Jun Lana's Tarot is a scary Pinoy horror film. It's so scary that I when came home to my apartment at around midnight, I was spooked by the white gauze curtain billowing in the breeze from the half-opened window. I replaced it with a heavier one (never mind the heat) and, while at it, turned my full-length dressing mirror to the wall and covered the television screen with a tablecloth. My side of the apartment will probably be like that for the next two days and two comedy films later.
I feel like kicking myself because Tarot is a sum of horror movie staples: a zombie bride, a creepy religious cult in a rural mountain town, a strange old lady who foretells disaster, and of course, the disturbing set of fortunetelling cards.
Against her mother's admonitions, Cara (Marian Rivera) cultivates the psychic gifts she inherited from her grandmother Auring (Gloria Romero), a talented fortuneteller who owns a powerful set of Tarot cards. One day, Cara foretold two deaths in the family. Minutes later, her father and her grandmother fell dead and she is forbidden by her mother (Susan Africa) from using her psychic ability. The cards were also buried with her Lola Auring.
Fifteen years later, Cara's and her fiancé Miguel (Dennis Trillo) were separated in a hiking trip. As days passed and Miguel remains missing¸ Cara defies her mother's restriction and digs up her grandmother's grave to take back the cursed cards and use them to find her fiancé. She finds Miguel but soon, strange things began to happen and a terrifying specter terrorizes them. As Cara struggles to end the murders, she must dig into the dark secrets of her family's past.
Tarot has a tight and rich storyline that is sustained until the end. There are many misleads and plot twists that keep the audience at the edge of their seats but the storyline is as clean as a meticulously combed hairpiece; not a strand in place.
Its strength lies in the suspense—the strategic positioning of the veiled apparition to induce thrill and fear, the mood setting before the next attack, and (this is very rare in Pinoy horror) the unpredictability of the plot, which keeps us wanting more and yet dreading the next appearance of the vengeful ghost.
Direk Jun Lana also made sure that there are images that will stick to mind and haunt us in solitude, which is unavoidable since there are curtains, clotheslines, beds, hallways, and doors everywhere.
The blending of family history and the occult is also nothing new but in Tarot, it glues the elements of the film together—the origins of the ghosts and the reason for the haunting explained. No character and event goes to waste.
Trivia:
the filmmakers used a specially designed set of cards so as not to attract
supernatural elements while filming the movie.
The film, which also stars Gloria Romero, Celia Rodriguez, Alwyn Uytingco, Roxanne Guinoo, Niña Jose, and Susan Africa, was shot partly in Mt. Banahaw (considered to be a sacred mountain for many religious groups).
Trailer courtesy of Regal Entertainment