In the real world, those who believe in the mystic arts will visit fortune tellers to, ideally, receive good omens for their future exploits. In China right now, as The Guardian reports, fortune telling is incredibly popular, with people seeking fortune telling bars to see how the Chinese lottery sticks answer their questions.
Being works of fiction, films – especially horror films – often lean into fortune telling. This can allow for the characters to have a connection to the other side or for the story to take a foreboding turn. In the case of horror, the fortune teller rarely lives up to the expectations that most have when visiting such a person in real life.
Flipping from Fortune to Misfortune
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Your usual fortune teller is sought out to offer insight into good fortunes to come. Beyond film, this is the angle that most entertainment-based fortune tellers will have. It’s why entertainment products that can lead to users winning have visited this theme and the end products tend to become quite popular when done well.
This is what’s happened at the Megaways casino with Madame Destiny Megaways. To slot almost seems out of place alongside the fishing, ancient mythology, and classic slots that dominate the Megaways section. Yet, it holds its own because it leans into the positive side of the fortune teller theme.
With a mega bonus wheel triggered by hitting a few scatters on a free spin, the fortune found is invariably positive. On the wheel, there’s only wins, with one section indicating the free spins count and the other giving a multiplier of at least 2x. Of course, in films, it’s more often about their ability to see negative outcomes and evil beings.
Many Ways of Leveraging a Fortune Teller
One of the more central and classic turns of a fortune teller showing up in a movie comes by way of 2024’s Tarot. The whole plot centres on a group of friends visiting a fortune teller, and them revealing particularly dark fears and truths to the characters. Complete with ample jump scares galore, it’s more about the cards coming to life.
In 2000’s The Gift, the fortune teller is the main character. Played by Cate Blanchett, you see how she tries to make a living from her talents in a small town and eventually gets roped into a murder investigation. Her “gift” isn’t trusted by everyone, and when it leads to an arrest, it leads to what the Fangoria review describes as its highlight scenes in court.
Perhaps one of the most famous fortune tellers ever put to film, particularly because of the scene’s eerie music in combination with Zelda Rubinstein’s high-pitched voice, is Tangina Barrons in 1982’s Poltergeist. The teller goes from comforting to informing of a particularly malicious being coming in from the other side.
Finally, we have a fortune teller who uses his powers to save the day. Dick Hallorann in 1980’s The Shining appears early as someone with the ability to use “the shining” and see the future. He warns of the evil within the hotel and how it can drive people to madness, swooping in later on to help those who remain in peril.
Far more than a mere plot device, in many famous films, fortune tellers have been of great use – particularly when it comes to offering some particularly foreboding insights.