The year 2024 has been a thrilling year so far for horror fans with films like ‘The First Omen’, ‘Immaculate’, ‘Abigail’, etc, ruling the box offices. Another addition to this list is ‘Tarot’, directed by Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen, this film banks on one of the oldest tools used in witchcraft and the occult, tarot cards. The film is based on a 1992 novel, 'Horrorscope', by Nicholas Adams.
The story revolves around a group of friends who who book a mansion for a night of fun and drinking. In the basement, they stumble upon an old deck of tarot cards. The protagonist, Hailey, played by Harriet Slater, knows how to read tarot cards so the rest of the group force her to read their horoscopes. She warns the others that it is dangerous to use someone else’s deck of cards but nobody listens to her.
The film cuts to the group switching off all the lights and lighting candles to “set the mood” while Hailey starts shuffling the cards. One by one, she reads each person’s horoscope. And the next morning, they all go back home.
It seems like harmless fun but slowly, all the horoscope predictions start coming true. In lethal ways. The group members start getting killed off in ways the horoscope predicted.
The film is a very creative narrative piece. It keeps you guessing till the end. It uses an ancient tool meant for guidance as a tool for destruction. The tarot deck in the movie is hand painted and the creatures that come out of it look terrifying. The jump scares are fun and the suspense is intense.
The lighting and the cinematography is brilliant. The lighting played a huge role in building the intensity during tense scenes. They played a lot of with colours and it really came together at the end.
The film’s highlight is Jacob Batalon’s performance. He plays Paxton who is the funniest out of the whole ensemble. Batalon is best known for his performance in the ‘Spiderman’ trilogy alongside Tom Holland and Zendaya.
The film also stars Avantika Vandanapu who plays Paige. Her performance is also attention grabbing. She was last seen in ‘Mean Girls’ (2024) alongside Renee Rapp.
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