Tarot, a supernatural horror movie adapted from Nicholas Adams’ 1992 novel Horrorscope, presents a question about whether a person’s future is determined by the stars or if they can break away from such predictions through their actions.
The movie follows a group of college students who stumble upon a mysterious tarot deck while spending the weekend at a rented mansion. One of them, Haley, decides to do tarot readings for everyone, but what starts as lighthearted entertainment soon turns dark.
Every card drawn brought them closer to the grave (Photo: Tarot/Screen Gems)Not long after they return home, the group starts dying off one by one. Each of their deaths is connected to the final card drawn in their reading.
The group eventually realises there’s a link between the readings and the strange deaths, but they continue to fall victim as they unknowingly behave in ways that fulfil the outcomes predicted by the cards. Desperate, the survivors reach out to an occultist who had encountered the cursed deck in the past.
They later come face-to-face with the tormented spirit whose soul is trapped within the deck. Haley takes a bold step by performing a reading on the spirit, which results in the spirit being released and the deck destroyed.
How Haley Was Able To Stop The Astrologer
She Flipped The Curse Back On The Entity, Killing Everyone
By the time Tarot reaches its peak, Haley and Grant come directly face-to-face with the cursed spirit of The Astrologer, who had tied her soul to the tarot cards after losing her daughter in the late 1700s.
She had used a powerful ritual—one that even cost her life—to trap her soul inside the cards, allowing the Arcana beings within the deck to come alive and exact deadly revenge on anyone who uses them. Because her spell made the deck indestructible, Haley had to find another solution to end the horror.
Haley comes to a sharp realisation: since the curse strikes whoever receives a reading, she might be able to redirect it towards The Astrologer by performing a reading on her. When she does this, it reveals the spirit’s emotional pain—her grief over her daughter’s brutal death still haunts her.
Haley, having experienced the pain of losing her mother to illness, connects deeply with the spirit’s sorrow. This act of empathy and understanding helps to calm the Astrologer’s soul, which brings about the destruction of the deck and breaks the deadly curse.
Why Paxton Was Still Alive After The Fool Attacked
He Seemed To Share The Same Fate As The Rest At First
As his tarot reading had warned, Paxton makes the unwise decision to separate from his friends, allowing The Fool—his assigned Arcana figure—to begin stalking him. After some creepy encounters on his way back to his dorm, the Fool corners Paxton in an elevator and seems to kill him just like the other victims.
But unlike the others—Elise, Lucas, and Madelyn—the movie cuts to black right before Paxton’s supposed death. There is no visible blood or body shown. Eventually, Paxton reappears after Haley manages to destroy the tarot deck and free The Astrologer’s spirit.
He shows up just as Haley and Grant are leaving the mansion, and he reminds them that her reading had predicted he would return unexpectedly to support his friends.
He shares that his survival was pure chance: his roommate Todd, opened the elevator at the exact moment The Fool was about to attack, causing the spirit to disappear. While the explanation is meant to be funny, it may feel too simple to be satisfying.
What Gave Life To The Astrologer’s Arcana Creatures
Each Entity Changed Form Based On The Card Drawn
As Haley and Grant move through the mansion during the film’s climax, they discover that the various creatures who killed their friends are different versions of the same being. This entity can alter its shape, taking on whatever appearance matches the final tarot card drawn in each person’s reading.
At one moment, it slides into the shadows and transforms from Haley’s “Death” figure to the terrifying “Devil” figure that matches Grant’s card.
Though the film doesn’t state it plainly, it is heavily implied that each creature is a direct extension of The Astrologer’s spirit, who is bound to the deck and responsible for its dark power.
Why The Characters Made Decisions That Matched Their Readings
Those Who Died Seemed To Act Out What Was Foretold
A pattern common in horror movies is for characters to make poor decisions, like separating from the group or walking straight into danger. Tarot uses this idea too, but it gives a reason for why the characters behaved this way: their decisions align with their personalities as revealed during their tarot readings.
An example of this is Madelyn, who leaves the car during a breakdown even though the threat is just outside. Haley had warned that Madelyn tends to avoid problems instead of confronting them, and that’s exactly what she does.
Similarly, Haley describes Paxton as stubborn, which fits his decision to return to his dorm room instead of hiding somewhere safer. Their actions, though unwise, are consistent with their nature, as if their fate couldn’t be avoided.
How Tarot’s Ending Leaves Room For Another Story
Some Characters Make It Through The Terror
By the film’s closing moments, The Astrologer’s spirit has been released, and the cursed deck appears to be destroyed. Although this doesn’t automatically suggest a follow-up movie, Tarot sets up a rich backstory, much of which is shared through detailed explanations.
There’s an opening for a prequel that could take the audience back to when the deck was created or another time when it was used, like during the 1960s Woodstock festival, which could offer an interesting period horror.
Even with elaborate creature designs and CGI effects during the climax, Tarot was made with a modest budget of only $8 million. The film doesn’t fully dig into the origins of the tarot characters or the power within the deck, which leaves space for more stories.
Haley, Grant, and Paxton are still alive by the end, so they could return in a future movie where another version of the deck surfaces. However, considering that the movie received mixed early reviews, a sequel might not happen, even if it does well at the box office.
No Post-Credits Scene, But A Small Mid-Credits One Exists
Haley thought it was just a game until the bodies started dropping (Photo: Tarot/Screen Gems)It Offers A Bit Of Comic Relief With Paxton
There’s nothing during the end credits of Tarot that hints at a follow-up story, at least not in the way most post-credit scenes usually do. What the film does include is a short mid-credits moment, which brings back Paxton’s character, played by Jacob Batalon.
This quick bit shows Haley and Grant asking Paxton how he managed to escape The Fool, and he gives a silly answer: his roommate opened the elevator, and The Fool just disappeared.
What The Film Suggests About Control And Destiny
It Raises Questions About How Much Power People Have Over Their Fate
A major idea in Tarot is about destiny—whether it’s something written in the stars or shaped by one’s own decisions. The film asks if a person is locked into a path because of when they were born or their horoscope, or if people have the freedom to decide how they live.
Both possibilities are presented during the movie’s storyline. Tarot cards have existed in many cultures and forms since as far back as the early 1400s. Characters like Elise, Madelyn, Lucas, and Paxton all end up facing exactly what their personality traits had suggested—traits revealed during Haley’s readings.
In Paxton’s case, his fate was nearly sealed. Despite having a sense of the danger based on the readings, some of them still made choices that led straight to their deaths. But Haley and Grant take a different route. They work through their differences and choose another path, showing that change is possible.
The story leaves on a hopeful note, hinting that fate isn’t something that controls people—it’s something they can control.
What The Ending Of Tarot Means
There’s A Message About Emotional Growth And Breaking Cycles
Haley’s final interaction with the Astrologer adds another layer of meaning to the story. Through empathy, Haley reaches a grieving spirit who had been stuck in sorrow for centuries. Much like The Astrologer, Haley had been drowning in her pain after losing her mother.
She had turned to tarot readings, searching for some sign that her destiny could change. But what she realises is that even when someone goes through deep loss, they don’t have to be trapped by that suffering. People can learn, evolve, and break away from patterns.
While astrological signs and birth charts may point to certain tendencies, they don’t trap anyone. Everyone still has the power to make new decisions daily, which means they can always change their future. At its core, the movie shows that no one is bound forever by what the stars or cards say about them.
