Tarot (2024 film)

Tarot
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Spenser Cohen Anna Halberg
Written by	Spenser Cohen Anna Halberg
Based on	Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams
Produced by	Leslie Morgenstein Scott Glassgold Elysa Koplovitz Dutton
Starring	Harriet Slater Adain Bradley Avantika Vandanapu Wolfgang Novogratz Humberly González Larsen Thompson Olwen Fouéré Jacob Batalon
Cinematography	Elie Smolkin
Edited by	Tom Elkins
Music by	Joseph Bishara
Production companies	Screen Gems Alloy Entertainment Ground Control
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	May 3, 2024 (2024-05-03)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$37.4 million

Tarot is a 2024 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg (in their feature film directorial debuts) and co-written by Nicholas Adams. It is based on a 1992 novel, Horrorscope, by Nicholas Adams. The film stars Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika Vandanapu, Wolfgang Novogratz, Humberly González, Larsen Thompson, Olwen Fouéré, and Jacob Batalon. The story follows a group of college students who, after using a strange Tarot deck, begin to gruesomely die one by one and must uncover the deck’s mystery before time runs out.

Tarot was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on May 3, 2024. The film received negative reviews from critics and has grossed $37 million worldwide.

Plot

A group of friends - Haley, Grant, Paxton, Paige, Madeline, Lucas, and Elise - rent a mansion in the Catskills for Elise's birthday. With tension in the group following Haley and Grant's recent breakup, they decide to distract themselves by having Haley read their horoscopes with a box of strange tarot cards discovered in the basement. Although Haley states that using someone else's deck is against an unspoken rule in Tarot, they decide to proceed, as Elise urges. Elise receives the reading first and gets The High Priestess as her final outcome along with the fact that she will "climb the ladder of success". Lucas is read as the rule-breaker gets The Hermit, where Haley also mentions that the Hermit's light may take him to the wrong track. Madeline gets The Hanged Man and is advised to not run when in problematic situation, while Paige and Paxton are read The Magician and The Fool respectively and warns them of implications and how to avoid them as well. When Haley reveals Grant has The Tower in his fourth house of The Divination Board and his relationship is being ruined and he is destroying it himself as he also received The Devil, the two argue and Grant angrily suggests her that she should get her own reading. Finally, Haley reads her own horoscope and gets the Death card and mentions that she always gets that "love is gonna be the death of" her. In the mean time, Paxton goes to the washroom alone and notices a figure in the dark in the balcony, but there's nothing there when the lights were on.

The next day, the group returns to campus, where Elise is staying in her dorm alone. That night, Elise investigates strange noises in the attic and is attacked by a monstrous version of The High Priestess, who bludgeons her to death with the ladder leading to the attic. Her death is considered an accident, shocking the others. Haley stays the night with Paige and reveals to her she began Tarot reading while her mother was fighting illness, but the cards always foretold her death. Thus, there was nothing Paige could do to amend fates. Lucas is later attacked by The Hermit in a train station and is killed by a speeding train while attempting to flee. Haley notices each death corresponds to the tarot readings and the group suspects something is amiss with the deck, though Grant is openly skeptical.

The group decides to visit Alma Astron, an expert on the occult and tarot readings they found online. She identifies the cards as belonging to an astrologer who, in the late 18th century, served a Hungarian Count and would predict the future for him. After a reading that predicted the his pregnant wife and child would die in childbirth came true, the grief-stricken Count ordered his men to kill the Astrologer's daughter. The astrologer, enraged with grief, did a reading on the Count and his close friends, dooming them to death, then killed herself and cursed the deck to kill anyone who used the cards. Alma reveals the cards are responsible for several tarot reading group massacres, including an incident in London that she narrowly survived. Alma urges the group to destroy the deck if they want a chance at survival, which is still at the mansion.

While driving there, their car breaks down and they are attacked by The Hanged Man, who kills Madeline, while she was trying to run, making Haley's prediction come true. Terrified, Paxton leaves the others and returns to campus, but is stalked by The Fool and eventually cornered in an elevator. Meanwhile, Haley, Grant, and Paige return to the mansion, but are unable to burn the cards and request Alma's assistance. She attempts to contact the astrologer's spirit. Despite successfully summoning her, the astrologer is able to do a reading on Alma and she is killed by the Six of Swords as the astrologer already does Alma's reading. During their escape, Paige accidentally breaks off from Grant and Haley and is lured into the basement, in the voice of Haley wanting help, where she is sawed in half by The Magician. Upstairs, Grant and Haley talk about how to undo the curse and Haley decides that if she reads the astrologer's horoscope, this all might end. Just then they get attacked by The Devil and Death respectively.

As Grant is dragged away by The Devil, Haley gives the astrologer a reading with her deck, giving her Death. Haley sees that all her cards are in reverse and she's in a lot of pain. Eventually, she lets go of her mother's grief and the astrologer's spirit, consequently, is burnt alongside the deck. Haley and Grant reconcile over their survival and relationship and start to make their way home. On the way, they reunite with Paxton, who had survived his ordeal after his roommate, Todd, opened the elevator door at the last second, which made The Fool disappear.

Cast

• Harriet Slater as Haley
• Adain Bradley as Grant
• Jacob Batalon as Paxton
• Avantika as Paige
• Humberly González as Madeline
• Wolfgang Novogratz as Lucas
• Larsen Thompson as Elise
• Olwen Fouéré as Alma

Production

Deadline Hollywood reported the production of Horrorscope in June 2022, with Jacob Batalon, Alana Boden, Avantika Vandanapu, Adain Bradley joining the cast. The film was directed and written by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, based on Nicholas Adams's 1992 novel of the same name. Ground Control's Scott Glassgold produced through Alloy Entertainment, together with Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton. Halberg and Cohen served as executive producers. Screen Gems also produced the film. In July 2022, Humberly González joined the cast. In October 2022, Harriet Slater joined the cast.

In January 2024, the film was renamed to Tarot.

Release

Tarot was originally scheduled to be released on June 28, 2024, before being moved up to May 10, 2024. It was later moved down a week to May 3, 2024.

Reception

Box office

As of May 28, 2024, Tarot has grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada and $20 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $37.3 million.

In the United States and Canada, Tarot was released alongside The Fall Guy, and was projected to gross $5–6 million from 3,104 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $715,000 from preview screenings. It went on to debut to $6.3 million, finishing in fourth. The film made $3.4 million in its second weekend (a drop of 47.7%) and $2 million in its third, finishing in fourth and seventh place, respectively.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 20% of 50 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C–" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 59% overall positive score.

External links

• Official website
• Tarot at IMDb