Tarot
Introduction
And so, I’m back, with yet another horror movie review, and it’s Tarot written and directed by Spencer Cohen. I was particularly excited about this one, as I also dabble in Tarot. Now, you may or may not believe it to be for reals, and that’s completely fair. But for the record, the movie doesn’t do a good job of showing Tarot card divination in a good light. It was a mess. A clusterfu*ck if I’d never seen one. So lets find out what went right (but mostly wrong) with a film which wasn’t bereft of ideas – only too scared to implement them.
Story & Screenplay
Six friends book a lonely villa (coz of course you do, how else would you be in a horror film). Suddenly they find a room that says ‘don’t enter’ and of course they do. Because this horror trope is akin to a Warner Bros cartoon, so far. They suddenly find an old, creepy Tarot card deck. Whose imaginary set of the creepies aren’t as dark as what will follow them. The resident Tarot Card reader (coz of course, one group has one), Haley (Harriet Slater) (hey, I didn’t bring out the nepotism debate) – just to put things in your understanding, is the one who one who can read the cards, even though she thinks it’s wrong to look into someone else’s deck (and was probably right). But her friends (and an ex boyfriend?) convince her to do it. She says mostly positive things about everyone in the room. All good, and all done. However, a mere days later they start dying one by one by the entity they chose in the Tarot. Haley (and her ex Adain Bradley) try to find clues as to who is taking their lives. Do they find out? Not an inch.
Direction
To use Tarot Cards as a horror medium should’ve been amazing. Yet, Stephen Cohen (not to be confused with the legendary Coen brothers) manages to make it so inane, that you may grab a nap or two in between. There are a couple of jump scares that are actually scary. But the movie in its entirety? Not really. Many scenes are disconnected. As are many characters. In fact, none of them have any character stakes we can build into. Yes, they managed to find 6 actors of different racial backgrounds. Now, come on, try hard in making them matter, or to even be influenced by each other. They ALL act the same. The deaths are unimaginative, the patterns are known to all. Ah, come on. Give me more. The dialogues? Yeah, I remember this particularly amazing dialogue called ‘run!!!’. Never heard that one before.
Performances
Jacob Patalon as Paxter stands out as the comic relief in the movie, having played similar roles in the Spider Man series, and Let It Snow, is the only shining beacon in this otherwise, unholy, pile of mediocrity. Harriet Slater as Haley is fine in her role as the damsel in distress. Adain Braidley as Grant is just about okay. But you can see his deficiencies in the more emotional bits. Humberly Gonzalez, as an influencer herself, manages to do the part decently enough. Same for Avantika Vandanika, does her bit well, it’s the writing that let’s then down. There’s not a lot to differentiate between the six. So how do we, an audience, build an emotional connection with them?
Conclusion
Tarot doesn’t just sully the name of Tarot cards as a divination unit medium, but is also a horrifying (not in the good way) horror movie, which will be predictable from start to end.
