“Tarot” has the makings of a classic sleepover horror movie, fine-tuned for an astrology-obsessed Gen Z. When a group of friends accidentally read their horoscopes with the help of a cursed set of Tarot cards, scary symbols like “The Magician” and “The High Priestess” come to life and start haunting the group. Blending elements of classic supernatural slashers and the “Final Destination” movies, the film stars a game group of twentysomethings, including Harriet Slater, Jacob Batalon and Larsen Thompson.
Here, Thompson, who has also appeared in spooky projects such as the 2018 film “Bloodline” and the 2022 series “The Midnight Club,” reveals the tricks of the trade for surviving as an actor on the set of a horror film.
1) How to play dead
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A lot of that, of course, is holding your breath. For me, the trick has always been “belly breathing.” Most of my work is leading up to when I need to hold my breath, so I’m slowing my heartbeat down. I take deep, deep breaths. I take one big, deep breath right before from my belly, which I learned from vocal coaching and exercise.
My second tip is I fixate my eyes on a non-moving object. I’m just staring there the whole time, and it helps me to feel like I’m looking inside of that object, almost seeing through it, and it keeps my focus completely locked in and it seems to hold longer.
2) How to remove fake blood
Coconut oil is my Holy Grail. That has been my trick for everything; I use it in my hair, my skin and as a lip balm. When I have fake blood, I take a cotton pad and coconut oil and it comes right off. It’s a great little hack.
The fake blood has a strange consistency. It’s a bit gooey. It spreads quite easily. The blood that we used on the set of “Tarot” spread very well, so it gets everywhere on your clothing. It’s a weird consistency, grainy. But it works —that’s the most important thing.
3) How to prepare to scream
This is something I also learned from my vocal coach —all this foundational work comes in handy. Throat Coat tea soothes my throat and gets me to a place where I feel more calm before I’m about to hurt my vocal cords. I drink it before going to set if I know I’m going to be screaming the whole day, and also when I wrap when my throat hurts.
Vocally, my other trick is saying tongue twisters. Before a scene, I do, “She sells sea shells by the seashore,” “Betty bought a bit of butter, but the butter was so bitter, so she bought some better butter,” — all those. And I’ll try to do vocal exercises for my scream to get up to a higher octave before I get to set.
Mentally, it’s helpful to have this set-up environment to work and play in. But with our jump scares and a lot of the reactions you’re seeing, I’m just staring at a red “X.” That’s when I just feed into my imagination. I try to envision the High Priestess or whoever is scaring me at the time. Sometimes, even if I don’t have a scene where I’m screaming, but I have to be high-adrenaline or breathing heavily, I’ll just start screaming on set. It’s probably so freaky for people on the crew.
4) How to break the tension between scenes
It’s a great thing when you have a group of castmates and there’s great chemistry. There were a lot of inside jokes, and if it was something tense or serious when they hit cut, we’d just start fooling around. I was lucky to be able to work with people who are very focused on our craft, but can still at the same time enjoy what we’re doing and be thankful and blessed to be there.
My other trick is I go to the green room and head to the snacks. There’s something about putting a piece of chocolate in your mouth that’s like, “OK, wait, I’m gonna survive. Life is not crazy.” It brings me back to reality.
5) How to wind down from an intense day on set
Self-care time is important. When I’d come off the “Tarot” set, we were staying at a hotel during filming in Belgrade, so I would go to my room, start a bath, and watch something light-hearted to put me in a better mood. I’d order room service and have a night to myself.
The funny thing is the girls on the set had so much fun together, because here we are filming a horror movie, yet on our off days, we’d watch all of our favorite horror movies and have sleepovers, and then waking up, saying we all had nightmares. Why are we doing this to ourselves? [laughs] Is this helping us stay in it while we’re here for three months?
6) How to pull off brutal stunts
For me, it all comes down to flexibility. I’m thankful because I grew up dancing professionally, so I feel like I’m very in tune with my body. If I’m playing in a scene where I need to fall off a ladder, I know how to conform to those sorts of situations in a way and make them feel real for me. Flexibility is a huge thing, and I think we all should be stretching more anyway — that’s the dancer in me speaking.
“Tarot” is now playing in theaters.
