Guillermo del Toro’s latest film Nightmare Alley is an intense, dark drama that packs a punch of an ending. Guillermo del Toro is one of our favorite directors and writers. Known for his dark stories and frightening scenes. Here are some of his films (not his complete filmography):
Director
Hellboy
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Devil’s Backbone
Pacific Rim
The Shape of Water
Writer
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (highly recommend for a spook show)
Crimson Peak
Nightmare Alley
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Produced
El Orfanato which we reviewed earlier on the blog. You can find the review here. Also, highly recommend this spooky, supernatural ghost story.
Two summaries of Nightmare Alley to start us off.
An ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.
Source: IMDB.com
By the time a mystifying Bradley Cooper utters his first line of dialogue as Stan Carlisle, several minutes into Guillermo del Toro’s lavishly configured take on “Nightmare Alley,” we’ve already seen the character drag a corpse and set a house on fire. A fugitive, not yet from the law but from his own unresolved resentment, the man lands at a 1930s traveling sideshow populated with curious acts of benign mentalism and bizarre cautionary tales.
Source: RogerEbert.com
The film came out in 2021 and is up for 4 Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Totally agree with these nominations. Only snubs that shouldn’t have been were Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett was a tour de force in the movie. Back to what it’s about. Bradley Cooper escapes his life as it is after destroying a house with a body in it. You don’t know who the corpse is or why he’s done it. He travels aimlessly and eventually finds a carnival with acts straight out of the 1930’s – strong man, bearded lady, a hideous geek who’s a man who behaves like an animal, a girl who gets lit up by electricity, and most importantly, a psychic act or a “mentalist”. During his time at the carnival, Cooper or “Stan” watches an act where a geek performs. A geek is a starved, broken man who exists as a sideshow horror. Scrambling around like an animal and eating a live chicken. One night the geek escapes and runs through the property. Stan is the one who ultimately catches him and he realizes he’s a man who’s lost hope and that the main carny has turned into a captive fit for audiences to gasp in horror over. This knowledge sticks in Stan’s mind and it reminds him what humanity is.
Toni Collette and David Strathairn play a husband and wife mentalist team who know all the tricks of the trade for manipulating the crowds into believing they know all about their lives from their pasts to their futures. Stan becomes friends with them and later their apprentice. He learns the trade by watching Strathairn or “Pete”. Stan also meets and falls in love with “Molly” played by Rooney Mara. Pete is an alcoholic and one night drinks himself to death. Stan seizes the opportunity to break away from the carnival to start his own mentalism act and he convinces Molly – a life long carny – to go with him. They create a sensational, well known act and make a name for themselves. Before long, they get the attention of the big city’s well to do crowd.
We’re not going to tell the whole story here, but it gets very dark with Stan accepting a dangerous businessman who enjoys hurting women as a client. The man is cruel and not above murdering people to get what he wants. Blanchett warns Stan that this client is not to be trusted and is dangerous and yet she continues to help Stan with his mentalism act. From here on, you have murders, a surprise twist, escaping from the law, a change in Stan and Molly’s relationship, and Stan ending up homeless. You might have a sneaking suspicion what the end will be, but you aren’t certain. You may not even see it coming. Let’s just say it’s dark and stays with you.
This isn’t the first interpretation of the story. It’s based on a book written by William Lindsay Gresham In 1946 and an earlier film directed by Edmund Goulding. My 16 year old, Jack, who is a hard core cinephile prefers the original film and it’s ending. He also likes Tyrone Power better in the role of Stan, although he says that Bradley Cooper did a good job. Nightmare Alley isn’t for optimists and those liking lighter fare. It serves up definite darkness and despair, but it’s worth the ride.
*All images courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.
