Plot: What’s it about?
Tarot seems like a movie from a bygone era. I’m not talking about a classic bygone era that produced some great films, I’m talking of films from the early 2000’s that, well, we’d like to forget. The film borrows heavily from the ever popular Final Destination series (take your pick of any of the films as they’re essentially all the same) and maybe even a little from the more recent Ouija. Or not. I didn’t do that much research. And I do have to say that I was intrigued by the premise: tarot cards. Regardless of your opinions on the occult, I did do a deep dive on tarot cards a while back in my life. I never read them (or put any stock in their “fortunes”) but the concept did fascinate me. Then again the logical part of me says that a deck of cards flipped over by some woman charging $40/hour might not be the way I should pattern my life after. At any rare, we’re here so let’s see what the cards have in store for us.
We meet a group of seven friends who are on vacation at a house in the Catskills. After consuming all the alcohol, they go looking for more only to stumble upon a deck of, you guessed it – old Tarot cards. Of course, one of them, Haley (Harriet Slater) just so happens to be able to “read” them and proceeds to give everyone their fortunes. The only thing is that, by doing this, they’re breaking the first rule of Tarot card-reading: don’t use someone else’s deck. It’s not long afterwards when they return to school (in a school where they appear to be the only students) and things start happening. One by one the fortunes start to come true and we find our young stars and starlets dying. It’s up to the surviving group to figure out a way to alter the fates and avoid this evil-looking creature who has a penchant for opening doors with its extraordinary long fingers. Will they do it or are the doomed to let their futures come true?
Movies like this usually come out in January, when the studios dump their “B” list stuff in an effort to get it out there. Surprisingly, this came out in May – not exactly the most opportune time to release a horror movie. But…here we are. Also, given the film’s PG-13 rating, we don’t really get any “cool” kills, so I wonder if the film was made to be PG-13 or it was an R and they tried to reach the larger audience that a PG-13 rating would impact? Nevertheless, my wife and I made a game of this large, ethnically-diverse cast to see how they’d die and in what order. We were wrong, but it made watching this 92 minutes snoozefest a little more enjoyable. The good news (or bad, depending on your perspective) is that the film did manage to make back about 5 times its budget. So will we see a Tarot 2 in our future? Let’s let the cards decide…
Video: How’s it look?
The movie itself is very dark, though the image is rarely compromised. Black levels are solid, I noticed no compression or artifacting in the least. Detail is razor sharp as well. It’s a very dark movie with most of the scenes taking place in empty corridors, train stations and dorm rooms that seemingly house the members of the staff. Some of the images of “the creature” do look pretty good. The 2.391 AVC image does a great job of handling the scenes offering up strong contrast and solid black levels.
Audio: How’s it sound?
By my count there are 17, count ’em, 17 jump scares. That’s just a tad too much, don’t you think? This is in an industry where you get two, perhaps three chances to “get” the audiences. I guess the filmmakers didn’t get that memo. Having said that, the included DTS HD Master Audio mix does a fine job of handling them, even though they lose their efficacy very early on. The usual caveats are there with strong surrounds, a well-balanced front stage and rock solid vocals. This fills out the technical specs very nicely.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- A Twist of Fate: Making the Film – There’s only so much back-patting one person can stand in a seven minute feature, but they do their best to tell us “how great the script was” and how they “loved making the movie!” In case you haven’t guessed, this is a talking head piece with plenty of sound bytes.
- Circle of Friends – Essentially this focuses on the cast who are, well, really the only members of the film. Awww…they all seem to really like one another.
- Killer Outtakes – Pretty much that – some outtakes from the movie.
The Bottom Line
I’ve read mixed reviews of this film. Some people actually loved it. I won’t say that I totally hated it, but like so many others it’s just tired, boring and predictable. If this is your thing, though, it looks and sounds good though the scant offering of supplements leaves a little to be desired.
