5.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A group of college friends begin dying in ways connected to their fortunes after getting their horoscopes read.
Starring: Avantika, Jacob Batalon, Olwen Fouéré, Harriet Slater, Humberly GonzálezHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French (Canada): DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Long, exasperated groan. That was my reaction to Tarot, not by film's end, but at several key points throughout its utterly generic,
horribly derivative mish-mash of so, so, soooo many genre movies that have come before it. Offering next to nothing new and only reinventing the
wheel if the term means to take something circular and fashion it into a square, Tarot offers up a tiresome lineup of teens (played by adults of
course) who meander headlong towards their deaths as yet another curse takes its toll on whatever unlucky souls happen to cross paths with its
accursed totem, in this case a deck of, you guessed it, tarot cards. (Try not to think of Cabin In the Woods when our hapless teens stumble
across their doom. You'll fail. But try anyway.) There are one or two inventive kills and creatures, though very little of it actually proves memorable.
(Struggling to remember key details at the moment and I just watched the film two days ago.) And there are a small handful of effective beats,
despite a gnawing sense of redundancy and predictability wherein the only surprise is that the ending doesn't feature a last-minute gotcha.
Where
does that leave Tarot? Nowhere good. The bargain bin... if it's lucky, and if such a place still exists in a world of online shopping. A Black
Friday sale item for sure. But more likely a Blu-ray that will sit on the proverbial shelf until stores and sites discount it enough to trick
unsuspecting consumers into a purchase.
Tarot is an exceedingly dark horror film. Sometimes so dark that it's difficult to discern what's happening in the shadows. That's hardly the fault of Sony's 1080p/AVC-encoded encode, though, which does its absolute best to support the movie's bleak cinematography even when blackness threatens to consume the image. Colors are strong and able when they appear, with lovely moments of warm firelit oranges, lifelike skintones, and primary punch. And contrast is quite vibrant, even if it grows heavier and heavier, giving way to readily apparent crush that harms shadow delineation. Fortunately, overall detail remains quite impressive, with razor-wire edges and refined textures. The creature fx suffer a bit under the scrutiny of high definition, sure, but that's fairly par for the course. There at least isn't any significant banding or blocking to muck up the works, meaning Sony's encode is proficient and precise.
Tarot features a run-of-the-mill DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that enhances the film's many, many jump scares but little else. It's not there's anything wrong with the mix; just that the movie's so-so sound design is a bit weak, a bit hammy and a bit too ho-hum to raise the hair on the back of your neck. Dialogue is clear and nicely centered, although it comes on a touch strong at times. Likewise, directional effects and the film's score are effective, but are somewhat inconsistent from scene to scene. Moments of tension and outright terror are handled much more precisely, and do create a welcome sense of dread (even if Tarot's uneven tone seems eager to undermine such strides), albeit not often enough to produce a masterclass experience. LFE output is solid, thankfully, and the soundfield is decently enveloping, creating a sense of place and space that handles the film's frights with ease.
Tarot is a mess. So much so that two stars may be a tad generous. Still, some solid creature design and encounters help take some of the sting out of the more problematic and ridiculous scenes of tepid character development, storytelling and horror sequencing, allowing Tarot to pull off a few small miracles in the midst of its dumpster fire. Sony's Blu-ray release is a bit better, with a solid video and audio package, but a lack of substantial extras and no real replay value make this one a big ol' miss.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Unrated
2017
2015
Haunted
2014
1957
2018
2016
2004
2012
2019
2023
2017
2018
2015
2016
2015
1973
Limited Edition of 3,000
1990
Limited Edition - 1,200 copies
1986
1970
1992