Chilling supernatural horror/comedy Tarot, written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, pays extremely close attention to detail, so if you like deciphering Easter Eggs and the idea of murder mystery parties, this one’s for you.
Starring Harriet Slater alongside Avantika (2024’s Mean Girls), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and more, the film follows a group of friends who recklessly decide to violate the sacred rule of tarot – never use someone else’s deck.
Supanova had the pleasure of speaking with Cohen and Halberg to unveil more details about the new film.
“We had made a short film with Sony called Blank, and we had an incredible working relationship with the studio,” Halberg begins, “so, we were talking about other ideas and concepts, and they had come to us with the idea of making a horror movie about astrology. For us, there’s nothing inherently scary about zodiac signs, but what is scary to us is tarot cards and tarot readings. And so, we thought of this idea of combining the two together, and that’s what ultimately became the movie Tarot.”
Both Cohen and Halberg share insight into the story itself.
“So, the main character, her journey is a little bit similar to mine,” Cohen reveals. “When we do anything, we’re always trying to find a personal way into a story. My mum was sick when I was growing up and ultimately passed away, so her journey mirrors my story and ultimately it was one woman’s conversation with death. We didn’t want to hit people over the head with that – it’s ultimately her learning to let go.”
Halberg adds, “On a larger concept too, we talk about this idea of fate… for us, we wrote this movie at the height of COVID, at a time when we saw a lot of our friends and peers turning to the stars or tarot cards for answers. There was so much uncertainty in the world and people just wanted some clarity. So, we really were exploring this idea of fate versus free will: are you in control of your destiny or does your destiny control you?”
Tarot feels modern yet traditional, crisp and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. There’s a sense of comedy to cleanly cut the despair. The tropes in the film are familiar yet challenged.
Cohen jumps at the chance to say how they are huge fans of the genre.
“The first thing Anna and I did before we wrote a word was, we said we wanted to make a movie that feels like a mix between Spielberg and James Wan, and both of those guys are masters of suspense,” she tells.
“I mean, Spielberg, I don’t think gets enough credit for how good he is at suspense and tension. If you look at Duel and Jaws and Jurassic Park, like some of the best sequences in movie history are in those films. Jurassic Park’s also really fun and Jaws is a fun movie, so we were really trying to mix those sensibilities together.”
Given the attention to detail they wanted to include in the film, they had their work cut out for them.
“One of the big challenges,” Halberg tells, “we had all of these tarot readings that happen up front and it’s a lot of information to get out. As well as getting to know the characters – also needing to set up each of their tarot readings as well. Keeping it visually interesting and entertaining, it wasn’t necessarily challenging, but it was something we really had to think about a lot.”
Cohen adds, “Yeah, like we closed down a bridge for two nights and we shot on it, we closed down a subway system and we shot there and we knew we only had these locations for a certain amount of time. Anna and I, and our [Director of Photography] Elie, were all very ambitious, we had a lot we wanted to achieve in a very tight schedule.
“So, I think the hardest thing was just making sure we didn’t compromise and that we were able to get the things we needed with this really constrictive parameter of time.”
Following on from that point, the graphics and effects in this film are seamless. From the title card, to the credits and everything in between.
“Going back to the movie we keep referencing – Jurassic Park only has 50 visual effects shots, and I think people are always surprised when they hear that number,” Cohen says. “There’s a lot of animatronics and puppets and other things that were used. All of the creatures in Tarot were practical, and we ended up augmenting them with some VFX, but the secret to great VFX is to often mix practical with it.”
The film feels incredibly authentic, which was also important to the filmmakers.
“We had a tarot and astrology expert, this woman called Angie Banicki, who we brought on to help advise,” Halberg tells. “She was awesome because she added a lot of specificity. We really wanted to root this in truth, and make sure what we were doing was accurate for people who really know a lot about both of these areas.”
Our final question for Cohen and Halberg: “Do you think you would want to know your fate?”
Cohen pauses, “…that’s a great question.”
Halberg immediately states, “No.”
“I think it would influence my choices and decisions in the present,” she elaborates. “I think it’s much more special not to know what the future brings.”
Cohen agrees: “I think I’m also gonna say the same.”
Tarot is in cinemas now
