So I watched the movie Tarot last night.
Tarot (2024) is a horror/supernatural movie that follows a group of college friends who stumble upon a deck of tarot cards. As usual, they aren't ordinary tarot cards—they are haunted. The cards are cursed by a witch, and their readings come to life, killing whoever they were used to read. It runs for 1hour 32minutes.
What made me pick this movie was the presence of two movie stars—Avantika Vadanapu, who starred in Mean Girls (2024) as Karen, and Jacob Batalon, famous for his role alongside Tom Holland in the Marvel Spider-Man series.
To be honest, I was curious about how their acting would be in the movie. Was this going to be a breakthrough or new discovery in their acting skills? Well, they did well, but I will say I expected more than I got. I was hoping to see a whole new side of their performance.
Visually, the movie was exceptional in certain moments—the shifts in lighting later in the movie created an eerie atmosphere as the horror unfolded. They were quite clever with some camera movements that made the movie engaging and prevented it from looking dull. The creativity in the card horror visuals was also impressive. The way the readings, characters’ personalities, and supernatural spirits matched was cool and clever.
I saw that they tried to give all the characters more depth. They did well in making them unique, but when it came to Paige’s character development, I feel like they just rushed it and gave her something random.
However, the storytelling and plot were just too cliché. I feel they didn't bring anything new to the horror genre. The movie had a nice setup and had room for so much more, but it failed in execution. Some parts felt rushed, and they ended up borrowing a lot from past horror movies.
Most of their jump scares were predictable. In many scenes, they successfully build tension but cut it off before reaching a true climax. The horror would have been more effective if certain scenes had been completed and all deaths had been shown on-screen.
Also, there wasn't really a good explanation for Paxton surviving. I mean, they found a way to get Madeline out of the car with the others, even though the way the cards worked was quite obvious. So why was he an exception? Or was Paxton just lucky?
I don't take luck and horror mixing well.
For some characters, the time they took to realize the horror didn't feel natural. From the second death onward, with Haley and the other’s opinions on the cause, it was obviously supernatural. So I don’t really know what would make someone still reject the clear truth when there was no other possible explanation.
Another letdown was the dialogue. It was just too plain—nothing exceptional. The only person who stood out was Jacob Batalon. His comedic dialogue brought a fun element to the film, but like I said, that’s what I know him for, and I expected something different.
Overall, I can say it's a mixed bag. But I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is looking for fresh horror or even peak fright.
I would give it a 3.5/5 rating.
Here is the official trailer
Thanks for reading