The Prophecy of Evil – Review, the new teen horror on tarot cards

The prophecy of Evil (Tarot) is a 2024 horror film directed by Anna Halberg And Spenser Cohen and based on the 1992 novel Horrorscope by Nicholas Adams, a collective of writers very active in the 90s, co-author of the screenplay. It’s about a first work, and is distributed in Italy by Sony Pictures. It will be in theaters starting today, May 9th.

The demon of tarology

There plot And extremely simple: a group of teenagers decide to rent an old villa and spend an evening full of fun before returning to their college. In the cellar of this house, among the various objects and relics, the boys find a ancient tarot deck contained in a mysterious box: tarot cards fromI wait extremely macabre and disturbing whose cards are meticulously hand-painted. You will soon find out what this deck brings with it an ancient curseand when young people unknowingly break it, their terrible fate will not be long in coming.

The narrative exploits one of the sacred rules of tarology, according to which you should never use someone else’s deck. Unaware of the danger they are about to run, the friends decide to continue with the game. The young one Haleyplayed by Harriet SlaterIn fact, she chooses to read the “horoscope” to everyone, arranging the cards as she learned to do when she approached this divination practice. From now on, one by one, his words will come to life in a completely unexpected way and the kids will have no choice but to seek the help of some expert who knows something about it.

The premise and story could be interesting, albeit hackneyed, if it weren’t for the incorrect notions in matters of occultism and esotericism and the always – and now obsolete – serious habit Of approaching the magical world and everything that is part of it with the most horrifying aspectrisking demonizing it, or worse, making it ridiculous.

In fact, The Prophecy of Evil turns out to be a outdated horrorperhaps wanting to draw inspiration from more tradition slasher 80s and since gothic of the 90s, reworked in contemporary pop salsabut realizing old and impossible to rejuvenate.

The film turns into a succession of merely “telephoned” twists (to stay on topic), using the infamous – slightly – jumpscare as if there were no tomorrow, all seasoned with questionable and, with a few exceptions, extremely predictable choices, ending up drag the viewer towards a deliberately pre-announced ending.

Positive notes are the idea and the story (unfortunately underdeveloped) of the mysterious deck, as well as the living transposition of archetypal images – albeit in a horror tone, again to refer to the aforementioned demonization of tarology.

A “Goosebumps” horror

Trusting in the choice of an ad hoc cast, the film shows itself as a teen movie right from the first moments, suitable mainly for an adolescent audience, who will be able to appreciate the frequent clichés, which, moreover, risk boring a more adult and experienced spectator. Some deliberately soft gore sequences, but equally censored, confirm theintention to address a young and easily suggestible target. The presence of the adult component is reduced to the bare minimum and the dynamics between the characters wink at cinematography from Little shiverstackling themes such as first love and friendship, and obviously resulting in a bittersweet ending.

The technical aspect – with its dark cinematography and already heard soundtrack – is not enough to make the film more memorable than it will be: forced to remain in the drawer of horror films – almost – all the same.

Good for a Halloween night or a sleepover, definitely Viewing in a cinema is not essential.