Ranking the monsters of Tarot from least to most scary

Tarot is a PG-13 horror movie released by Sony earlier this year that just landed on Netflix and has already climbed up the Netflix Top 10 chart for English-language movies.

It's not too surprising to see Tarot finding a new audience on the streaming service, as is often the case when Netflix adds recent hits. Tarot did decently at the box office but was plagued by poor reviews, so those who didn't want to shell out big bucks to see it in cinemas can now watch it in the comfort of their own homes.

It's a surprisingly fun and competently made teen scream that features some extraordinary monster designs. We're ranking the many Tarot card monsters from least to most scary.

7. The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man had potential to become one of the most frightening creatures in the movie. He had the build-up and anticipation during the bridge scene when the car stops and Madeline foolishly jumps out of the vehicle, only to get snatched up moments later.

But he's probably got the shortest amount of screentime out of every other monster in the film. The Hanged Man didn't get much time to shine which made his eventual appearance kind of a letdown.

6. The Hermit

Similar to The Hangman, The Hermit didn't actually get much screentime. He's only shown for a few seconds when he scares Lucas, causing him to fall into the train track and killed instantly by the speeding train. I ranked The Hermit above The Hanged Man simply because that's a pretty brutal way to go.

5. The High Priestess

The High Priestess is more or less the film's poster monster, she gets her main death scene but is also shown several other times in the movie. It seems like she's kind of the architect of the whole thing. I thought the creature design for her was amazing, but I sort of wish she'd been able to give Elise a more unique death than just being crushed by a ladder.

4. Death

Death gets one of the creepiest chase sequences in the film. Given his status as, well, Death, it makes sense that he's the last creature we see and the one who goes after Haley as the film's main protagonist.

Lurking in the shadows with his spindly, bony fingers, Death is basically a skeleton taken to extremes, and he is pretty dang terrifying.

3. The Devil

While The Devil's actual appearance doesn't look all that different from other demonic and devilish interpretations we've seen in horror movies, the fact that he literally starts dragging Grant to Hell—complete with the mouth of Hell opening up in front of them as Grant tries to escape his grasp—makes for an awesome horror movie set piece.

2. The Fool

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this one but I thought The Fool, the jester-like monster, was one of Tarot's creepiest designs. As someone who gets unsettled by the uncanny, The Fool's jerky, inhuman movements were really unsettling, as was the way he terrorized Paxton.

This scene involved many neat visual tricks that made it significantly scarier than one might expect. I didn't put him at number one, though, because ultimately, Paxton did survive.

1. The Magician

The Magician is actually the most "human" out of all of the monster designs, but he gives Paige what is arguably the best and creepiest death scene in the movie, maybe even a highlight of all horror movies in 2024. Poor Paige gets sawed in half as part of The Magician's take on this classic trick. It's horrifying watching her screaming as a spectral crowd watches in delight.

Everything about the way this scene was filmed made it stand out, especially since the film had to maintain a PG-13 rating so you can tell the filmmakers got creative with its execution, to great effect.

Tarot is now streaming on Netflix.