They never thought it would come to this. However, the group of friends had crossed a line and had unsealed the mysterious evil hiding within the Tarot cards. One by one, each of them has to confront their death.
REVIEW: I nearly felt the necessity to look for my diary and check whether or not it was January. This type of horror is often seen during the winter months. So, it was shocking to learn that Tarot would be released in May. It was quite unbelievable that there were no promotions whatsoever for the film, And this is the saddest part that I think. There are these posters everywhere, and the trailers are showed to the people all the time. However, I was surprised to see them one of the very few times we did have them. That is never a positive sign of the standard of a film. It was somewhat refreshing because I did not have any spoilers going in, however. This movie is so standard that I do not even have any doubt that I not only watched the trailer but the full movie while still a teen in the past.
Tarot tells the story of a group of college friends who are away for a weekend trip. As is the custom of all horror films, they come across a deck of Tarot cards in the basement and use them. What leads off as some simple horoscopes turns into the demise of the friends one by one, in accordance to their respective horoscopes. Yes, it is indeed as stupid as it sounds. Every possible pathetic cliché you can think of, they have it here. And considering the PG 13 age rating, there are soft, uninspiring kills and cheap jump scares. Without any proper introduction of what the antagonist’s strength is, the script just seems to create rules as and when it proceeds.
The film, and specifically the tenth minute which, just like the rest of this film, is painful to witness, features Tarots-cards shaped readings, which I had an idea would be infiltrating the movie at this time. Tarot is not for me; they do this a lot in this show and at least dub it scientifically sound. I always thought readings of astrology to be extremely uneducated, so seeing it occasionally video game like made me cringe. In fact, they highly trust such low accuracy prayers as readings. But don’t worry, there’s still a healthy dose of skepticism as people tend to be very cautious regarding their surroundings. It is amusing how at first, the characters and voiceover absolutely believed that they were cursed, then attempted to deny this and then moved back to the original point. Even after they’ve seen the ghosts, their friends dying, etc. I am sorry to tell you that you should expect to be rolling your eyes a lot during the film.
The only cast member that has even the slightest chance of performing is Jacob Battalion. Harriet Slater’s accent kept coming out and it was annoying. I remember loving Avantika in the Mean Girls musical but in this movie, she just disappears. Luckily she’s part of the only worthwhile murder in the film. There will be no claim made that horror films feature a cast who is pleasant to look at as a matter of necessity. It is however, a plus that is not essential. But if you are not going to give me someone to root for, then at least give me a villain to root for. Instead, we get one of the most unlikable casts in recent memory and a bland villain with little compelling motivation. Some of the creatures look interesting and advance the overall design, however they are poorly filmed and far too lit.
Such a dumb movie, what was its producers’ intentions other than making a bad low-budget horror movie? There’s so little inventiveness that it continues to be infuriating as it progresses. The designs of the monsters have not only been done already, but they also do not induce any genuine suspense. The archetypal figures are simply cliches who are always engaged in self sabotage. Even when one attempts to view it as a film with hoary politics, this film is devoid of any charm. Disparate characters, a flat antagonist, and a plot so twisted, it makes a directly revolving fan seem still to the average turd. So if you ever actually decide to risk and see this in the cinema, cherish your watching for its gonna be either the first or the last month of the year, either way, there is only one result: boredom.
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