There are a ton of streets and houses out there, and there are definitely rows and Nightmare Alleys between them, which brings us to our next movie…
Today we’re covering…
Nightmare Alley!
Movie Details:
- Release Date: 2021
- “Run”time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Where to watch it: Streaming
- Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
- Written by: Guillermo del Toro
- Starring:
- Bradley Cooper
- Cate Blanchett
- Toni Collette
- Rooney Mara
Synopsis: A grifter reaches the heights of success, but chases them too far. Wrapped in deceit and driven by greed, he eventually meets his match.
Open Stab Wounds (out of 10): 8
Review: It is often said that a man can never escape his past. That is very much the case in tonight’s movie. A psychological thriller from the master of horror, Guillermo del Toro, we journey into a noir setting filled with lust, deceit, regret, and a fair amount of bloodshed. Tonight, we entered Nightmare Alley.
Set in late 30’s and early 40’s America, we are introduced to Stan (Bradley Cooper), a man in the middle of burying his past, both figuratively and literally. Walking away from his home after setting it ablaze, Stan hops a bus and when he gets off and finds himself beside a traveling carnival. Seeking work, he’s able to convince the carnival to hire him as manual labor, but he has aspirations to be more.
Quickly befriending Zeena the Seer (Toni Collette) and Pete (David Strathairn), Stan begins to learn the tricks of mentalism. A natural at it, Stan’s aspirations rapidly grow to bigger and more lucrative ventures, though he is constantly warned of the dangers of taking it too far. Through his time with the carnival Molly (Rooney Mara), a performer who does an electrifying act, catches Stan’s eye, and he works to woo her and convince her to move to the city to start their own act.
Cut to two years later and Stan and Molly are selling out two shows a night, performing their mentalism act that they honed over time. Then one night a woman throws a wrench in the works of the show. Seeing through their charade, she puts Stan into a spot where he has to “prove” his skills as a seer. This is our introduction to Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a psychologist who seems to have motives of her own.
During the show that Lilith attempted to take over, Stan moved into “spookshow” territory, which is the realm of psychics and true mediums. Even though he’d been warned over and over to stay out of that line of work, the possibility of hustling marks out of loads of money, drives Stan to pursue it.
Teaming with Lilith, Stan falls deeper and deeper into deception and a deep desire to prove himself. With the mark Stan has moved to, a true sense of danger starts to arise, but Stan is in far too deep before he can realize. Who can be trusted, who had his best interest, and did he become what he always hated are all things that Stan is forced to come to grips with, all leading to a fitting conclusion.
Like many of our reviews, I left this one intentionally vague to avoid any real spoilers. Del Toro, in my opinion, is a master storyteller, but his use of foreshadowing here may have been a bit much. The characters were all well crafted (and there was a stellar supporting cast!). You could tell who truly had good intentions, who was driven by their desires, and who was wielding a knife behind their back, but knowing who was who did not take away from the overall story. It was a journey to get to the end and was one I quite enjoyed.
This was definitely more psychological thriller than a frightfest, but I think that still falls under the category of horror. The fear of what we can become, if we wantonly chase our desires without consideration of the repercussions. The fear of what we can fall to when that happens. The fear of giving our heart to another. The fear of wolves hiding in sheep’s clothing. I think a lot of horror uses metaphor to show that we can be the real monsters. This movie was just a bit more direct.
BRANDON’S THOUGHTS: I didn’t watch it when Kevin wrote this. I suck. I can’t watch it without my wife who’s been on me for months… if I watched it without her, there’d be a movie on this list next year about me.
Thanks for reading and watching along with us! Be sure to keep up with all 31 days of our Halloween Horror Film coverage!
Oh, and make sure to follow Brandon on Twitter @BarnyardCruz and Kevin @Solucid!