‘Nightmare Alley’ Trailer: Guillermo Del Toro’s 1940s Noir Stars Bradley Cooper & Cate Blanchett As Cruel Manipulators

It’s funny that Guillermo Del Toro had to recently explain that his upcoming film noir Nightmare Alley is not a horror and that his fans shouldn’t expect it to be. The filmmaker has frequently ventured away from that genre, whether it was Pacific Rim or his Best Picture winner The Shape of Water. In this case, he’s still dealing with some nasty themes and cruel, manipulative people as terrible as any monster Del Toro could imagine.

Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins, and David Strathairn are part of the all-star Nightmare Alley cast. The 1940s noir, based on a novel and previous film adaptation, centers on a manipulative and ambitious carny who joins with an psychiatrist who is even worse than he is.

Del Toro not only directed but co-wrote the script with journalist Kim Power. Alexandre Desplat did the music, while The Shape of Water cinematographer Dan Laustsen is back on the camera.

Nightmare Alley opens on December 17th.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.