Tarot

What if you could predict your own future or know what will happen to another person, would you want to know that? Personally? No thank you. I don´t need to know if i die in an accident or if something else will happen, whatever happens will happen for a reason and im pretty sure i can´t control that. If anyone else want to know their future from a fortune teller, a psychic or someone who is a tarot reader by all means i am sure they will help you. Since i mentioned tarot reader i have always wondered if tarot cards actually work. I am not planning to try them out myself but i do wonder how will these cards tell something about a person, and especially proof that they can tell the truth? I may never know but i am sure a tarot reader is convinced that the cards are telling the truth. Speaking of tarot cards there are some films that mention the use of tarot cards. One of the films that came to my mind is a film some of you might have seen at some point and that is the 1978 horror film The Manitou from director William Girdler ( director of the 1976 horror film Grizzly).  The Manitou was the final film from director William Girdler before he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1978 only 30 years old. The film tells the story of Karen Tandy ( Susan Strasberg ), who is suffering from a growing tumor on her neck. After a series of X-rays, two doctors, led by Dr. Jack Hughes ( Jon Cedar ), find evidence that it is a growing fetus. They advice Karen to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, she agrees despite some anxiety. Karen seeks the comfort of of an old friend fortune teller Harry Erskine ( Tony Curtis ). He is sure everything will be alright after the surgery is done, but have no idea what is growing inside of her is actually a 400-year-old Native American medicine man spirit. The Manitou is actually a solid horror film where the ending is a bit over the top but still entertaining. The tarot cards are actually included in some scenes but the film is more focused on the Native American medicine man spirit. If you have not seen it you should pick up a physical copy. Speaking of tarot cards this year we had a new horror film released called Tarot, a film that clearly wanted tarot cards to be the a big part of the plot of the film. I didn´t know much more than this since i have not even watched a trailer for the film and just saw the official poster ( which does look pretty cool honestly ). Being the big horror film fan that i am of course i had to give this film a chance. Is this one of the horror films you should be watching this summer or is Tarot just as bad as the 2008 album Slick Dog And Ponies ( where i can at least accept the song Tina ) from the San Diego band Louis XIV?

A group of college students, Haley ( Harriet Slater ), Grant ( Adain Bradley ), Paxton ( Jacob Batalon ), Paige ( Avantika Vandanapu ), Madeleine ( Humberly González ), Lucas ( Wolfgang Novogratz ), and Elise ( Larsen Thompson ) - rent a mansion in the Catskills for Elise´s birthday. With tension in the group following Haley and Grant´s recent breakup, they distract by having Elise read their horoscopes with the help of a very old Tarot deck she found in the basement. What they don´t know is that these cards will show what they must face before they are dead, that each character on their final card will be their final destiny.

Since i have been watching horror films since the 80´s i have seen so much that very few horror films these days either feel interesting or try anything interesting. Even though we have seen tarot cards being used in horror films in the past it is not very often we see a film focused on specific tarot cards and for that i have to say they at least have made an attempt to do something interesting with Tarot. I can´t really think of any horror film recently that is especially focused on unique designed tarot cards so this is an interesting detail. When i watched this film i was reminded of the 2001 horror film Thir13en Ghosts from director Steve Beck. In what way you might ask? Well in this film we are presented with different kinds of ghosts who kill victims in different ways. In the horror film Tarot we see something similar where each character on the tarot cards also kill each victim in different ways. Just to make it clear this doesn´t mean these two films are connected in any way but i can see it´s possible that the makers of Tarot might have been inspired by horror films such as Thir13en Ghosts. Ok so let´s talk about the positive things regarding this film. Each of the evil entity on each tarot card actually have a cool design, no matter if we are talking costume design or entity design i do appreciate the effort they put into making each evil character work. I actually feel like it is these evil characters that make the horror scenes work. The tarot card themselves are designed really cool and this is a important detail since the film is focused on the faith of these cards, since they can predict your future you know it might end badly. For being a PG-13 horror film i have to say some scenes are pretty effective considering how limited they are, they can´t show too much and can´t be too violent. So let´s mention the negative and i have to say the young characters of this film doesn´t really work that well. We don´t find out much about them or you won´t feel that you have to care for them. I think with stronger human characters this film could have been more interesting. Not saying all of the young actors are bad but clearly they didn´t put much effort telling us anything about their lives. Other than that i have to say im surprised since Tarot feels like a 90´s college horror film and it´s actually not a bad one. Considering the limited resources for PG-13 i have seen a lot worse than Tarot and that´s good enough for me. If you enjoy college horror films and don´t want too much blood or violence this could be what you are looking for. Directors Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg deliver a simple but effective horror film that shouldn´t be taken too seriously. I might have to change my mind and get myself tarot cards after watching this film, who knows i might be more lucky than i expected.

Rating: DDD