Quick warning before you read or watch this 2021 movie COVID-19 ruined! Guillermo del Toro may be the director; it has Lovecraftian title and appearance (the dark colors, the Art Deco designs); and many del Toro regulars in the cast…but I assure you, this is a Film Noir take by the great Mexican Horror director. I kept waiting for Doug Jones to show up in a rubber suit to terrorize the characters or provide a twist, nope. Alley was still pretty good and it was a slightly nice change of pace just like his contributions to The Hobbit.
The plot revolves around this horrible person named Stanton (he proves it in the first ten minutes) who joins a traveling carnival during the Depression as a roustabout (what they called day laborers in old-timey slang). Since Stanton sticks around unlike most, the core members take him under their wings to teach him how their livelihoods actually work. He gets promoted to scan the crowds for marks (suckers) to help out Zeena the Seer’s show.
After a while, he decides to hit the road with co-worker/girlfriend Molly to utilize all he’s learned from Zeena and her partner Pete’s psychic act. Within a couple years, the duo have a very comfortable, successful night club act in New York. They’re quite popular amongst the city’s rich and famous. However, there’s an audience member named Dr. Lilith Ritter who is a psychiatrist. Most attendees are just entertained yet some believe Stanton has an actual gift as they seek him out after shows for additional information. Ritter thinks he’s a bullshit artist and plans to expose him as a fraud. Stanton takes this as a challenge which leads to them teaming up for more nefarious…grifts.
I’ll stop there. Anything further would be a spoiler. Overall, I did enjoy it even if del Toro didn’t have the carnival harboring some Old Ones or being a front for a scary cult. I caught it on Hulu which doesn’t have the rights any longer. I’m confident you’ll find it on HBO unless the uber greedy Zaslav removed it to screw over the striking actors. Alley should go on to be part of Film Noir’s canon under the Bad People Doing Bad Stuff to Other Horrible People; like Double Indemnity.