TAROT

US, 2024, 92 minutes, Colour.

Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Jacob Batalon, Olwyn Fouere.

Directed by Spencer Cohen, Anna Halberg.

In the first years of the 2020s, there was an abundance of popular horror films, generally with a younger cast, gatherings, risky playing of games, seances, dabbling in the occult… And, here, the reading of tarot cards.

The film received very hostile reviews but was popular with cinema audiences and then on streaming, making a substantial profit on a comparatively low budget.

Once again there is a group, this time seven, gathering together in an empty house for a birthday celebration. The film takes some time delineating the characters. Then, there is exploration in some of the old parts of the house, the discovery of some tarot cards. The central character has a talent for reading the cards and so each of the characters asks for a reading, and identification with a card character, especially with the death connections – High Priestess, Hermit, Hanged Men….

So, an atmosphere, and then, step-by-step, most of the characters experiencing a gruesome death according to the title of their card. (But, there is a touch of comic relief when one of the characters is saved by a roommate and mixed identity and an elevator door… .)

The character with a talent for reading the cards then consults an old expert, played by Irish actress with a talent for this kind of role, Olwyn Fouere (The Watchers) who explains everything, but undergoes her own death. The narrative then goes back to past centuries, an expert in cards, in Hungary, curses and death, the death of his daughter, motivation for vengeance.

A happy ending, after the gruesome deaths, the central couple are able to undo the curse and survive.

An occult thriller more for a young adult audience.