Tarot - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Tarot



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
As an avid consumer of horror films I have to have a sort of jaded “dulled” mentality when it comes to the genre. I mean, we all know that over half of the horror genre is cookie cutter jump scare films, with only a few moments of true innovation and culture affecting films midst a sea of utter tripe. And in that sort of jaded “dulled” state you have to simply enjoy the McDonalds like fast food entries that get pumped out year after year, or you simply lose interest in the genre completely. So it comes to NO surprise for any horror nerd that Tarot was never destined to be a 5 star Michelin dining course for the horror palate. Just one look at the trailer and audiences know exactly where this is headed, and director/writers Spenser Cohen (Co-Writer of Moonfall...which should tell you enough about the creative pedigree) and Anna Halberg do NOT disappoint in fulfilling our predictions down to the letter.

It’s Elise’s birthday (Larsen Thompson), so she and her friends head up to a remote cabin in the woods (never a good sign in a horror flick) to party the night away. After drinking up all the booze in the house, the group of friends start snooping around and stumble upon an ancient (and mysteriously creepy) set of tarot cards. Since Haley (Harriet Slater) is big into astrology, she agrees to read all of their fortunes to pass the time sans alcohol. All seems normal at first, but the next day upon returning to civilization the young adults find out that there was a little more to the cards than simply being a game.

One by one the fortunes start coming true, but in the worst possible way. First it’s Elise, then Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz), and soon the rest realize that they are dying at the hands of something malevolent. Using their online resources, Haley and the rest of the survivors track down a mysterious medium by the name of Alma (Olwen Fouere) who info dumps onto the rest of the group that the cards are a known cursed entity. Turns out that hundreds of years ago an astrologer was wronged by a Duke not satisfied with her reading, and in return she bound her soul to the cards so that she could enact revenge on everyone in the future who ever used them. Now it’s up to Haley, her ex boyfriend Grant (Adain Bradley) and the rest of the damned group to break the curse and change fate before it consumes them all.

Tarot is nothing if not cookie cutter horror. Everything from the setup, the villain, and even the resolution have been seen a million times before. A group of young people find a magical ancient artifact, use it’s power, get infected by a curse, then act in the most stupid way possible so that the curse can come true. Then rinse and repeat until “The Final Girl” figures out a way how to beat the demonic being. I mean, it doesn’t get any more cookie cutter than that. Well, except for the fact that we have the wise cracking fat friend (Spiderman’s Jacob Batalon), the buxom “dumb one”, a tentative romance, and of course PG-13 deaths that really don’t exactly excite the horror fanatics that much.

While most of the film plays out in the most safe and predictable manner known to man, I did kind of get a kick out of how they kind of stole the twist from The Wishmaster series. They are most certainly cursed, but much like Wishmaster which used a Djinn who fulfilled the wishers wishes in the most horrific ways possible, the cards simply predict your future, but turn the zodiac signs in on themselves, so that the person has the worst possible reading of the cards come true instead of the normal way. It wasn’t much, but it was clever enough that I sort of had to tip my hat to it.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for horror violence, terror, bloody images, some strong language and drug content.




Video:

Shot using Arri and Sony cameras, the native 4K digital shoot looks really familiar for fans of digital photography. The film is SUPER dark, relying on shadows and dim woody surrounded lighting to cast the grim mood, and consequently has a sort of monochromatic look to the image. Ruddy browns and ashy grays dominate the picture from beginning to end, with only a few brief daylight shots to give it that crisp and shiny digital look. I did notice some very VERY minute banding, but the only real artifact of note for the whole film is that washed out “creamy” look in some of the shadowy sequences. Nothing that will ruin the film, but there is that distinctly milky look in some of the shots (one of the biggest and most notable is when Elise is going up the attic stairs where the first kill takes place). Overall looks good for the visual motif.









Audio:

As with most horror films, a lot of the scares are heavily supported by the audio mix, and while the film was deigned to have an Atmos track, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is still quite stellar. The creepy film is accentuated with a fairly straight forward “horror” score, but really makes up for the simplicity of the score with some amazing surround usage (such as the flitting around of the Astrologer as she stalks her victims) as well as some KILLER (pun intended) bass going on. There was more than ample time for some serious downbeats to slam the listener back into their chair as another dumb young adult gets hacked and slashed by the monster. Overall dynamic range is quite wide, letting the film sit in the whisper quiet range as the antagonists discuss their plans in hushed whispers, only for the next moment to feel your pant legs flapping with bass, and their screams before an impending doom. All in all, a rather impressive 5.1 mix that proves that you don’t HAVE to have Atmos to get a good audio experience.












Extras: :

• A Twist of Fate: Making the Film
• Circle of Friends
• Killer Outtakes

Final Score:
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At the end of the day, Tarot is a rote and fairly bland horror movie, but also not the worst I’ve ever seen either. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hailing it as the next The Conjuring (the first one, not the “meh” sequels) or anything, but it was decent enough for me to simply munch some popcorn and giggle at the twisted deaths the demented spirit of fate dreamt up for our protagonists. But unfortunately the PG-13 rating sort of killed some of the fun out of the middling monster/slasher flick, sucking any gravity or weight out from the kills (about the only real thing to enjoy in the movie). Strangely enough the film doesn’t attempt to give us the typical “last minute switch” where the survivors think they got away, but the film psyches you out with the villain popping up to consume them just as the credits role (and yes, I checked for a mid or end credits scene…. you Marvel, you’ve forever ruined film credits), instead just letting the happy ending ride. The Blu-ray looks and sounds pretty good I might add, with the audio mix EASILY being the best part of the entire package (yeah, the extras are a tad mediocre). I’m not going to recommend that you all go out and buy it, but for fans the disc looks and sounds great, and for the rest of you? I’d simply rent it if you’re bored. It’s pure dumb disposable popcorn fodder.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Jacob Batalon, Avantika, Humberly Gonzalez, Larsent Thompson, Olwen Fouere
Directed by: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halberg
Written by: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halberg
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French (Canadian), Spanish, Thai DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DVS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 93 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 9th, 2024

Recommendation: Low Rental

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ugh. I thought the trailer for this film looked great.

Going to be hard pass for me.