As everyone (including myself) is still caught up in the Spider-Man: No Way Home-induced mania as well as the all-out blitz press coverage for the Matrix 4 – it’s easy to overlook smaller, stand-alone films such as Nightmare Alley.

This current film is the newest adaptation of the 1946 novel (of the same name). The film was first made in 1947 and needless to say - it wasn’t particularly popular in its day either. The 2021 edition - directed by Guillermo del Toro, featuring a star-studded cast including Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collete, and Willem Dafoe - has received some acclaim and awards nominations from various critic’s associations and even has a buzz as a possible Oscars contender. However, after being released the same night as Marvel’s pandemic-proof No Way Home, the film is an epic flop (according to today’s box office standards). Nightmare Alley made a meager $2.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing in an uncompetitive fifth place for the weekend behind Spider-Man, Encanto, West Side Story and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Adding insult to injury, Encanto and Ghostbusters are each a month old. But despite the paltry numbers, Nightmare Alley is a film deserving of much more attention than it has received in mainstream media.

Nightmare Alley is Guillermo del Toro’s return to directing following his 2018 Best Picture win, Shape of Water. Del Toro has never really been considered to be a major box office draw; however, Nightmare Alley presents itself as a much more accessible watch for casual audiences, more so than his previous work. I’ll tell you off the top, I loved Nightmare Alley and I think most other people will enjoy it as well. It’s not perfect nor is it a “must go to the theatre” type of experience - especially after the rush of the holidays. For the most part, I did find it extremely enjoyable and if going to the movies is convenient and safe for you to do, then this movie is worth checking out. However, If you’re apprehensive about going to a movie theater during this time, when Nightmare Alley eventually makes its way onto streaming services, this film will make for a great quiet night in with a cocktail and some snacks.

Set in the 1940s, Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper as Stan Carlisle, a mysterious man who we meet as he buries and burns an unidentified dead body. Carlisle goes on the run and takes a lowly job at a traveling carnival as an assistant, where he quickly climbs the ranks using his wit, loose morals, and all the charm and charisma that we’ve come to expect from any Bradley Cooper character. Imagine if Christopher Nolan’s underrated classic The Prestige and The Greatest Showman had a very emo love child (minus the music) and that’s about the vibe you can expect for Nightmare Alley. And I mean that in the best way possible. This film’s cinematography has a cleverness about it – the way that it reminds you of everything you once loved about roadside carnivals as a child while simultaneously confirming your worst suspicions that you’ve come to learn about as an adult.

I’ve been a huge Bradley Cooper fan for a while now, and his performance in this film is striking to me because he stands out physically on the screen. When the movie opens, a clean-shaven Cooper looks like a man from an entirely different time than the rest of his castmates. Dafoe, Collette, Rooney Mara, and the rest of the carnival crew come off as much more authentic in that environment and many of them give incredible performances because of that authenticity. While the anachronism of looking at a man who looks like Bradley Cooper walking around a carnival in 1940 might be jarring for some, I think it serves the plot of the movie well. The character Stan Carlisle oozes charisma that both looks and sounds too good to be true and, without revealing too much of the plot, it is. Carlisle eventually meets his match in Cate Blanchett’s creepy but undeniably attractive psychologist Dr. Lillith Ridder and that's when Nightmare Alley truly soars. The movie builds up Carlisle’s charisma to the point he feels untouchable before it slowly but surely chips away at his physical appearance and his mental state in a way I found ridiculously entertaining to watch. It all leads to one of the best final scenes of 2021, a real stinger played with a stroke of genius by Cooper. By the time the credits rolled I had loved, hated and pitied Cooper’s Carlisle in ways I hadn’t thought possible.

Nightmare Alley spins a haunting web of love, lies and murder that I won’t ruin for you here by summarizing too much, but suffice to say that no one is quite what they appear. I personally never felt taxed by the 2.5-hour runtime, instead I found myself constantly spellbound by the soapy plot and its ever-expanding cast of peculiar characters. The twists and turns of the story aren’t always smooth, in fact one character decision was explained so sloppily that I had to look it up afterwards to confirm what I had just seen, but it was always entertaining nevertheless. Nightmare Alley features a meticulously crafted noir atmosphere and captivating performances from a star-studded cast - that together with the emotionally devastating ending make this one of my favorite movies of 2021 and a film I won’t soon forget. Despite the current lack of mainstream awareness for the film, I think once more people see it at home, Nightmare Alley will reach cult classic status in the years to come.

Grade: B+ Recommendation: Stream it