Nightmare Alley (2021)

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This one comes to us from atmospheric extraordinaire, Guillermo del Toro, and is adapted from the William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name. There was also a 1947 adaptation, which did really well. And, unlike many updated versions of stories, so did this. It's a film with a pretty stellar cast, fantastically creepy atmosphere, and the "old-timey" cinematography adds a fine dash of artwork to the whole project.

Taking place in 1939, we open things with our lead, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) dragging a dead body into (presumably) his house and burning it to the ground. Packing lightly, he heads out, and eventually stumbles on some work as a carny, hired by Clem Hoatley (Willem Dafoe), the carnival-owner. Here, we eventually learn that Clem has a dark side to him, which seems to give Stan some second thoughts on working for him. In the meantime, Stan works with "Madame Zeena" (Toni Collette) and her husband, Pete (David Strathairn). They teach Stan some of their tricks, but warn him not to make a "spook show" out of it (in other words, leading people on about communication with dead loved ones).

Soon, Stan falls for a performer named Molly Cahill (Rooney Mara), whose act includes seemingly dangerous uses of electricity. Of course, no love story like this is complete without a jealous, brutish man named Bruno (Ron Perlman), but all of this isn't even the main part of the story, as most of it begins when (spoiler alert) Stan and Molly run off together after a fatal incident involving the consumption of wood alcohol. Talk about a tricky thing to try to review without spoilers. Anyway, the main story takes place about two years later, where Stan has reinvented himself, using the tricks of the trade, and having Molly as his partner. But how long before his "talents" end up hurting people - both audience, and loved ones?

I won't go into much more detail than that, but a lot of it seems to be a story of morals, and how far a "magician" will take their "trickery". It's certainly a cautionary tale as well, as the way it ends is actually somewhat disturbing. All in all, this isn't something I would call a horror film, but it's definitely very dark and will make certain people cringe about things here and there. It's not a "hard-R", but it's "R" for good reasons. And hey, for all you ladies who may have a bit of a thing for Bradley Cooper, I'm gonna do you all a favour and admit to catching *ahem* a bit of a peekaboo (you're welcome).

I did mention a pretty stellar cast, but I've only mentioned a few, as some others come into the picture as the story unfolds. But aside from those I have mentioned, we also get the likes of Cate Blanchett, Richard Jenkins and Peter MacNeill , to name a few. Blanchett ends up being the big one though, and I probably should have included her in the overall review. Having said that, however, she doesn't really enter into things until after Stan and Molly leave the carnival, and that's about a good hour into the movie. But don't worry, I honestly didn't spoil all that much, leaving one BIG plot point out of the review, completely. Unprofessional? Perhaps, but if you watch the film, you'll get why I did it.

I think this is a totally solid title to check out for any real fan of del Toro. It provides the viewer with one of his few projects that isn't actually some sort of "creature feature". So if you're looking for monsters, you won't really find them here - at least not in the form as some sort of creature. This one effects the psychological side of the viewer, and really lends itself to the old-time carnival atmosphere, between the traveling "freak show" and being in the big city with it. Although it may not reach my Top 10 of 2021 (even though it's 2022 at this point - stupid Covid), I still found it incredibly enjoyable, and hope to see del Toro dabble in this sort of thing more in the future.

4/5

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