When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.

For thoughts on Tarot, please check out my colleague Lane Mills’ review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Tarot comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that brings this one to life without a hitch. This is a film with a somewhat muted color palette that is reproduced perfectly here with the appropriate depth. There are moments of bright colors on display including foliage, articles of clothing, and light sources. This is a thoughtfully crafted film with distinct unique shots that allow you to see an incredible amount of detail. There are numerous interior sequences featuring intricate production design which provide a nice reference to showcase the depth at play in the image. Skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. The highlights are handled effortlessly, along with deep blacks that do not suffer from any compression artifacts or banding. There are no egregious signs of any noise or other such digital nuisances. Sony has done some good work here.

Audio Quality

The film comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that has a decently complex sound design with quite a bit of nuance and character. Environmental effects play a sizable role in the film as things quickly get into the realm of the supernatural, and this track brings these elements to life quite capably. The use of the rear channels to create a fully enveloping world works quite well. The directionality is precise so that sounds always appear natural when emanating from their respective points. Dialogue comes through crisp and clear without being overshadowed by any of the other sounds. The track is most active during the terrifying moments when things start to go down. Activity in the low end especially comes alive at this point as it adds some force to the proceedings. Sony has provided an ideal release here.

Special Features

A Twist of Fate – Making the Film: A six-minute featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss what drew them to the project, the underlying themes, developing the initial ideas, leaning on the actual beliefs by astrology, the ambitious scope, and more.

Circle of Friends: A seven-minute look at the ensemble, what each of them brings to their characters, the chemistry between the performers, and more.

Killer Outtakes: There are nearly three minutes of flubbed lines, laughing fits, malfunctioning props and more.

Previews

Final Thoughts

Tarot falls in line with what major studios have been offering as of late when trying to stick with a PG-13 rating. The story is not bad, but it could be executed more effectively if the creative team relied more on practical effects rather than quite a bit of CGI-generated thrills. You know what this film is going to be before you even press play, yet it does have a saving grace in the form of the ensemble. The movie jumps right into the plot from the first scene, but it takes its time to give more dimension to these characters and ultimately make you care about their fate. You have to be in the mood for this type of mindless horror film for it to even remotely work, but it does work just well enough under the right circumstances to check it out. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray with a great A/V presentation and a nice selection of special features.

Tarot is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.