It’s easy to say that at the tail end of 2021, there were few movies as eagerly anticipated as Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. The maestro of monsters took on the lofty job of molding the second feature-length adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name and did so with a star-studded cast. Not only were audiences stoked to see the likes of Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, and Toni Collette all starring alongside one another in a weird psychothriller that — for the most part — took place at a carnival, but they were also excited to see what del Toro had up his sleeve style-wise.
Depending on who you ask, the movie either nailed expectations or fell below the bar, as the chatter surrounding Nightmare Alley may have been too much to fully live up to the hype. Still, the movie sits on Rotten Tomatoes as a Certified Fresh flick, boasting an 80% rating from critics. If you’ve never seen the film or want to watch it with fresh eyes, now’s your chance as the title arrives on Hulu on October 1.
Set in the 1940s, everything about Nightmare Alley has a very trippy neo-noir vibe that audiences have come to expect from the Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak helmer. The movie centers around a flim-flam man named Stanton Carlisle (Cooper) who, after a one-off shift working at a traveling carnival, signs on to become part of the show. It’s there that he meets a slew of different personalities all with a penchant for showbiz. Stanton takes a special interest in the clairvoyant act, learning how to manipulate minds with the power of suggestion and persuasion. He eventually leaves the carnival with another performer, Molly (Rooney Mara), and strikes out on his own with a psychic show. With an ego the size of the planet, Stan’s greed for fame and fortune eventually causes his tragic downfall.
Who Else Appeared in ‘Nightmare Alley’?
Not only was the leading cast of Nightmare Alley stacked with critically acclaimed, award-winning names, but the same can be said about the ensemble. Included in the rest of the lineup are Willem Dafoe (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Richard Jenkins (Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story), Hole McCallany (Mindhunter), Mary Steenburgen (Book Club), David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatum), Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) and more.
Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Nightmare Alley is bound to climb the charts of the streamer when it arrives on Hulu next month.
Get Hulu
