Nightmare Alley (2021) Review

Nightmare Alley is the first film made by Guillermo del Toro since winning Academy Awards for his monster romance The Shape of Water. This time he has made a neo-noir mystery involving people faking that they have mystical powers.

In 1939 Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) leaves his home and takes a job in a travelling carnival. At the carnival Stan befriends many of the carnies, learns the art of grifting, and becomes the carnival’s medium. When Stan takes his new talents to New York he sets out to use them on the elite of the city.

Guillermo del Toro is a director who has an eclectic filmography. Genres he has tackled include horror-action (Blade II), comic-book fantasy (Hellboy series), dark fairy tales (Pan’s Labyrinth), and kauji actioner (Pacific Rim). His films can be light and whimsical to really dark and twisted. Some films even mix the two like with his noir thriller.

Nightmare Alley was one of del Toro’s darker films. It started with a man burying a body and burning down a house and when Stan arrived at the carnival he viewed a show where a feral man was eating a live chicken. There was a macabre sensibility to the film. A prime example of this was when Clem (Willem Dafoe) showed Stan his collection of medical specimens. Clem told Stan how he recruited people to become the carnival geek and it was a dark and twisted story.

Death was a lingering theme throughout the film. As stated, Nightmare Alley starts with a death, Clem’s exhibit was filled with his preserved dead creatures, and Stan’s scheme revolved around death. Stan claimed to be a medium who could use his ‘gifts’ to communicate with the dead. His marks were people who suffered from a loss and grief and even though Stan justified his actions as giving people hope, he’s really exploiting their pain. Stan gets warned that he shouldn’t do a spook show because of the risk and consequences.

Nightmare Alley was a traditional rise and fall story. Stan starts as a man on the run who gets a job doing manual labour and sleeping on the floor. The first act was about Stan rising through the ranks within the carnival, who learns the art of the grift from various mentor figures and combines it with his own natural abilities for showmanship and reading people. He goes from a small-time hustler to someone who was swingling the wealthy elites of New York. But as always it was a case of pride before a fall.

Nightmare Alley was also a story about moral decay. Stan did show some concern and empathy to people. He tried to show some decency to the geeks at the carnival and Pete (David Strathairn) and Zeena (Toni Collette) as near parental figures, particularly Pete. As the film progresses Stan’s values dissipate as he becomes more famous and guilty. His girlfriend, Molly (Rooney Mara), suffered in this film because she gets taken away from the people she loved, gets berated by Stan after their act, and he coerced her to partake in his grand scheme. Stan was capable of cruelty which was shown when he attempted to psychologically destroy Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) when she tried to debunk his act.

Nightmare Alley was a film that was heavy with its foreshadowing. A lot of information was dumped in the first act as Stan gets all his lessons from his mentors and hears various warnings about doing a spook show and hearing Bruno the Strongman (Ron Perlman) deconstruct Stan’s character. Tarot Cards also play a major role in the film because Stan gets a warning which he ignores. However, the use of foreshadowing ends up making Nightmare Alley a bit too predictable.

The film’s opening act does give it a slow start. It focused on Stan getting his lessons at the carnival and making his relationships. It takes some time for the story where Stan becomes a medium and starts his scamming.

Del Toro’s known for having supernatural elements in his films. Nightmare Alley twisted that because all the supernatural elements were an act. It was done to make money and entertain the patrons. Stan takes it to the next level by using his ‘abilities’ to make a lot of money from the wealthy.

Whilst Nightmare Alley played down the supernatural elements it was still a del Toro film. His previous films Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water were in different genres, Nightmare Alley still matched them in style and tone. Del Toro and his team embraced an art deco look: there were big rooms and buildings that have that mix of grandeur and classicism. Being a film noir style story there was a lot of use of shadows and the film did have a sense of classic Hollywood picture.

Del Toro does give Nightmare Alley an off-kilter, surreal tone. It made the film an uneasy experience at times, especially when Stan and Ritter were plotting, and Stan enacts his grand con. Violence was brief yet it was still incredibly visceral when it appeared. This would be the aspect of the film del Toro’s fans will appreciate.

Del Toro is a director who has many actors that want to work with. With Nightmare Alley he assembled a hell of a cast that had a mix of big-name stars and respected character actors. There was no weak link and Cooper, Mara, and Blanchett were impressive in their roles. Blanchett has the look of a Golden Era Hollywood star so she was a perfect femme fatale. Mara embodied Molly’s youthful naivety and Cooper excelled with all facets of his character. Cooper’s final moment was really effective.

Nightmare Alley has disappointed at the box office but it is a film that will have longevity. It was an atmospheric thriller that fans of del Toro will enjoy.