'Nightmare Alley' review: This thriller will pull you in and won't let go

"Nightmare Alley," a cynical, seedy film from 1947 starring Tyrone Power as a carnival con man, is a pretty dark movie even by noir standards. Leave it to director Guillermo del Toro ("Pan’s Labyrinth," "The Shape of Water") to color this tale many shades darker. Billed not as a remake but as an adaptation of the original novel by William Lindsay Gresham, del Toro’s "Nightmare Alley" is a dreamy, creepy, seep-into-your-skin marvel that will pull you in and won’t let go — even after the closing credits roll.

The story begins at the bottom, with a drifter named Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) joining a traveling carnival as a laborer. The time is post-Depression, pre-War. People desperately want to believe in something — and Stanton would like to sell it to them. Ingratiating himself with Zeena and Pete (Toni Collette and David Strathairn), a married couple who run a clairvoyant act, Stanton gleans valuable insight on how to read and fool people. These scenes, involving a little black book of nonverbal codes and cues, are mesmerizing.

Flash forward two years and Stanton has paired up with Molly (Rooney Mara) for a mentalist show that takes them to the biggest cities and fanciest hotels. Stanton’s tux is new, but we know he hasn’t changed. When his act is nearly derailed by a skeptical psychiatrist, Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a spark seems to fly.

What follows is a masterful exercise in building tension and dread. As Stanton gets in deeper with Lilith, who feeds him private dirt on wealthy patients., we know something horrible is going to happen. We just aren’t sure how.

Del Toro understands the subconscious power of movies like few other filmmakers, and "Nightmare Alley" is a vivid example. Visual symbols and verbal foreshadowings lurk everywhere (del Toro wrote the screenplay with Kim Morgan), while cinematographer Dan Laustsen creates a world that feels unreal and hyperreal at once. The cast is astounding, notably Cooper and Blanchett, who play off each other like a lowlife Bogart and Bacall. Willem Dafoe is chilling in the small but crucial role of Clem Hoatley, a carny who helpfully explains how he turns hopeless alcoholics into subhuman, chicken-eating geeks for his sideshow.

Details don’t always add up and character motivations can be murky, but such flaws are almost in the DNA of the noir genre. Audiences seeking light entertainment should probably look elsewhere. For those ready to follow del Toro into the depths, however, "Nightmare Alley" will make a wondrous and ghastly thrill ride.