It's Only a Podcast - A Horror Movie Review Show · Christian Estabrook and Ian Nichols

Episode 213 - Tarot / The Trip (2021)

·1 hr 13 min·4 clips

Jacob Batalon's Paxton is the only character Christian says lands in Tarot.

1. It's Only a Podcast Episode 213 centers on Tarot and The Trip, with a long preamble about halitosis, food in teeth, and bad breath etiquette. 2. Christian Estabrook hosts as "a merchant of menace," and Ian Nichols co-hosts as "the Crypt Keeper himself," making them the reviewers whose horror tastes drive the episode. 3. The episode asks what Tarot is doing with cursed cards, astrology, and horror design while the hosts also react to Trap and Josh Hartnett. 4. Christian says halitosis is "pathological bad breath," compares it to a high-school math teacher, and recalls a college pact to warn each other honestly. 5. Ian responds with jokes about onions, herpes, and loose teeth, turning the hygiene talk into a comic opening exchange. 6. The hosts announce the next book club pick on Fable as Boy Parts by Eliza Clark after finishing The Troop by Nick Cutter. 7. Christian says he wants "peeping Tom vibes" and a possible "urban slasher" feel from Boy Parts, while Ian says his copy is already on a bookshelf. 8. The Trap trailer becomes a topic because both hosts like Josh Hartnett and note that he plays a dad in the film. 9. Christian calls Hartnett a "zaddy" and says the casting of a serial killer role somehow makes Hartnett hotter. 10. Ian points out Hartnett's horror film history in Halloween H2O, The Faculty, and 30 Days of Night, then brings up his Oppenheimer appearance. 11. The tarot-card segment starts with a card pull under a new moon in Taurus, which Christian frames as a time for grounding and emotional clearing. 12. Christian says the card is the five of cups and explains it as disappointment, loss, and the need to notice the cups that are still standing. 13. Ian pushes back on the film's use of astrology and tarot, saying the two systems are not the same and that tarot was not invented as an ancient astrological practice. 14. Christian argues that the movie's attempt to tie tarot to astrology feels careless, especially when the film uses major arcana imagery without much regard for the practice. 15. Both hosts complain that the movie adds dead-mom backstory and trauma framing without enough care, making the material feel shoehorned in. 16. Christian says the creature designs are the strongest part of Tarot, especially the high priestess, the hermit, the hanged man, the magician, and the fool. 17. They describe the film as full of shrieking tarot beings, loud sound design, and a visual style that works better than the screenplay. 18. Christian says the movie is a tight 90 minutes and that the whole thing often feels like a careless collection of tropes, convenience, and thin character beats. 19. Horror fans who like creature designs, card imagery, and review banter would probably enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners who want plot detail, or who dislike astrology talk, may want to skip it.

As heard by us

A tarot-driven horror premise gets a fair hearing before the episode digs into its stiff dialogue and thin character work.

Episode 213 takes a tarot-centered horror movie apart with blunt, useful focus, as Christian Estabrook and Ian Nichols move from the card readings themselves to whether those readings actually create tension onscreen.

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Why you'd press play

You want tarot-card foreshadowing unpacked while attractive, talent-starved characters receive absolutely no diplomatic immunity.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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