‘Tarot Curse’ Review: A Satisfyingly Fun Curse Movie
With a good cast and some entertaining gore effects, Tarot Curse is one of the better Tubi Originals.
Table of Contents
What is Tarot Curse About?
Tarot Curse is a supernatural horror film built around a curse that uses a slasher-style plot structure to kill people off one by one.
The movie follows a group of high-school students who take a road trip to New Orleans. While there, they are persuaded to sit for a tarot reading in which they are each asked to say what they desire most. Soon after returning home, the friends discover that they are receiving exactly what they asked for. However, the price for their desire is death in a manner predicted by the tarot cards they each received.
Tarot Curse was released as a Tubi Original. Jason Winn directed the film based on a story by Dean Loftis and Mary O’Neil. Lauren Chanel stars as Tara, and her friends are played by Evelyn Kim (Quinn), Kamarion Miller (Preston), Selena Turner (Chloe), and Triston Dye (Jordan). Also featured are Anna Talakkottur as the card reader, Mikhail Keize as The Bone Daddy, and Shazia Pascal as the mysterious Maeve.
Tarot Curse Review
I’ve been a big supporter of Tubi for a few years now, ever since I discovered their deep catalog of obscure micro-budget horror movies. More recently, I’ve tried to help spread the word about the Tubi Original horror movies they’ve put out over the past few years. They’re not all great, and I can’t speak on any other genre they tackle, but a lot of their original horror movies are, at the very least, fun to watch. Tarot Curse falls into this category; It isn’t “great” in the sense of being totally original or having the highest of production standards, but it is a fun little horror flick.
What I like most about Tarot Curse is its simplicity. It is a straightforward horror movie with an uncomplicated plot. It doesn’t try to reinvent the curse genre, nor does it add too many twists so the story becomes nonsense. I’m not necessarily saying that everything makes perfect logical sense. What I’m saying is that it’s a movie designed to be enjoyed by horror fans as light entertainment. Some people might refer to Tarot Curse as a “popcorn movie,” and that description is apt.
Of course, the simplicity of the writing also leads to the consequence of the characters being thinly fleshed out. We get a sense of who they are based on the archetypes they represent—the cheerleader, the unpopular kid, the athlete, the stoner, and the studious final girl—but the majority of the main characters aren’t developed much more than that. One exception might be Tara who has a tragic backstory, but what she’s dealing with mentally doesn’t play a huge role in how the plot progresses.
The biggest exception to the thin-character dilemma is Quinn, the cheerleader. Quinn is a surprisingly complex character whose story arc involves layers. She’s dating a stereotypically mean jock, and initially it seems like she might be the “bad girl” of the friend group. But as the movie moves along, we learn that Quinn cares deeply for others, she is under intense pressure, and she has mixed emotions about herself, her life, and her future. She is the only character whose archetype doesn’t match with who the person really is. Since Quinn is the most developed character, it’s too bad that she wasn’t designed as the main character of the film.
It’s also too bad that the simplicity of the script means that certain plot threads are underdeveloped. Like in most curse movies, there is a central mystery that the potential victims try to solve as they try to break the curse. Here, the mystery-solving consists mostly of people not believing the one person who says the curse is caused by the tarot cards, followed by people slowly beginning to believe when people continue to die in strange ways. There’s also a mysterious woman named Maeve who is supposedly connected to the curse in some way. We get a little background on her very late in the film, but her presence feels tacked on, and it takes away from opportunities to show self-motivated character growth in the survivors. Other parts of the story are maybe too haphazard as well. That leads to a finale that is underwhelming in a number of different ways.
So, if the story and characters aren’t always written in a fulfilling way, what does Tarot Curse have to offer? Well, most of the characters might be thinly written, but they are all played by likable actors who display distinct personalities. They’re all entertaining to watch, even if all we really know about a character like, for example, Chloe is that she’s a nice young woman who wants to swim fast. Or that Preston wants to be popular (or at least seen by his peers). The actors are a big reason why Tarot Curse works as well as it does.
Another big reason why the movie works is because it’s rather cheesy, but in a fun, low-budget horror kind of way. The kill scenes are a blast, and the physical gore effects used throughout the movie are greatly appreciated. Sometimes the deaths happen suddenly in a way that’s somewhat comical, and other times they’re gruesome. Some happen as bizarre coincidences, and others happen in a manner more than a little reminiscent of the Final Destination franchise. The unifying factor among them all? They’re fun to watch.
Tarot Curse Rating and Recommendation
Star Rating: 3 out of 5
I can’t rate Tarot Curse any higher than a 3 because the underdeveloped story and characters do impact certain scenes in negative ways, especially scenes late in the movie. But, if you’re like me and you enjoy watching charming actors and fun kill scenes, then give Tarot Curse a try.
Further Reading
- Grafted Review: A “Good For Her” Body Horror Delight
- Are You There? Review: Talking to the Dead by Candlelight
- Heart Eyes Review: A Romantic Comedy Slasher That Works Fine in 2 Out of 3 of Its Genres
- Horror Movies About Curses
- Terrible Gifts Given in Horror Movies
- New/Upcoming Horror Movies
- Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2025
