Movie Review: Tarot (2024)

Mix the Teen Horror with “Death’s Hourglass”, “You Can’t Fight Fate” and “Cruel and Unusual Death” tropes, and what do you get? “Final Destination”? Well, that was back in 2000. In 2024 one gets “Tarot”: a supernatural horror film written during COVID pandemic; based on themes found in a novel, released in 1992, titled “Horrorscope”, written by Nicholas Adams. (Btw, a strange coincidence; an album titled “Horrorscope” was released by a thrash metal band Overkill a year earlier.) All in all, that sounds like the ever so uncertain fate and future both are antagonistic. “Tarot” movie is here to serve you exactly that: the antagonistic future; your fears of a bleak, cruel and grisly future played out on screen with a lot of darkness. Alongside that it is also a fine invitation to ponder if the notion of fate has any meaning at all, and what that would, or wouldn’t be.

WHAT I LIKED

• The work of artists that the movie showcases. Particularly the Tarot deck designed by artist Richard Wells as well as the supernatural entities by special effects and creature effects designer Dan Martin, and concept artist Trevor Henderson. Depending on your degree of familiarity with Tarot; the concepts, the archetypes and the history of it all, you may or may not know, designing cards that convey the meaning, which is capable of evoking certain associations in their reader is a no small feat. The artistic flair and finesse in the new "Tarot" movie, given the movie’s themes and intentions, is a pleasure to enjoy. If you are looking for a horror movie, where cinematography and visual arts in general are a feast for the eyes while the way the premise is being presented is of little significance to you, "Tarot" should be fit for the purpose.

_{The Fool with Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen at "Tarot" Los Angeles Influencers Screening, at Culver Theater on April 30, 2024 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Sony Pictures) Source}

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

• The above is quite possibly the only reason "Tarot" has to be watched. Depending on how serious one wants to get about Tarot deck in general, there are going to be things in the movie that may get one facepalming. Take for instance the moment the movie gets to the infamous and controversial The Devil card. We can hear the mention of the dark shadowy side of personality yet the whole deck looks like one designed for exploring just that. No less noticeable is the fact astrology in the Tarot movie takes into account only the Sun sign an individual would be born under. This is the standard for horoscopes in a newspaper, which is fine since they have to generalize it, but for individual readings that is just not how it would all work.
• While the taking of an abstract concept or idea and putting it on screen in a manner where it’s been understood directly has its appeal; especially in a horror genre, the way the direct, material aspect had been reconciled with the immaterial idea of the concept in question often makes that appeal or breaks it. The Tarot movie seems to approach the aforementioned by turning the Tarot deck into a tool of laying curses on people. It would all be fine and dandy, but at times the fantasy with dark occult and supernatural features had been understood as a mandate to disregard the boundaries of suspension of disbelief. It might just be me, but in my humble opinion, the suspension of disbelief can only be stretched so far. “Hellraiser” at least made it clear there was another dimension besides this physical one we all inhabit, with boundaries between the two that were clearer than those in the new “Tarot” movie. “The Grudge” had always seemed to me to be humble in respect to the impossible. “Tarot”, by comparison, prefers to trip out. This particularly applies to the scenes involving The Fool and The Magician. I know, complaining about such a transgression may seem ridiculous as there are so many “sinners” out there. But I have to say, in “Tarot” the juxtaposition between the scenes involving a different reality altogether, and the intent to turn an abstract concept into material one seemed like a particularly provocative act aimed at my ever so important suspension of disbelief.

Peer Ynt
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