Hey there film-o-philes, it’s me, Slick Dungeon. I’m back to review yet another Oscar nominated film. This time I watched Nightmare Alley. Before you step right up to view the review do be warned there will be spoilers below. So if you care deeply about such things go on down to your local picture show and take it in with the other rubes before you continue on to the big show review below.

Nightmare Alley is about a drifter named Stan Carlisle who finds himself working for a traveling carnival. Along the way he picks up the tricks the show men and women use to draw audiences and make a quick buck. Stan is gifted at conning the public and making a show out of it.

He learns some routines he can take on the road with a woman named Molly as his partner. They put on what amounts to a psychic show which is no more than Stan just reading people’s body language and Molly giving verbal cues to help Stan look like he is psychic.

Soon he meets a woman named Dr. Lillith Ritter. She has connections to some fairly influential people and Stan gets the idea to run a con on these people. I’m not going to tell you what happens from there because you need to see it for yourself.

The film is utterly brilliant. It has a great setup and an extremely satisfying payoff. Bradley Cooper puts in a masterful performance as Stan and Cate Blanchett is amazing as always. Add to that Ron Perlman is in the film and the star studded cast is quite impressive. Oh, and did I mention Willem Dafoe is in this also? Cause he is and he is amazing. The movie looks gorgeous as well.

There’s a bit of blood here but it’s not overly gory. And while this might be considered to be horror by some I think it’s closer to a psychological thriller.

So far, out of all the Oscar nominated films I have seen this is the one I think should win. But to be fair, I have not seen them all yet and I could be surprised. I still think this deserves five stars though because I honestly don’t see how it could be improved. Guillermo Del Toro proves once again he is a master storyteller and this film is well worth watching.

Awarding-ly yours,

Slick Dungeon