By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Hollywood is full of remakes, so much so that even seemingly original films are actually remakes, by Keanu Reeves Knock Knock (a 1977 remake game of death) until the animation Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (It is Flaming Saddles with anthropomorphic kung fu dogs). In 2021, Guillermo del Toro brought his version of a classic to cinema, bringing the classic noir Nightmare Alley return to cinema as only a visionary director could do. Alas, history repeated itself, and just like the first time, the second time around the film was still a box office failure, despite the A-list cast.
Nightmare Alley is a noir classic
Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper as Stan Carlisle, a man who hits rock bottom and finds himself working at a carnival, rubbed in by Clem (Willem Dafoe) as part of Madame Zeena’s (Toni Collette) “clairvoyant” act , where he learns the act of setting up a false psychic routine. In love with one of the performers, Molly (Rooney Mara), Stan sets out on the road and proves to be a natural crook, except there’s one problem, two in fact: one, there’s always a bigger one fish, and two, he was advised not to pretend to talk to the dead.
During one of his performances, Stan meets Dr. Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a skeptical psychologist who attempts to prove him to be a fake, but this backfires and ends up causing the first domino to fall towards the chute Complete by Stan. Secrets come to light, a reading goes too far, and like any good film noir, there’s a murder, and no one comes out unscathed. Nightmare Alley may have the outward stylistic flourish of Guillermo del Toro, but underneath it’s still a noir, with all the darkness that implies.
A box office bomb that forces the public to think
Nightmare Alleyunlike most of del Toro’s best works, is not a story about the supernatural. Instead, it’s a beautifully filmed story of a man on the edge and his rapid, entirely avoidable downfall as bad people harm each other with unexpected results. Bradley Cooper gives a spellbinding performance as Stan and shows a level of talent that no one could have ever expected from Stan’s jealous fiancée. Wedding Crashers.
With a budget of 60 million dollars, Nightmare Alley was a huge failure, earning just $39 million worldwide, and while that was attributed to its December 2021 release while COVID persisted and kept older moviegoers out of theaters, it’s still a disappointment. Those who saw the film enjoyed it, as proof, it has an audience rating of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is exceptionally good for such a dark film. It’s not a feel-good experience, and the harrowing story will haunt you for days after watching it, but at the same time, there are a few flourishes from Del Toro that remind you that he’s the one of the best directors working today.
Nightmare Alley it’s not for everyonebut with the recent success of Nosferatunow is the perfect time to goLet’s return to another classic remake from a lost era in Hollywood. There aren’t many noir films being made today, and considering a modern sci-fi noir film, Reminiscence also failed to find an audience in 2021, it’s clear that no one I’ll go to the cinema for relentlessly dark films that involve a lot more dialogue than your standard blockbuster. And yet both films have recently found a streaming audience, proving that given their chance, they will win over fans and slowly and quietly become modern cult classics.
Nightmare Alley is available to stream on Hulu.
