In TarotNow streaming on Netflix, a group of college friends get the wrong idea about a creepy box of tarot cards, meaning it won’t be long before they’re all stalked by a supernatural evil. (Hmm, maybe there really was a reason the cellar door was locked, with a “Keep Out” sign posted.) Written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, Tarot It is based on HoroscopeNicholas Adams’s 1992 novel with a much more catchy title; here starring Harriet Slater (Belgravia), Avantika (2024) Bad Girls), Larsen Thompson (The midnight club), Humberly González, Adain Bradley, Wolfgang Novogratz (Feel the rhythm), and – also receives the treatment of “and” in the credits – Spiderman and Avengers secondary Player Jacob Batalon.
TAROTSTREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: In a musty, gated rental mansion deep in the Catskill Mountains, Haley (Slater), Grant (Bradley), Madeline (Gonzalez), Lucas (Novogratz), Paige (Avantika), Elise (Thompson), and Paxton (Batalon) — a loudmouth vape-smoking, true-crime enthusiast, and the group’s comic relief — are enjoying a weekend away from their studies at an unnamed college in an unnamed Northeastern town. Much to the friends’ surprise, Haley and Grant have just broken up. But Paige and Elise are staying strong, there’s a spark emerging between Lucas and Madeline, and Paxton is around to keep everyone in good spirits. When the beer runs out, it’s time to explore the house, and what they find is a locked door (no problem, we’ll just knock it down) and a basement filled with cobwebs and weird stuff. “That looks like a pination cloth,” Haley observes. “This is all ancient astrological stuff.”
Paxton’s discovery is the most significant: a simple wooden box with the signs of the Zodiac carved into the lid, filled with hand-painted cards of a type Haley, a self-taught Tarot expert, doesn’t recognize. (The illustrations depicting traditional Tarot characters like The Fool, The Magician, and The Hanged Man have the quality of a Francis Bacon painting done in twisted cartoonishness.) Of course, the group clamors for Haley to read their horoscopes, and of course she’s hesitant: combining Tarot with astrology is risky, and you’re in for a treat. You are not supposed to use someone else’s deck. – and of course, once the friends return to their everyday lives, the Major Arcana cards closest to each of their character traits begin to appear to stalk and kill them.
“No matter how much it sucks, you can’t change fate.” Haley has emotional reasons to believe in this mantra. But that doesn’t make it any easier to cope when her friends start dying one by one. The cops are useless and there doesn’t seem to be anyone else on this campus, so the group seeks out Alma Astrom (Olwen Fouéré) on her website. Can the discredited but wise astrologer help them figure out what’s going on and how to break the curse that’s plagued them before it’s too late and the High Priestess, the Devil, and the ancient Death card itself come for them?
What movies will it remind you of? Tarot It’s a good reminder of how death blows in the Final destination Horror movies were way more fun and creepy than theirs. And if you’re looking to create a horror fest with some recent and new horror titles, there are The watchers, Abigailand especially The first omenwhich is really scary and worth watching on streaming.
Performance worth watching: Well, of the small group of fated friends, Haley is the one with the most to do, and Harriet Slater gives her a streak of quiet regret that is eventually cut short by a healthy dose of final girl energy. Slater stays in the horror game; he’s also in the upcoming exorcism riff. True obsessionAre we witnessing the creation of a new scream queen?
Memorable dialogue: “There are many ways to do readings,” Haley tells her friends, “but astrology and tarot are intimately connected. If you use them together, they’re a really powerful combination for making predictions.” And how.
Sex and skin: None. When we meet the main couple, they’re in a breakup and the other significant relationship in the friend group doesn’t have a chance to blossom. You know, because of those evil tarot cards…
Our opinion: Tarot It’s quick. Wisely, it spends only enough time to establish the dynamics of its core group of friends before supernatural forces arrive from the dark side of fate to start dropping ladders on people’s necks. As the deaths pile up, we can draw a clear line back to the friends’ original horoscopes and see who their assailants are: the physical manifestations of what the cards knew them to be. Madeline’s reading urged her not to run away from her problems, Paxton embodies the qualities of The Fool, and for Haley, it’s the same as it’s been since she started reading the cards: “Love is going to be the death of me.” Imagine the arrival of white-haired Alma for a folkloric informational download and we were intrigued by how Tarot He wanted to connect his deadly letters from the present to a long, tortuous chain of violence throughout the past.
The problem here is that the film is too hesitant. Maybe it’s because it’s trying to maintain the PG-13 rating (so it can boost box office numbers with groups of viewers similar to those represented in the film), but for some reason, Tarot It never goes far enough with its dark enough premise. You have a character saying classic things like “Very funny, guys! If you’re kidding me again…” before being met with an ending that doesn’t quite satisfy you, as the evil attacker largely remains in the shadows. Repeat this a few times and before you know it, TarotIt’s in its final moments, with no satisfyingly gory or gruesome ending. At least, when we get a glimpse, the card representatives send shivers down the spine.
Our calling: Tarot It’s a game to stream, but don’t expect to jump through the roof or anything like that. Our recommendation is more for the weirder elements of its backstory and for matching each Major Arcana with its corresponding real-world chaos.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
