Danny's Horror Report: Tarot (2024)

 Written By: Danny Albers 

2024 has been a year that has seen some rather corny horror films be brought to the big screen. None of those films have been more corny than Tarot. A cast of young beautiful actors in their 20s make up the cast for this horror film. Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home) plays Paxton, Larsen Thompson (Pearl) plays Elise, Avantika Vandanapu (Mean Girls) plays Paige, Humberly Gonález (Utopia Falls) plays Madeline, Adain Bradley (Wrong Turn) plays Grant, Wolfgang Novograts (Yes, God, Yes) plays Lucas, and Harriet Slater (Pennyworth) plays the lead role in Haley.  

Recap 

The Story takes place in Massachusetts where the group stays at a rental in the middle of nowhere. The friends are having one last party before going back to campus for the start of the school year. Out of alcohol, they look around the rental for something fun. They find a room that was locked and has a bunch of divination equipment. They find these old creepy Tarot cards that look hand painted. Haley, one of the friends who got into Tarot readings when her mom was sick, agrees to use the deck to read everyone's future. Each person has their fortunes told, getting the following horoscopes… 

Paxton = The Joker 

Elise = The High Priestess 

Lucas = The Hermit

Madeline = The Hanged Man 

Paige = The Magician 

Grant = The Devil 

Haley = Death 

Unknowing at the time, this is a cursed deck of cards. All the characters that each person got will end up turning into a real demonic entity to kill them. The first to die after the trip is Elise, who’s killed with an attic ladder by The High Priestess. Concerned about their friend, the group meet to mourn Elise. Lucas leaves and is killed by The Hermit in the trainyard. Now suspicious that something sinister is happening, the group begin to investigate what might be happening, and link their horoscope readings to the death of their two friends. They find a woman who suffered a similar fate and blames a deck of cards exactly like the ones they played with as the culprit. She tells them the story of an astrologer who served a Hungarian Count in the 18th century. The astrologer’s daughter was killed when the grief stricken count attempted to exact his revenge. She would kill herself, but before doing that would curse the Count and his men, and anyone who has a reading done with her cards. After Madeline is killed on a bridge by The Hanged Man, and Paxton is seemingly killed by the Joker, Paige, Grant, and Haley go to the home with the old woman who’s researched this deck. The old woman, named Alma, attempts to use the deck to draw out the spirit of the astrologer. It all goes wrong when the astrologer appears and uses the Six of Swords card to kill Alma. After Paige is killed by The Magician, Haley decides to read the astrologer’s horoscope. Haley draws the death card for the astrologer, and the deck, along with the astrologer is burned. Haley and Grant survive, and Paxton returns. The movie ends with a comedic relief flashback to Paxton being saved by his roommate entering the elevator causing the Joker to disappear. 

Thoughts 

A solid concept with some creepy moments, the movie had some terrible acting. The graphics were pretty cheap despite having a little bit of nightmare fuel into them. The story of the astrologer and the final scene to Haley stopping the vengeful spirit felt a bit rushed and jumbled. Not to mention, the ending where Paxton appears for no reason at all was just one example of many random things that happened. Alma, whose role at one point seemed like it was going to be a major part in the story, was killed in just her second appearance in the movie. She really didn’t provide any aid to the group at all. The last ditch effort of reading the astrologer's horoscope almost seemed like an obvious idea that you’d try, even though anything seemed possible after the cards wouldn’t ignite. Besides the cheap jump scares and some of the creepy moments, the acting and effects were just a little bit too ridiculous to get into the film. 

Danny’s Star Grade: ★★★★ 4