I’m someone who usually picks any TV show or movie from Netflix’s top 10 charts, so being a horror fan, I decided to watch Tarot, a 2024 horror film that is currently ranked third on the streaming platform. The film revolves around seven teenagers who decide to spend one of their friends’ birthdays in a spooky house. However, like many other teen horror movies on Netflix, we see them doing exactly what they shouldn’t be doing.
Is it worth looking at Tarot?
If you like watching teen dramas or movies, you should give it a try, but if you’re someone who likes horror content from the Fear Street trilogy, you might want to sleep on it for another night.
Tarot doesn’t bring anything new to the table. We see the same old story that’s been around for decades: a group of friends, a scary place, and some stupid decisions. That’s what the movie is about. I had trouble remembering the characters’ names even after watching the whole movie because I didn’t get a chance to get to know them in the movie.
The film begins with the celebration of Elise’s (Larson Thompson) birthday, who wanted our lead Haley (Harriet Slater) to read her horoscope using the tarot card deck they found at the spooky place. I mean, who does that? I would never do that on one of my birthdays, or any other day; I’d rather celebrate the day with my friends. Regardless, a bad decision executed brilliantly makes for a good movie, but Tarot is far from that.
There are no surprises; everything that happens in the film is completely predictable. The ghosts don’t even give you goosebumps. When I first started watching Tarot, I thought it would be a bit like Final Destination, as it follows the same concept, which is “you can’t escape fate.” But soon my perception began to change. Elise, Paige (Avantika), Madeline (Humberly González) and Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz) were killed by the cursed cards and couldn’t be saved even when their friends tried to intervene.
Paxton (Jacob Batalon), on the other hand, is saved by his roommate Todd, who opens the elevator and prevents his death at the hands of the clown. Well, that doesn’t make sense; how can an outside force change a person’s fate?
In short, a ghost clown lets Paxton live just because his roommate comes. That’s a pretty comical explanation of events and actually undermines the deaths of other characters. I’m sure if those characters are now ghosts and watching Paxton from above, they’re surely wondering, “It was that easy, right?”
Haley and Grant (Adain Bradley), on the other hand, finally defeat the astrologer by lifting the curse that is on her. The witch uses her ghostly powers to prevent Alma, the old lady, from lifting a finger, but she lets Haley read her horoscope, which again doesn’t quite make sense.
For me, the film was a boring experience; I don’t know how it got a chance to hit the big screen before it came out on Netflix.
Is Tarot based on a true story?
No, Tarot is not based on a true story. It is a fictional film and does not draw inspiration from any real event.
In summary, Tarot is another run-of-the-mill story about tarot card readings gone wrong, with hardly any jump scares. However, if you’re in the mood for a mindless flick with teen drama, Tarot is a good weekend movie. Instead, we recommend checking out It Ends With Us, a romantic drama based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name. It Ends With Us is currently in theaters.
