bound to the soul of an ancient, spurned astrologer (Sunčica Milanović). They must find and destroy the deck before it’s too late, if they have any hope of escaping the dark side of their fates. However, they are up against a dangerous, evil force, that isn’t going to make this an easy task.
I first saw this film in the theater and was a bit underwhelmed. However, I enjoyed it a lot more this second time around watching at home. While Tarot is pretty formulaic in its story structure, and slightly predictable at times, the filmmakers do a nice job of building the tension and slowly revealing each of the creatures. There are some really effective jump scares to keep you on the edge of your seat. The film is rated PG-13, so it doesn’t have the bloodier and more gruesome kills you would see in a Saw movie, but some of the off-screen scares are just as effective, making excellent use of a well-designed soundscape to make you visualize what’s going on. The film does have several more cliched moments, such as your typical scene of the victim trying to hide from a monster as it hunts for them, covering their mouth as they try to stifle a scream as the creature gets extremely close. And even though I’ve seen this a thousand times, it still works.
The young cast is quite good overall, and do feel like a genuine group of friends. Along with the tension and horror, there is a lot of humor thrown it, often via Jacob Batalon’s character. The emotional core of the film is the character of Haley, who we learn got into astrology as a way to try to control and change the fate of her sick mother. But every time she did a reading, she received the message that love would be the death of her. She feels a bit responsible for what is going on as she is the one who read the horoscopes. She also recently broke up with her boyfriend (who could now be one of the potential victims) and is thrust into this life and death situation along with him.
Sony has released Tarot on physical media on Blu-ray and DVD, but it is also available digitally in 4K. I was sent the Blu-ray release for review, which features excellent picture and sound. The film can be quite dark at times, but the blacks are quite solid with no signs of crush. Even in these darker moments as characters carry lanterns or are sit by a fire or candlelight, the glowing orange never bleeds into the rest of the picture. In general, colors look natural, and the level of detail, especially in faces, is excellent throughout. The film’s audio presentation is even more impressive, providing a thoroughly-immersive experience. Whether it’s the sounds of voices and strange noises coming from every direction or creepy creaking overhead, the audio completely fills the room, and makes excellent use of the full spectrum.
The Blu-ray disc resides in standard HD keepcase—our review copy did not include a slipcover—but does includes redemption instructions for an HD digital copy. The disc contains a small but entertaining selection of bonus material— just 2 six-minute behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast/crew, and a 2-minute gag reel.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:31:57)
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Audio Descriptive Service, French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French Audio Descriptive Service, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Thai 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai
- HD Digital Copy, redeemable via Movies Anywhere or Vudu
- A Twist of Fate: Making the Film (6:10)
The writers discuss the genesis of the film and how their short film Blink garnered Sony’s attention, working with tarot and astrology experts to root the film in fact, how the film is a reflection of the time when it was written during the pandemic, shooting in Serbia, what makes a good scare and slowly revealing the creatures, and more. The cast talk about their favorite creatures. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writers/directors Spenser Cohen & Anna Halberg, and stars Jacob Batalon (“Paxton”), Wolfgang Novogratz (“Lucas”), Avantika (“Paige”), Humberly González (“Madeline”), Larsen Thompson (“Elise”) & Adain Bradley (“Grant”).
- Circle of Friends (6:41)
The cast and crew discuss the actors, characters, and their favorite scenes. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writers/directors Spenser Cohen & Anna Halberg, and stars Larsen Thompson, Avantika, Jacob Batalon, Wolfgang Novogratz, Adain Bradley & Humberly González. - Killer Outtakes (2:26)
Fun with the cast as they flub and improv lines, make each other laugh, and have fun on set. - Previews (10:10)
Trailers for Insidious: The Red Door (2:32), Thanksgiving (2:29), Madame Web (2:34) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2:33) play back-to-back.
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Blu-ray:
Digital (Limited time offer):
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
Tarot is a pretty paint-by-numbers thriller, but it still quite creative and delivers on the tension and scares, and features some creepy and inventive character designs. It is only rated PG-13 so it lacks the bloody, gory kills of an R-rated horror movie, but makes up for this using an impressive audio presentation to evoke the imagination of the viewer. The film features a talented young cast who make a believable ensemble of friends. The video and especially the audio presentation of Sony’s Blu-ray release is quite impressive, and the disc contains a small assortment of bonus material. This release is worth a look for horror fans who don’t mind something a little less gory.
