When Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) drifts through a carnival he meets its owner Clem Hoatley (Willem Defoe) who takes a shine to him and offers him a job. Initially just keen to have something to eat and a mattress to sleep on Stanton takes up the opportunity but as he meets other performers at the carnival he realises there is a lot he can learn. 

Whilst Clem is happy to share with him the secrets to the trade and how they “make” the crazed ‘geek’ who bites off chicken heads and eats them the act Stanton is truly interested in is that of Zeena the Seer (Toni Collette) and Pete the Mentalist (David Strathairn). A once great act brought low by Pete’s drinking. Whilst Stanton learns from them he becomes besotted with Molly (Rooney Mara) who performs an act with electricity. 

Later when he has learned all he can about mentalism he concocts a plan with psychiatrist Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) that may push his skills beyond their limit. 

Set in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s Nightmare Alley has a wonderful sense of period to it. Set in seedy carnivals and glamorous large city buildings it crosses the gamut of society. But everything is dreamlike with Stanton at its centre in a beautifully shot film noir. 

The plot is split into two halves. The first focuses on Stanton beginning a new life at the carnival and it is filled with beautiful detail in the workings of that world and the characters within it. Toni Collette and David Strathairn are wonderful as an act that once soared that is now down on its luck. I would happily have spent more time with them and learnt more about their past. The second half moves to the city with Stanton and Molly now emulating Zeena and Pete. But when Blanchett’s Dr. Lilith Ritter appears she appears to be more than a match for Stanton’s grift. In this half it is an absolute joy watching the cat and mouse tussle between Cooper and Blanchett. 

Nightmare Alley would make good stable mates with Co-writer and Director Guillermo Del Toro’s underrated Crimson Peak. Both films are stylised and paying homage to old fashioned film making staples. Whilst Crimson Peak was a gothic romance, Nightmare Alley is a film noir complete with a mysterious central character and a femme fatale. 

The acting throughout is excellent extending to a large number of supporting players whom I have not even mentioned in the plot summary. For me though it is Cate Blanchett who makes the most impact as the mysterious psychiatrist. 

Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsey Gresham this is the second adaptation of the book following a film starring Tyrone Power in 1947. One of the greatest compliments I can give this version is that it immediately makes me want to both read the book and watch the film to see what similarities and differences there are. 

If I had to say there was a flaw here it is that some of the plot points are signposted pretty strongly by foreshadowing but that is grasping at straws a little when the circular plot is one of the key attributes of the story. 

I loved Nightmare Alley and I hope you do too.