Nightmare Alley, the psychological thriller from macabre maestro Guillermo Del Toro, with
a dream cast (see what we did there?).
This is not the first time the story of Stanton Carlisle has been recounted, and it is now
available in UK cinemas.
Del Toro's adaption is the second film adaptation of the same-named 1946 novel.
Initially, Leonardo DiCaprio was committed to the picture, but he was replaced with Bradley
Cooper.
Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman,
Mary Steenburgen, and David Strathairn were among the cast members.
You'll have to keep reading to find out who they are and what they've been up to.
There are Nightmare Alley spoilers ahead.
The film opens with a sight of a man (called Stanton later in the film) burning down a
house with a body inside.
Then he stumbles across a carnival, where he is taken in by ringleader Clem (Dafoe),
who is enthralling the crowd with the 'geek,' a man who pursues and eats live chickens.
Stanton quickly befriends the carnival's mentalism act, married couple Zeena and Pete (Colette
and Strathairn, respectively), who teach him the skill of cold reading and the coded language
they employ in their performance - emphasizing that they never do'spook shows.'
He also develops affections for Molly (Mara), a girl who electrocutes herself onstage.
Stanton works for Zeena as an MC/Hustler, but he dreams of running away with Molly and
starting his own show.
He "accidentally" gives Pete a bottle of wood alcohol instead of moonshine one day when
fetching moonshine for him and murders him.
Later, the cops raid the carnival, but Stanton saves them by sweet-talking the sheriff.
He and Molly leave, and they begin a new life as their own mentalist duo, with a less hostility
to the supernatural than their predecessor (though Molly is put off by it).
Stanton is challenged by a woman in the crowd to guess the contents of her handbag, which
he does successfully, but then humiliates her in front of the audience.
After the concert, he gives a private session to the woman, Dr. Lilith Ritter (Blanchette),
and Judge Kimball (Peter MacNeill), the latter of whom requested Lilith's advice before enlisting
Stanton's help in locating his son, who died in No Man's Land during WWI.
Stanton takes the offer and Lilith's business card, much to Molly's amazement.
He pays a visit to Lilith, who secretly tapes her first meeting with Stanton; she is intrigued
by him despite knowing he is a con artist, and the two intend to extort Kimball using
her insider knowledge from treating Kimball's wife (Steenburgen).
While committing their scam, they begin an affair, and in the process, Stanton expresses
his sorrow for inadvertently killing Pete and purposefully killing his father, who was
an alcoholic and abused him.
Kimball, persuaded of Stanton's ability, introduces him to Ezra Grindle (Jenkins), whom Lilith
warns Stanton is dangerous, but Stanton proceeds to pull the same scam on Grindle.
Stanton exploits Lilith's grudging admission that Grindle's lover Dory died after he forced
her to have an abortion to ingratiate himself with Grindle.
Stanton, who was a staunch teetotaler before, began to drink.
Meanwhile, Molly, who is displeased with Stanton's conduct, chooses to leave him.
Grindle presses Stanton to do more and more, finally asking him to materialize Dory, a
feat that will require Molly's assistance, which she initially agrees to but abandons
on the day of the plan.
Stanton, on the other hand, locates her and persuades her to assist, which she does, saying
she would leave him once the convention is finished.
Grindle discloses that he abuses women on the night of the so-called summoning, and
Stanton begins to lose control of the situation.
Grindle notices Molly/Dory from distance and runs over to her; upon finding she is a fake,
he beats her, and Stanton intervenes, killing Grindle.
He runs over Grindle's right-hand man (Holt McCallany) and departs with Molly in the automobile.
Molly has abandoned him for good, so he seeks aid from Lilith, only for her to disclose
that she has been duping him all along, secretly recording their sessions to prove he's a lunatic
smitten with her as retaliation for his humiliation of her.
She shoots him in the ear, and the cops come just as he strangles her.
Stanton is on the run once more; intoxicated, homeless, and on the run from the cops, he
stumbles into a new carnival (managed by an unknown man, with a cameo by Tim Blake Nelson)
and discovers a curio once held by his former boss Clem.
He applies for a position as a mentalist, but the supervisor turns him down.
He gives Stanton a drink and then offers him a temporary employment as a carnival'geek,'
the man who hunts chickens and then eats them in front of an audience, out of pity or possibly
a sense of opportunity.
Stanton laughs bitterly when asked if he thinks he can accomplish it and responds, "Mister,
I was born for it."