Oscars 2022: Every Best Picture Nominee Ranked

Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham's novel Nightmare Alley seemed - on paper, at least - like a match made in heaven for the filmmaker and his famously dark sensibilities.

That's why, despite the film's gorgeous scenery and del Toro's typically keen eye for finding the beauty in the macabre, this film about a conman who finds himself in over his head feels like such a striking disappointment.

Dampened by its own ambition, Nightmare Alley finds del Toro leaning into the story's twisted horrors without offering much new to its derivative story or clichéd characters. It doesn't help that Bradley Cooper feels palpably uncomfortable in the lead role, unable to settle on a direction.

All that aside, the film does scare where it intends to, thanks in large part to its grotesque twists, and del Toro at least makes it beautiful to look at even when the plot struggles to hold itself together.