Tarot (2024 film)

Tarot is a 2024 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg in their feature film directorial debuts. It is based on the 1992 novel Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams. The film stars Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, 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 generally negative reviews from critics but a box office success grossing $49 million worldwide over a budget of $8 million.

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 distract by having Haley read their horoscopes with a box of strange tarot cards discovered in the basement. Elise gets The High Priestess and that she will "climb the ladder of success"; Lucas gets The Hermit; Madeline The Hanged Man; Paige and Paxton The Magician and The Fool respectively. When Haley reveals that Grant is destroying their relationship himself as he received The Devil, the two argue. Finally, Haley reads her horoscope and gets the Death card.

The next day, the group returns to campus. Elise is attacked by a monstrous version of The High Priestess, who bludgeons her to death with the ladder leading to the attic. Lucas is attacked by The Hermit in a train station and killed by a speeding train. Each death corresponds to the tarot readings and the group suspects something is amiss with the deck.

They visit Alma Astron, an expert on tarot and the occult that 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 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, doomed the Count and his friends to death with her cards, then killed herself and cursed her deck to kill anyone who used it. The cards are responsible for several tarot reading group massacres. Alma urges them to destroy the deck, which is still at the mansion.

While driving there, their car breaks down and they are attacked by The Hanged Man, who kills Madeline. Terrified, Paxton leaves the others and returns to campus, but is stalked by The Fool. Haley, Grant, and Paige return to the mansion but are unable to burn the cards and request Alma's help. Alma summons the astrologer's spirit, but the astrologer does a reading on her and she is killed by the Six of Swords.

Paige is fatally sawed in half by The Magician. Haley decides that if she reads the astrologer's horoscope, this might end. As Grant is dragged away by The Devil, Haley does a reading on the astrologer, giving her Death. She sees that all her cards are in reverse and she's in pain. Eventually, she lets go of her mother's grief, who died of illness, and the astrologer's spirit is burned alongside the deck. Haley and Grant reconcile over their survival and reunite with Paxton, who survived after his roommate 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. Filming took place in Belgrade, Serbia.

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.

Box office
, Tarot has grossed $18.8 million in the United States and Canada and $30.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $49 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 at $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. The film is considered a box office success.

Critical response
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.